Special: Geylang Serai Hari Raya Baazar 2015! (Food, drink, snacks, shopping)

Belated Happy Hari Raya Puasa! That's what the locals in Singapore say to celebrate the end of ramadan month or their religious fasting month! The end of ramadan was on friday 17th July. Having visited this very popular large temporary bazaar located next to Paya Lebar MRT station a few times the last two years I decided this year to visit a couple times to cover all the delicious food on offer!

In the past I made visits to this bazaar market but only at night and with friends. This year I made it a point to go several times in order to eat everything they had to offer as there are new stalls every year! As the market is only open during the fasting month, one week in, there was already news and photos on social media circulating of the new stalls and food items sold this year! I was super excited and this year's bazaar was really a treat!

Continue below for the bazaar and its food!

Visiting the annual Geylang Serai Hari Raya Bazaar! Ramly burgers, coconut ice cream, churros, chilli fries, durian, thai food and so much more!

This was the scene once you exit from Paya Lebar MRT towards the SingPost building at around 6pm. The muslims broke their fasts usually around 7pm onwards depending on each day's prayer schedule so the bazaar/market isn't crowded until about 7pm when everyone is buying food!

One of the main streets running parallel to the big empty fields that the bazaar is set up on! In Singapore it's a common sight for our streets, lamp posts and buildings to be decorated for different holidays like Hari Raya (Eid), Chinese New Year and Christmas!

A sight of the clothing stalls! There's plenty of stalls selling clothing, home goods like curtains, children's toys, women's accessories like jewelry/make up and so many other things!

Common items found at the bazaar! Different types of local sandwiches and bread items!

Fried noodles, rice, grilled spicy fish paste (otah otah) and corn! (This was the only stall selling ramly burgers that had an accurate photo of the burger!!!)

At the bazaar expect to find a HUGE array of sweet drinks either sold per serving or in bottles chilling in ice! Local flavors range from sweet corn, rose, grape, lime, mango and more! Don't expect them to taste natural at all but super sweet and deliciously artificial!

A stall that's been a repeat at the yearly bazaar is the Kala Thai stall that is famous of selling coconut ice cream the way it's done in thailand in a coconut shell with the flesh and toppings like sweet corn, peanuts and red ruby!

Thai style coconut ice cream from Kala Thai! It's unfortunately not as nice as previous years. It was served too melted and I really wished the toppings would be more generous too! Most importantly the coconut flavor was so weak and too sweet!

Fresh fruits and juices! From this year's bountiful harvest of the popular Mao Shan Wang durian to fresh lychees from China, bananas, thai coconuts, rambutans and fresh made juices!

On my first visit to the market I bought an $18 box of durian (not pictured), some weeks later my dad bought several whole durians of the same type I purchased at the market and here is what the delicious fruit looks like! Mao Shan Wang durian is meaty, chunky, creamy and have a great balanced flavor of sweet and slightly bitter!

A new and very popular food stall called "Mr. Q"! They sold battered deep fried oreos to other yummy snacks like onions/calamari rings, chicken burgers, tornado potato, fried mars bar, fried durian and mini corn dogs!

One of many shops selling local festive decorations, children's toys and fun things like plastic face masks, figurines and playing cards!

A shop that only sold sandals! The Hari Raya/ramadan period every year is much like chinese new year and it's normal for families to be out buying new clothes/shoes and house hold items!

A lovely big colorful snack shop stocked to the brim! There is always an abundance of these stalls selling fried snacks, different colorful local cookies, pastries and baked goods! I was so tempted to get some snacks but didn't after three visits.

Super funky, colorful and creative cakes with colorful patterns inside! Some cakes had fillings made with different popular chocolates like Ferrero Rocher, Kit Kat, Toblerone and Snickers! I absolutely love the thought of slicing a super fun patterned piece of cake!

In the middle of one of major food sections of the bazaars! Between 7-9pm this section is jam packed and there is literally no free walking space! Also there were long lines to purchase this year's popular new items like flavored churros and ice cream rolls!

A huge range of assorted vadai or vada which are indian fritters made with different vegetables and spices! I really wanted to get a bag of these mixed mini fritters but held back!

Stalls filled with colorful traditionally styled apparel for men, women and children!

