The End Of Char Kway Teow

I recently had the opportunity to obtain a copy of Leslie Tay's new book, The End of Char Kway Teow and had him personally autographed it.

This is a very fascinating read as many of you would know, the book is an encapsulation of his popular blog, ieatishootipost.

Indeed, the distillation of his massive catalogue of hawker reviews into a coffee table book makes perfect sense, considering that there has never been such an extensive document of our hawker heritage. Until now.

Whilst Leslie writes with substance, and not with a flourishing style, it is also perfectly adequate for such a book that serves better as a hawker encyclopedia more than anything else.

Leslie has cleverly broken up each chapter of this book to focus on each of our hawker favourites. Thus, he explains in various chapters like bak kut teh and chicken rice, how some of these foods came about and some unique features and additional anecdotes associated with them.

At the end of each chapter, he will list his own favourite stalls of each of these hawker favourites, accompanied with his ratings culled from his blog as well as a short summary.

If anything, The End of Char Kway Teow will come in handy as a reference guide to all things hawker wise. You may argue on some of his selections, but with such a huge amount of information to cull from, his choices will always be subjective.

Still, there are enough recommendations and coverage for anyone to comb through and begin a food adventure on the local hawker scene. And it is more than likely you will uncover some new favourites and enjoy in the discovery of new and delicious hawker fare.

As a fellow food blogger, I think it is a great achievement to be able to publish a book out of a blog that has been driven simply out of passion and personal enjoyment. I am sure this book serves as a culmination of his achievement as a food blogger, but let's hope there is still much more to come.

The end of char kway teow perhaps, but the beginning of a renowned food writer?