Monday, August 4, 2008

Kreta Ayer Wet Market - Final Part -Exotic Animals

Today my post is the final part of Kreta Ayer Wet Market.
This stall sold exotic animals.

The above is known as operation fish or Snakehead Fish.

In Asia, the snakehead fish are eaten in two ways. The smaller snakehead fish also nicknamed Operation fish, also known as Haruan, is recognized in Asia Pacific countries as a remedy for healing of wounds and it is best consumed as a herbal soup after operation/surgery. It is true cause it is quite effective but you need to cook with some herbs.

The bigger snakehead fishes are used for cooking with porridge or mee hoon (rice vermicelli).


The cages you see in the stall contained only certain exotic animals such as turtles, eels, frogs, etc. It used to sell snakes, small creatures but I think they are not allowed to sell many exotic animals anymore as they are endangered species.

We have frog farms in Singapore and they are breed to be sold to customers. Favourite dishes are the frog legs cooked with spring onions and ginger, frog leg porridge claypot, etc.

The kreta ayer wet market is located at the basement of chinatown complex at Block 335 Smith Street. You can view the map showing how to go to Kreta Ayer Wet Market from Chinatown MRT Station from map .

11 comments:

Jim Klenke said...

Those frogs sure are fat. The fatter the better?

alicesg said...

Hahaha...I guess the fatter is better cause they shrink after they were deep fried. When the 1st time I tried them, I was afraid cause I never eat frog legs before. But after eating them, they tasted like chicken. This is the most exotic animal I have eaten...lol.

zakscloset said...

singaporean dishes are so delicious and healthy! i've never eaten frogs but i'm sure they taste like chicken! :^P

Oman said...

i used to have a turtle when i was a boy but he got lost when a typhoon flooded our home.

now, i don't have anything exotic at home. but i do have a mynah bird and two parrots.

Lara said...

the most "exotic" thing I ate were frogs. delicious I would say!

mouse (aka kimy) said...

I have never knowingly eaten frog - they may fall within my do not'cute' category of food restrictions. but I hear they are delicious.

I love markets and market pictures. thanks for sharing a taste of singapore's market!

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Alice: Those are some nice photos of some unusal finds to me. I don't like my fish to look like sankes.

J.C. said...

I find the name Operation's Fish rather funny.

We also take Haruan fish to help with wound healing after an operation. But no one call it such.

Interesting market too. The only exotic market I have seen was in Guangzhou, China. Didn't realize there would be one too in Singapore.

rlivings said...

Hi Alice, great write up on the Kreta Ayer wet market. Can you provide the location of this market? I can't find any information online where the market is located.

alicesg said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
alicesg said...

Hi Rlivings, you can access Kreta Ayer Wet Market by taking the mrt and alight at the chinatown station. It is a short distance from the mrt station,you can ask any local the location of the wet market. The wet market is located in the basement of chinatown complex at block 335 Smith Street.