Gina’s Vadai @ Dunman Hawker Centre : One of Singapore’s Best Snacks

Gina’s Vadai is my favourite hawker stall at Dunman Food Centre. Tucked away in a dark corner, this little stall continues to draw loyal fans like moths to light. Many flavours of vadai are now available. But for me, there is only one that is worth the calories – Gina’s Original Prawn Vadai.

Dunman Food Centre

Dunman Food Centre is a small hawker centre at the junction of Onan and Dunman Roads and a stone’s throw from the hip Joo Chiat neighbourhood where there are lots of good food options. For a summary of some of the hawker food options available, you can read our earlier post on Dunman Hawker Centre food. Today, we focus on one of the smallest stalls in one of the smallest food centres in Singapore.

Gina’s Vadai @ Dunman Food Centre

Gina’s Vadai stall looks like a typical vadai stall with a glass display of a few types of vadai. At the back of the stall is where the deep-frying takes place. According to its website, this vadai business was founded in 1985 by Gina and her late husband. It is now one of the most well-known vadai stalls in Singapore. You can read more about its history and the challenges it faced from then till now in this CNA Article.

A variety of different vadai flavours and dips are available. But I would always go for the classic combination of the Original Prawn Vadai, eaten with a fresh green chilli. A simple snack provides contrast to the sophisticated cuisines of Singapore restaurants such as Anatta and Gordon Grill.

Gina’s Original Prawn Vadai

This is the famous Gina’s prawn vadai which looks a bit smaller than a typical vadai. But what it lacks in size, it makes up for it in flavour. The dough used for this was denser than expected and therefore provided some chewy resistance, which is quite nice. The embedded prawn was perfectly cooked, its shell was thin and crispy, providing a contrast in texture and flavour to the dough. As for the chilli, it can be quite a variable. The one that was served this time looked scary but was not as fiery as I thought. Probably a 4 on a scale of 10. Which was good enough for me. Together it was delicious snack that cost $1.20. In this case, it was certainly money well spent.

Gina’s Vadai
Dunman Food Centre
271 Onan Rd
Singapore 424768

Closed on Mondays.
Open Tuesdays to Sundays.
9:30 AM to 3:30 PM

Website