hawker favourites<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cThis one looks like char kway teow without dark soy sauce,\u201d one netizen wrote.<\/p>\n
Others speculated that otchahoi could be an older version of Singapore street food preserved overseas while local recipes evolved over time, like fried carrot cake, which\u00a0was originally white.<\/p>\n
According to Wikipedia, otchahoi originated in Shibata City in Niigata Prefecture after World War II. The founder of a restaurant called Singapore Shokudo, which literally means Singapore Cafeteria in Japanese, reportedly recreated the dish based on memories of Singapore street food after returning from Southeast Asia. The origins of the unusual name, however, remain unclear.<\/p>\n
The Reddit discussion soon spiralled into Singaporeans sharing other baffling encounters with \u201cSingaporean\u201d food overseas, with the most infamous example being \u201cSingapore noodles\u201d.<\/p>\n
One Redditor recalled ordering the dish at a Chinese restaurant in Europe, only to receive noodles \u201cheavily dosed with curry powder\u201d.<\/p>\n
Others said they had spotted versions of \u201cSingapore noodles\u201d in countries including the United States, Australia, India, Vietnam, and the Netherlands.<\/p>\n
Several commenters pointed out that dish, commonly made with stir-fried vermicelli and curry powder, likely evolved from Sing Chow bee hoon (\u661f\u6d32\u7c73\u7c89<\/span>), a Cantonese-style dish believed to have originated in Hong Kong rather than Singapore.<\/p>\nStill, many netizens noted that confusing food names are hardly unusual.<\/p>\n
\u201cSame concept as Hainanese chicken rice not found in Hainan,\u201d one commenter quipped.<\/p>\n
Others referenced dishes like Swiss rolls and Hawaiian pizza \u2014 foods whose names have long puzzled people for decades.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n