ROTI JOHN... Who's that?

Read this news article on Sunday.... Very funny lah..

i used to ask myself this question...

Is ROTI JOHN an Indian or Malay dish?

My hubby also cannot tell lor...

Now the people so bor liao until have to do an event and find out the origins of roti john... hahahaa... They said it's Malay dish but originated in India.

SOme readers said Maybe Malays who lived in India invented this dish....Or it could be an indian man who married to malay woman was in india and told the wife when he returned. the wife started selling it... possible meh>>??

There are many version on the origins of ROTI JOHN...One of the story >> the dish was inspired by a homesick tourist named John who, was in search of a sandwich. a helpful hawker sliced up a loaf of French bread, clapped in a mixture of minced mutton and onion and dipped the whole in beaten egg which he fried until crisp. So the locals took to Roti John and it is now a staple at Muslim food stalls. It is more likely, however, that Roti John is an adaptation of Murtabak, an Indian Muslim dish which is the Asian answer to Italian pizza.

Another explanation was that it was named after the British who were stationed in Singapore during the colonial era. Roti means bread in Malay and the British were known as “John” to the Malays,.. this story sounds a little more logic.. but of cos everyone wants to claim credit for creating this dish.. so surely they will not believe in this "Brit-Malay" collarboration thingy..

Then in the makan sutra book, they traced this back to The legendary SHUKOR Stall..There was a man named shukor who ran a stall in taman serasi hawker centre, opposite the botanical gardens. at that time, his caucasian expatriate customers (always addressed as “john! john!” regardless of their actual names) frequently ordered onion omelettes along with french bread. it got so popular that shukor decided to fuse the two together. and that is how roti john came to be, affectionately named after his foreign clientele.

The food centre was demolished some years back. Now, this legendary stall has moved to the Serangoon Gardens Market, which also happens to be just a stone throw away from CHOMP CHOMP...

Whichever the version, We locals love this humble dish....Anyway.. Where to get the BEST ROTI JOHN... ? Some say... shukor’s legendary roti john which i have not try it... so i can't really comment... Musz pay a visit one day!

i think the Best ROTI JOHN i had is @ my house downstair.. HAIG ROAD..... Nice .....Crust of the French toast is crispy... it still taste good even we kept it the next day and heat up for breakfast...Just that i dont really like the muttom minced... personal choice... i think i prefer chicken, or tuna... they should recommend seafood... or teriyaki chicken... that would be nice.. i think i should give a run of their money and open one shop that sell some "alternative" ROTI JOHN... but i surely lose money lah... cannot fight with them... the original stuff is still GOODA...



-- greedy gal -- Jul 27.07