1960s Invention · Fried Egg Sandwich

Roti John

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'John' wasn't a real customer's name at all — Malay hawkers of the era used it as a generic, polite way to address English customers, and the phrase 'Silakan makan roti, John' ('please eat this bread, John') is thought to have garbled into the dish's name over time.

A halved baguette-style loaf is dipped face-down into a beaten egg-and-onion mixture with minced meat or sardines, then fried on a hot griddle until crisp, and served open-faced with ketchup and chili — a Singapore hawker invention from the 1960s and '70s.

Why it's made this way: Oral accounts trace the dish to a Malay hawker's improvised answer to an English customer's request for a hamburger around the 1960s, and the version popularized from 1976 by hawker Shukor's stall at the Taman Serasi hawker centre — who swapped in sambal — became the standard now sold at Malay food stalls islandwide.