Where to Eat in Singapore: 25 Must-Try Restaurants and Hawker Stalls

Our short list of favorite countries is shaped largely by food. Japan is up there. So are Thailand and Spain. And of course, Singapore is close to the top of that list.

Singapore may be small but it isn’t lacking in great food. Inch for inch, it’s one of the world’s best countries for food. It’s defined by a wide spectrum of food choices ranging from cheap but legendary hawker stall meals to trendy envelope-pushing dining concepts. You can have a simple but shiok hawker dish for lunch followed by a fabulous Michelin-starred meal for dinner.

Singapore has a reputation for being an expensive Asian city but it boasts a wealth of surprisingly affordable food. You definitely don’t have to be one of the crazy rich Asians to eat well in Singapore!

If you’re visiting this tiny island nation and looking to find the best restaurants in Singapore to have dishes like laksa, chicken rice, chili crab, and sup tulang – then you’ve come to the right place.

THE BEST RESTAURANTS IN SINGAPORE

When dining out in Singapore, people often go to hawker centres and food courts because they’re affordable and provide a wider range of choices. This Singapore restaurant guide includes a mix of hawker stalls, food stands, chains, and proper sit-down restaurants.

1. Changi Nasi Lemak – CLOSED

What better way to start this list of the best Singapore restaurants than with a place that specializes in nasi lemak? It’s a Singapore food favorite and in my opinion, one of the most satisfying Asian breakfast dishes.

Nasi lemak is a dish of Malaysian origin that’s also popular in Singapore. It consists of fragrant rice cooked in coconut milk and pandan leaf and served with sambal and a number of sides like ikan bilis (anchovies), peanuts, cucumber, and an omelette or fried egg. It’s typically eaten for breakfast though it can be enjoyed throughout the day.

Google “best nasi lemak in singapore” and this restaurant will appear at the top of many lists. They’ve been open since the 1970s and have been serving some of the city’s best versions of this dish for three generations.

Pictured below is their best-selling Spicy Thigh Cutlet Set. It features the restaurant’s Legendary Changi Chilli and a chicken cutlet inspired by the McDonald’s McSpicy.

I once asked a Malaysian chef what the secret was to this dish and he told me that it’s all about the sambal. This beloved dish can only be as good as its sambal and Changi’s Legendary Changi Chilli is known to be one of the best and most unique.

Made from a secret recipe that dates back to the restaurant’s founders, this legendary sambal is what separates Changi from the rest.

Changi Nasi Lemak

Address: 183 Upper Thomson Road, #01-04, Singapore 574429
Operating Hours: 11AM-9PM, Tue-Sun (closed on Mondays)
Closest MRT Station: Upper Thomson

2. Bali Nasi Lemak

Bali is another popular nasi lemak restaurant in Singapore. I learned about this restaurant from KF Seetoh and Makansutra. Like Changi, it’s described as being a great restaurant in Singapore to have this popular dish.

Bali is known for their kecap manis fried chicken which is tossed in a sweet and savory dark sauce.

I read that the owner of this restaurant is the younger sister of the owner of the famous Ponggol chain. It looks like making this dish runs in the family so we’ll definitely try Ponggol on our next visit to Singapore.

Bali Nasi Lemak

Address: 2 Lor 15 Geylang Road, Singapore 388596
Operating Hours: 5:30PM-4AM, Mon-Sat (closed on Sundays)
Closest MRT Station: Aljunied

3. Ya Kun Kaya Toast

As its name suggests, Ya Kun specializes in kaya toast, a popular breakfast dish or snack that’s prepared by spreading kaya — a jam made with coconut, eggs, and sugar — between charcoal-grilled or toasted slices of bread.

It’s served with either coffee or tea and is usually accompanied by two soft-boiled eggs sprinkled with a bit of dark soy sauce and white pepper.

Ya Kun is a great coffee shop in Singapore to have this popular breakfast dish. They have many outlets throughout the city but we went to their branch at Ang Mo Kio MRT station en route to Singapore Zoo.

If you plan on going to the zoo, then this is a great place to have breakfast and try this classic Singaporean breakfast dish.

Ya Kun

Address: Ya Kun has over 40 outlets in Singapore.
Operating Hours: Varies per branch

4. Fatimah Stall Ar Rahman Royal Prata

This mouthful of a stall called Fatimah Stall Ar Rahman Royal Prata specializes in another popular Singaporean breakfast dish or street food snack called roti prata.

Known as parotta in Southern India and roti canai in Malaysia, it refers to a fried flour-based Asian pancake cooked over a grill and served with a curry dipping sauce.

Pictured below is a plate of crisp and chewy butter roti. It was slathered with butter and sugar so it had a good balance of sweet and savory when dipped into the curry sauce.

To be honest, Fatimah Stall Ar Rahman Royal Prata wasn’t actually our first choice. We wanted to go to Prata Saga Sambal Berlada, a stall that often came up when searching for the best places in Singapore to try roti prata.

Prata Saga Sambal Berlada was closed for Ramadan but we were lucky to find Fatimah Stall Ar Rahman Royal Prata just a few steps away.

We ate at Tekka Food Centre a few times and Fatimah Stall Ar Rahman Royal Prata always had a long queue of people waiting to buy their roti. That’s always a good sign when trying to figure out where to eat in Singapore.

