IT specialist Philip Lim, like most Singaporeans, is passionate about food. He took his passion one step further, starting a blog in 2006 and today, he is an influencer with over 20,000 followers on his Instagram.
It all started when Philip decided to invest in a DSLR camera to take outdoor scenic shots. However, as this hobby required too much time and travel, Philip decided to channel his interest elsewhere – food! He started taking photos of his meals and sharing them on his own food blog. Looking for available foodie domains, keropok (deep fried crackers in Malay) was the only food domain name with a dot com that was still available and so the moniker Keropokman was born.
From blogging, Philip has moved on to social media, attracting a total of over 20,000 food enthusiasts on social media. When asked how he felt about having so many friends and followers, he humbly replied, “Early adopters, when there was no one else to follow.” Food blogging can be a big business but Philip keeps it real – he usually posts when he is impressed with the meal because wasting energy on something negative is pointless. It would also provide an easy target for online criticisms. Put it simply, Philips really just wants to share good food with everyone!
All kinds of fabulous food
Being married now with a kid in tow has impacted all aspects of his life and his priorities have changed. For example, dining with a child means he has tasted almost every single Spaghetti Bolognese available on various kids’ menus.
Any self-respecting food blogger should also know how to cook and being an IT specialist means that Philip’s home is chock-full of kitchen gadgets. It helped when he won a cooking competition which coveted prize included kitchen appliances and a kitchen makeover. Busy working parents with a young child means more home cooked meals are preferred. Hence, food preparation is vital and Philip finds helpful gadgets such as an electric pressure cooker, thermal pots or the Thermomix extremely handy.
Home cooked goodness
So what does Philip think about campus food? Although the School of Computing has moved to the other end of the campus, Philip still faithfully visits the noodle stall at Frontier canteen at the Faculty of Science for his favourite dish Chan Chan Guo Tiao Gan, Jia Chicken Wing, Jia Cai (mixed rice noodles, dry with an extra chicken wing and vegetables). He prefers the noodles spicy, with an added scoop of minced garlic and some pickled green chilli, for a more delectable flavour.
The passionate food blogger gamely shares his top choices in NUS:
- Vietnamese stall (The Terrace canteen at School of Computing): “They have different appetising dishes daily, their meat dishes are a hit and their salad dishes are packed with herbs which make them particularly refreshing.” (As The Terrace is currently undergoing renovations, this stall has moved to White Haven Condominium along Pasir Panjang Road and is operating under the name of VS Cafeteria. NUS staff and students can enjoy 20% off their meals.)
- Waa Cow (UTown): “Must try the rice bowls although they are a bit pricey. You’ll be back for more.”
- The noodle stall at Fine Food (UTown): “The mini pot noodles are very tasty.”
- Nasi Goreng Istimewa at Café by the Ridge (NUSS Kent Ridge Guild House): “For people who want everything on a plate.”