A awesome toy stall with boxes selling seven dolls at once!

Plastic baskets with plastic fruits/vegetables! When I was a child I loved toys like these and never had a set as large as those I saw in the bazaar! There were even bags of plastic egg toys!

A stall selling all types of otah which consists of fish, prawn, or squid paste with spices grilled inside leaves! We joined the line early and I bought all the various types to bring home! They were cheap and yummy!

An open space in another section of the bazaar selling carpets! both traditional, simple and modern patterned ones!

Carpets! Just so many carpets for sale! My family used to own large carpets when I was younger but they really harbor too much dirt if not cleaned regularly! It was fun walking past and looking at all the patterns!

A shop selling fake flowers! The majority of them look so real you really couldn't tell until you got closer and realized most of the them were in baskets and not buckets or containers with water!

Another large snack shop that faced the main road! The two youth manning the stall posed while I was pointing my camera and going to shoot! That's why the guy on the right was laughing! I waved at them right after and they waved back!

A long long line for a stall called "Ice Burnz" selling Thai iced tea, coconut shakes, nutella shakes and salted caramel shakes! This is the crowd to expect from 7pm onwards!

I was super lucky that I managed to get a drink just before the stall closed for a break so that the staff could break their fast!

Thai iced tea from Ice Burnz! It's was a shame as the tea was far too weak and real thai tea iced or not is 10x stronger in flavor which is what gives it the signature flavor/fragrance.

To the right of the drink and shake stall are the biggest ramly burger stalls which also sold all the various deep fried snack foods on the sides of their shop space like fried chicken, sweet potatos, hot dogs, noodles and other various fried local snacks!

The crowd waiting to order or receive a ramly burger! A ramly burger is like a super fast food burger which is prepared by malay shop holders. You choose either a beef or chicken patty and much to the pretty posters there's no cheese or lettuce with ramly burgers!

An entire flat grill top covered with beef ramly burger patties being cooked! The patties are cooked first then placed onto a huge thin layer of egg, then mayo and another sauce is applied from squeeze bottles onto the patties before the egg is cut and folded over the patty before being put into a bun!

The food haul my boyfriend and I made during our first visit to the bazaar! We shared one ramly burger between us and a beef kebab wrap (in the white bag) I had bought 4 extra burgers to bring home and we also brought all the otahs home and ate them for snacks or in sandwiches!

The indian vadai or vada stall that my boyfriend and I purchased from many times! We loved their fried chicken livers and gizzards! They also had assorted fritters!

Everything from chicken liver, gizzard, hearts, wings and drumlets! Boy were they so delicious! The reddish coating really crispy and with a slightly spiced flavor!

A damn damn delicious stick of coated deep fried chicken livers! They were crispy, hot and tasty on the outside and the liver just cooked on the inside, still soft but cooked!

Chicken drumlets! If only there was more of a crispy batter but otherwise the meat was cooked just right! We brought two of these home and ate them the next day as a snack!

Deep fried chicken wings! These were so damn good! The outsides were so crisp with a good layer of batter, you can't help but to try to wolf them down despite being super hot from being freshly fried!

There were two thai food stalls at the bazaar! Both sold mango and stick rice! It's not hard to make at all, the stick rice and thai mangos often sell in Singapore's supermarkets so I skipped this yummy dessert!

One stall had a larger array of thai dishes to offer from noodle dishes to chicken to salads!

The other stall more basic looking sold papaya and mango salad, prawn pad thai, tom yum soup, yellow noodles and a spicy macaroni! I decided to buy my food from this stall!

The pad thai noodles were so damn good! Really authentic and I loved how you got all the toppings like super spicy dried chilli flakes, raw bean sprouts, crushed peanuts, chives and lime!

The green papaya salad also was incredibly authentic and was so good I wish I could have this again right now! Made fresh when you order, the raw vegetables are tossed with a freshly made dressing and then it's all mixed in a big pestle and motar! Super refreshing, crunchy and delicious!

A stall by "Cook werx", they sold a range of nacho chips, fries and hot dogs! After seeing the stall after our second trip I knew that for the third I had to get their fries to try!

A sample of four of their best selling items! The boyfriend and I were settled on getting the fries combo which was fries with beef and cheese!

