Taste test: Tandoori burger, smoky fries, rainbow cheese coin & more at Geylang Serai bazaar

The annual Geylang Serai bazaar has returned and will run till the wee hours of Apr. 10.

Unlike the past years, this year's bazaar is much smaller.

While the bazaar saw 700 stalls in 2023, the 2024 bazaar features 500 retail and food stalls.

Of the 500 stalls, 150 are manned by food and beverage (F&B) vendors.

S$3 options

To offer visitors more pocket-friendly options, F&B vendors are required to sell two items at S$3 each.

Like past years, the main bazaar is located near Wisma Geylang Serai.

Pathways are wide and there are dining areas where visitors can conveniently eat their food.

Photo by Wong Li Jie.

Here are some food and drink highlights at the bazaar:

Mentai Fries Turkey Bacon (S$11.90) @ Frank on Wheels

This hearty snack is essentially fries served with a generous serving of flame-torched mentaiko sauce with some turkey bacon bits for an added bite.

Photo by Wong Li Jie.

We recommend eating this as soon as you can because it gets soggy fast.

There is some smoke on the side, though it's purely for aesthetics and doesn't elevate the flavours of this dish.

Rainbow cheese coin waffles (S$6) @ Happiness in a Box

This snack is filled with stretchy, vibrantly coloured cheese.

For your reference, here's how long the cheese pull is:

Photo by Wong Li Jie.

Despite being called "waffles," the soft consistency of the pastry makes it more pancake-like.

Taiyaki (S$3) @ Ahae Taiyaki

These taiyakis are available in a variety of flavours, including sweet ones like green tea and Hokkaido milk, as well as savoury like the chicken sausage and cheese sauce.

Photo by Wong Li Jie.

While we expected the filling to be cream-like and oozy, it had a more paste-like texture.

Green tea filling. Photo from Mothership.

The pastry was also too thick for our liking.

Lekor (from S$4) and Dendeng (from S$6) @ Ramly Burger stall

Of course, this wouldn't be a visit to the bazaar if we didn't get some of the more traditional options.

We went for the chewier lekor, which had an addictive bite that kept us going for more.

Photo by Livia Soh.

We also got 100g worth of dendeng, which is slightly more than one slice of sweet, smoky and spiced beef jerky.

Photo by Wong Li Jie.

Crispy Doori Burger with loaded fries (S$17) @ Mahmud's Tandoor

This was the most expensive thing we bought for the night, but it was also the heartiest.

The Crispy Doori Burger features a well-seasoned large fried tandoori chicken thigh served with a serving of harissa mayonnaise and topped with cheddar cheese slice.

Photo by Livia Soh.

The loaded fries that comes with the burger are made with thick-cut fries, topped with the same harissa mayonnaise and chunks of tandoori chicken.

Fair warning that this is a heavy meal and best shared with one or two others.

Prawn wadeh ($1) @ Mr Wadeh

At S$1 per pop, we suggest getting at least three because these things are quite addictive.

Photo by Wong Li Jie.

The fried prawn fritters were light, crispy, and not excessively oily.

Photo by Wong Li Jie.

Bubble Waffle X Ice Cream (S$12.80) @ Smooth x Hotlekor

If you have room for dessert, this is definitely an Instagram-worthy option.

You can customise it by choosing between vanilla and chocolate ice cream, as well as toppings like rainbow sprinkles and cereal.

Photo by Celeste Ng.

While visually pretty, this dessert tastes exactly how you'd expect it to.

The waffles were soft inside but could've had a crispier shell.

The sheer amount of toppings on this dish also makes it slightly messy to eat, so have some wet and dry tissues on standby.

S'mores (from S$3) @ Alley

You can't really go wrong with s'mores.

What's there not to like about toasted, gooey marshmallow and melted milk chocolate?