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Singapore has an extraordinary blend of local delicacies to sample, from Hainanese Chicken Rice, Nasi Lemak, Laksa, Rojak, Beef Kway Teow, Fish Head Curry… to Peranakan, Indian, and Malay cuisine. The trick with Singapore’s hawker centres (stalls where local food is served up - think “mega-food court”) is to go with friends so you can sample more dishes.

Singapore food - truly a yummy delight

Start by finding a local hawker centre, then follow the line of people to the most popular stall, and try the most appealing dish. For serious foodies, purchase the small guide to the best hawker stands listed for each and every MRT Station on the island, and you’ll get to taste things in places your friends have never even heard of. Or else, just follow my lead and you’ll be guaranteed a rich variety of new culinary sensations.

Singapore Food: City

Located in the Bras Basah Complex opposite Raffles Hotel (below Odeon Towers and Loof bar), next to Carlton Hotel at City Hall MRT. Here is where I found the key to fresh light meals, Yung tao fu DIY, with shelves of vegetables, fish balls, tofu, and other strange items that you select and have cooked up for you in a light broth, a perfect counterpoint to the many richer spicy dishes. ‘You can ask for more cucumbers’ is the charming healthy eating slogan displayed on some of these stands, which can usually be found in any hawker centre.

Hawker Food at Singapore's Bras Basah complex

I had my birthday dinner at the Hawker centre opposite the National Library on Middle Rd, with good reports on the chilli frogs legs from the place in the far corner. The fried carrot cake was tasty in a variety of forms and the stir-fried noodles with prawns were also a big hit with my friends. This place, like many hawker centres, is open late; at 3am every table in the place was packed.

As you may imagine in this tropical setting, where the temperature rarely drops below 26C (78F) even at midnight, the late-night supper is part of the local culture for young and old alike. If you’re craving entertainment, check the weekend film screenings, some cinemas have sessions at 2 or 4am.

Singapore Food: Clarke Quay

Avoid the overpriced seafood restaurants along the water, and head instead to the basement of Liang Court, just past Clarke Quay, where myriad tasty Japanese specialties are available (from teriyaki to eel) outside the Meidi-Ya Japanese supermarket, which also has a very impressive range of sake available in the bottle shop.

Singapore Food: Chinatown

Take the MRT to Chinatown station, which gets you to the epicentre of the night-market hawker centre, one of the only places where the stands are actually out on the street. It’s also home to Singapore’s only Austrian Hawker stand, with arguably the best dumplings in town.

Oktoberfest hawker food in Singapore

There is plenty to tempt you along the street, but I head straight up the stairs of Block 335, the white and green building on the corner of Smith and Trengganu St to stall 02-83/84, called Oktoberfest, for schnitzel and potato salad. When you’re ready for dessert, walk along to the second corridor of stalls (02-59) to try the freshly handmade dumplings at Hai Seng Ah Balling, delicately flavoured with red bean, peanut, lotus… mmmm meltingly delicious.

After that indulgence, find the red and white flowers of the homemade chrysanthemum tea stand, to aid digestion and help you sleep.

Walking along Sago street takes you into some of the morbid history of the area, this was the place of the funeral shops, where people would come to buy offerings to send with their relatives into the next world. Here I found one of the tastiest egg tarts at the local bakery, which also has marvellous lotus-seed cakes and other treats.

There is also a vegetarian restaurant on Smith St, near the corner of South Bridge Road, with wonderful display of Buddhist kitsch, flashing lights, icons, and a peaceful atmosphere amongst old wooden tables, a library and a vegetarian deli in case you need something to take home. Simple meals of brown rice with vegetables include delicacies like lotus root, which to me had a taste and texture somewhere between pineapple and celery, and was amazing to try fresh.

Singapore Food: Little India & Kampong Glam

Every corner in Little India is home to another tasty treat. Walking between Serangoon Rd and Jln Besar Rd is certain to give you sensory overload. If you fancy excellent vegetarian food, try the Masala Dosa and Idli at Saravana Bhavan (36 Belilios Lane), or stop at one of the many street shops offering ‘Vegetarian and non-vegetarian’ food! Azmi Restaurant, an Indian-Muslim run coffee shop here since 1944, will give you a taste of the past. Their specialty is chapatis and nothing but chapatis, made with fresh flour from the nearby mill, in a traditional kneading process and cooked without a drop of oil.

