SINGAPORE : Char kway teow, prawn mee and chicken rice are some examples of Singapore's typical hawker fare.

But one might also find spaghetti marinara and freshly baked blueberry muffins at the same low prices.

These are just some of the choices Singaporeans have been enjoying as stallholders at hawker centres become more enterprising.

Exchanging cockles in a traditional wok for fresh mussels in a non-stick pan is 38-year-old Lawrence Chong.

His Sembawang Hills stall Grill & Pasta started out selling local fare, but found its niche in Italian specialities - at S$4 for a plate of steaming hot pasta.

Lawrence said, "I do sell spaghetti bolognese and spaghetti pomodoro in the first place, so gradually I start(ed) to find that people are more comfortable with my Western kind of cooking, so I switched back to totally Western cuisine...because I think a lot of people, they're exposed , been overseas, exposed to all kinds of food."

One customer commented, "...it's nearer to your house, so you can get it faster, you don't have to go into the city or anything like that."

Another added, "It's good, economic wise, I think it's very cheap compared to (a) restaurant."

These new breed of hawkers say the main factor here is cost.

Lawrence said, "I'd really like to open a restaurant myself, but because of the financial and all this...so I have to start out small first and probably I (will) go step by step."

And giving Singaporeans a taste of the sweet life at hawker prices are sisters Mary and Pei Yeng.

They decided to go solo after working in the hotel industry for a while.

But it was not so easy to cram a professional baking operation into a tiny stall tucked into Shunfu Market.

Mary Chan, Chocolat N' Spice, said, "....mainly it's because of the cost needed, it's so much lower than setting up in a shop itself...."

At S$1 a muffin and S$24 for a cake, it is clear that they are dollars below the competition in spite of importing ingredients from Europe.

A customer said, "It's very innovative and very creative, it's a way to reach out to the common crowd...usually nice cakes are only available at quite a high price, expensive."

Another commented, "It's very cosy and very delicious and the price is very reasonable."

As for the sisters, their dream is to expand with a second shop in Tanjong Pagar. - CNA