Overhead...in the month of January

Yesterday, I boarded the train with a bag of roasted sliced pork (bak kua)* from Gim Tin Heong. This lady (woman A) shot a look at my paperbag and turned to her friends:

Woman A: Eh, have you all bought your bak kua already huh?

Woman B: No leh. Why? Which one is good huh?

Woman A: Aiya, Lim Chee Guan lor.

Woman B: Aiya, I heard that one must queue very long one leh.

Woman A: Ya, must wait at least one hour I think.

Woman C (looking rather proud that she knows it all): What one hour? They queue for one hour and then change person to continue queueing ah!

Woman A & B (in unison): Hah??!!!

While I, still listening to my MP3 player, I was half sniggering to myself coz I know Lim Chee Guan may not be the best bak kua around. These women just wanted to be boastful about the fact that they know where to get the 'best' sliced pork. Had to be such show offs.

It only became famous since someone decided to create a queue. In Singapore, if there is a queue, it is supposed to be good. Sometimes, the people do not even know what they are queueing for.

Once a queue forms and word spreads, even ordinary-tasting food becomes gourmet. As for Lim Chee Guan, I will try not to go there for there were reports some years back that they cheated weight on the customers. That means, if I were to buy 1kg of sliced pork for Chinese New Year, I may only get 900g or something like that.

*For my non-Singaporean friends:
Sliced pork or bak kua, is roasted pork meat in thin slices. It could be from one whole slice of meat or it could be minced meat pressed together to form a thin sheet. Apparently, the whole slices are slightly tougher on your teeth. It is one of the must-haves during the Chinese New Year period. My Muslim friends have a halal version called dinding.