Murtabak, an Indian pancake filled with chicken, beef or mutton stuffing, accompanied curry, is best tried at Zam Zam, in the purple shophouse on the corner of Arab Street and North Bridge Road.

Singapore Food: East Coast

Changi Point Ferry Terminal is at the eastern tip of Singapore, between Nicoll Drive and Changi Coast Road. Changi Village Hawker Centre has reputedly the best Nasi Lemak in town.

Satay & lime at Yuan Ching Rd - Before

If you make the trip to Palau Ubin for a breath of fresh air and something of the traditional island pace, turn left from the ferry terminal and walk through the carpark, then straight through the first hawker centre, to the end of the second one. Look for the long queue of people at the furthest stand on the right, and that’s where you’ll find the highly recommended Malay dish of chicken wings, fragrant steamed coconut rice, peanuts, egg and sambal chilli. There is a long cycle path all the way down the east coast, and you can also watch planes take off from the airport nearby.

Satay & lime at Yuan Ching Rd - After

On Palau Ubin you can pick up a beer and coconut from one of the charming traditional stores in aged wooden huts, and rent a bicycle for $2 a day – although you’ll pay $6 if you want one that goes! – cycle round and explore the island, all the way to the border of Singapore.

Singapore Food: Geylang District

There is some heated discussion on the local food blogs about which is the best place for Beef Kway Teow, also called Beef Horfun. I tried the dish at Geylang Lor 9, with another hawker stand opposite that features a speciality of chilli frogs legs, which unlike me, you may be brave enough to try! This is also possibly the only seedy area in Singapore, where the red light district is located, and worth visiting for the contrast to the majority of this super clean town.

You may want to finish your evening with the soft silky beancurd from Yong He Eating House, just a few streets away, accompanied by You Tiao, delicious fried sugary dough sticks for the perfect meal. Eat them dipped in beancurd, or with vinegar, or plain with a sugar coating. The good news is they’re open 24 hours a day!

Singapore Food: Breakfast & Dessert

Kopi and Kaya toast! Coffee (Kopi) is brewed thick and oily, served with a dash of sweetened condensed milk. It’s amazing how quickly you can get used to it, and for only 80c, is a cheap daily caffeine fix. The kaya toast I also loved, coconut jam often made with pandan for the green colour, on pure white bread. If you want a more traditional savoury breakfast, go for the congee porridge, which I never did, being unable to get past the sweet Kaya. Available at most of the beverage stands.

The best cendol and bobo char I found were actually in the old run-down food centre at the end of Yuan Ching rd, opposite the Tang Dynasty Village. This is a failed tourist attraction, the fake Chinese ruins, currently in deeply romantic decay, although slated to be redeveloped into a hotel and spa, along with the transformation of this are into a new business district. Apparently very seedy around 8 to 10 years ago, reputedly infested with gangs and crime, this locality is now a peaceful suburb, and home to a multitude of communities.

My local Sheng Siong supermarket was right next to the dilapidated food court, with some of the tastiest satay and afore-mentioned desserts. I made up my own variations – thai style cendol with extra lychees, for example was a favourite, although the menu items are all amazing – dragon fruit jelly, and their warm sweet soups are packed with tasty goodness. The main version is a selection of jellies and gooey fruit seeds (like palm seed) served on a bed of ice, and drizzled with sticky sweet syrup. Delectable and very refreshing.

Wherever you go, try the fresh lime juice, sometimes available with sour plum for extra kick, and the fresh young coconut milk which you drink through a straw, straight out of the shell.

-Jodi Rose

I eat I shoot I post has the most detailed descriptions and sumptuous photos of everything you might like to eat in Singapore. Also check out Love Singapore Food and Hawker Fare. If you’re planning a trip, browse Viator’s Singapore tours & things to do, from the Singapore Zoo to Sentosa Island day trips.