The fries combo from Cook Werx! The fries were chunky and soft, the beef mince was very tasty with bits of onion and the classic cheese sauce with a dressing of mayo and chilli sauce made this such a delicious thing to eat! The only problem was that it was really filling! We ended up taking half of it home!

A chinese run stall that was super popular as they were the only ones selling this food product! Grilled whole squids or prawns or breaded and deep fried squid! You had a choice of a chilli sauce or various other sauces for the fried version!

The tray where the grilled squids and prawns are brushed with chilli paste if you want! It was a lovely sweet/spicy sambal!

For $7, this big super crispy breaded squid was so damn good! The breading was seasoned very well and it was so crispy while the squid was still juicy! My boyfriend preferred this to the grilled version which we tried another time!

The grilled squid from the same shop! Super juicy, moist and tasty with a coating of the chilli paste!

A stick of juicy grilled prawns coated in that same sweet and spicy sambal paste! I wish more came on the stick!

A man making chicken kebab wraps! Throughout the bazaar there were at least 4 or 5 different stalls selling beef or chicken kebabs in wraps or in pita bread! The meat is sliced and then served with lettuce, sometimes peppers and then a mixture of chilli, mayo and mustard sauce!

The snacks selling on the sides of the big ramly burger stall! All kinds of yummy, so bad for you fried items! Deep fried bananas, fish cake, hot dogs, chicken and more!

Lots of super sweet and artificially flavored drinks! Besides the typical soft drinks and water there was so much to choose from! Various sweet flavor milk drinks and fruit flavored drinks too!

One of the stalls selling freshly fried churros and crepes! The vendors spoke french to each other!

There were a total of 4 churro vendors if I'm not wrong and we both thought this vendor's regular cinnamon sugar coated ones were the best compared to other vendors. They were fluffy and airy like a fresh donut on the inside but crispy on the outside!

Also for the ladies that just love browsing cheap beauty items there were several shops selling quality make up brushes, colorful eyeshadow palettes and imitation mac products! I really like how some sold NYX and elf as well as MUA palettes!

This large stall sold tons of cosmetic jewelry, hand bags, wallets, broaches and cheap make up!

A large booth selling rings, ear rings, bracelets, necklaces and other cosmetic jewelry items!

A stall selling loads of festive decorations for this muslim celebration!

The process of ice cream roll making at the new and super popular stall "Happy Rollies"! The owner was influenced by this ice cream which is a common sight in Bangkok! The ingredients you choose are chopped up with the liquid ice cream mixture and then mixed and spread out on the cold surface!

Once the liquid ice cream is set, the person making the rolls uses the metal scrappers to make rolls. They are piled up in your cup and you get to choose toppings to finish it off!

A photo of the finished ice cream rolls! This photo is not mine (Link to source here!)

Last but not least, flavored churros by the company Bakes & Crafts was the other food stall that was everyone online and on every recommendations list to try at the market! They sell three types of churros, regular plain ones, red velvet and pandan!

Much like all the other shops selling churros, their is bite sized and is served in a cup, the sauce or topping of your choice is added once you've placed your order!

I got the pandan churro that comes with gula melaka sauce from Bakes & Crafts. Their churros although tasty are not done properly. The batter was too dense although soft and chewy and the outside of the churros were hard instead of being crisp.

Pandan churros with gula melaka sauce from Bakes & Crafts! These had a lovely light pandan fragrance and the syrup was great but at the end of the day, are not the best churros. Too dense inside and hard on the outside!

To summarize the month of ramadan, for me it's really just an opportunity to enjoy what my fellow muslims do and eat. I've never really been properly involved with any actual Hari Raya event or festivity but growing up in Singapore like all others it's just completely normal when a non-chinese holiday comes around as Singapore celebrates Indian, Malay and Chinese holidays nationwide.

This year's night market really was a highlight for me predominantly. Being someone who loves food and any kind of market/bazaar/carnival type set up there was no way I was only going to drop by the bazaar only once! The items I found best food wise were the deep fried chicken parts, chilli cheese fries, breaded fried squid and the thai food!

Did you get involved with any Eid celebrations this year?

What would you like to eat from the bazaar?

Let me know!

Feel free to comment!

Thank you!