Fatimah Stall Ar Rahman Royal Prata

Address: #01-248, Tekka Food Centre, 665 Buffalo Rd, Singapore 210665
Operating Hours: 7AM-10PM, Tue-Sun (closed Mondays)
Closest MRT Station: Little India

5. Jian Bo Shui Kueh

Jian Bo Shui Kueh specializes in one of the most interesting street food dishes we’ve had so far in Singapore – chwee kueh. It refers to a type of steamed rice cake topped with diced preserved radish and served with a side of chilli sauce.

Jian Bo Shui Kueh is located inside historic Tiong Bahru Market. Google “best Singapore restaurants for chwee kueh” and many Singapore food bloggers will point you to Jian Bo. This tiny stall has been selling this tasty dish for over fifty years!

When we were there early in the morning, there was an endless stream of people getting packets of rice cakes for takeaway. Like kaya toast, it’s a popular breakfast dish in Singapore.

Jian Bo Shui Kueh

Address: Tiong Bahru Market, Seng Poh Road, 30号 #02-05 邮政编码, Singapore 168898
Operating Hours: 6:30AM-9PM, daily
Closest MRT Station: Tiong Bahru

6. 1A Crispy Puffs

1A Crispy Puffs is known for this tasty street food snack known as the curry puff. Enjoyed throughout Southeast Asia, they’re basically small, half-circle shaped pies stuffed with a variety of ingredients like chicken curry and potatoes, beef rendang, and chilli crab in a deep-fried or baked pastry shell.

I googled “best restaurants in Singapore for curry puffs” and popular food blog sethlui.com led me to 1A Crispy Puffs. They have many outlets in Singapore but we went to their stall at Takashimaya Shopping Centre on Orchard Road.

Often cited for having some of the best curry puffs in Singapore, we tried a few others but we did find theirs to be the most delicious. The difference, for us, was in the pastry shell.

1A Crispy Puffs

Address: 1A Crispy Puffs has several branches in Singapore.
Operating Hours: Varies per branch

7. Zam Zam Restaurant

If you like roti prata, then you’re probably going to enjoy murtabak as well. It’s basically a stuffed version of roti prata that can be filled with either savory or sweet ingredients.

Murtabak is common in the Arabian Peninsula and Southeast Asia and can vary significantly depending on where its from. In Singapore, it’s typically filled with spiced beef, chicken, or mutton and served with a curry sauce, sweet pickled onions, or cucumber in ketchup. A version filled with mozzarella is also popular.

Pictured below is a plate of mutton murtabak from the legendary Zam Zam Restaurant, a heritage restaurant that’s been serving this street food favorite since 1908. That’s well over a hundred years!

Zam Zam is an institution and known for being one of the best restaurants in Singapore to try murtabak. If you look through the window below, you’ll see a murtabak-making maestro transforming balls of dough into delicious parcels of murtabak.

Zam Zam Restaurant

Address: 697-699 North Bridge Road, Singapore 198675
Operating Hours: 7AM-11PM daily
Closest MRT Station: Bugis

8. Sungei Road Laksa

Laksa is one of Singapore’s most beloved dishes and popular heritage stall Sungei Road Laksa is known for being one of the best restaurants in Singapore to try it.

If you’ve never had it, laksa is a spicy noodle soup of Peranakan origin consisting of rice noodles or vermicelli made with chicken, prawn, or fish. It’s soup can be based on either a rich and savory coconut milk, a fresh and sour asam (tamarind, gelugur or kokum), or a combination of the two.

In Singapore, the most popular version is the coconut-based curry laksa, which is the version I prefer. That’s the type of laksa you’ll find at Sungei Road.

I read that Sungei Road is among the last remaining places to use a charcoal burner for making their laksa. The curry is creamy and fairly mild at first, until you mix in that dollop of spicy sambal which really kicks it up a notch.

Topped with slivers of fish cake, blood cockles, and some Vietnamese coriander, this is one of the best bowls of laksa I’ve ever tasted in my life. It’s so good.

There are many popular laksa restaurants in Singapore and everyone seems to have their favorite. Even the Grab driver who took us to Sungei Road had his own recommendation.

We chose Sungei Road on the strength of KF Seetoh’s recommendation to CNN Travel. After all, they’ve been serving this same bowl of curry laksa for over 40 years!

Interestingly, there’s a bit of folklore associated with this place. Legend has it that the secret recipe was given to them by a mysterious customer who wanted to help their struggling food cart business.

Customers started pouring in soon after and this benevolent customer was never to be seen or heard from again. Heavenly laksa indeed!

Sungei Road Laksa

Address: #01, 27 Jln Berseh, 100, Singapore 200027
Operating Hours: 9:30AM-5PM, Thurs-Tues (closed on Wednesdays)
Closest MRT Station: Lavender

9. Ng Ah Sio

Ng Ah Sio is known for their bak kut teh, a beloved dish made with meaty pork ribs cooked in a broth of different herbs and spices.

The name bak kut teh literally translates to “meat bone tea”, though no tea is actually used to make this dish. Its name refers to a strong oolong Chinese tea that’s usually served with the soup and pork bones to help wash down the fat.

Based on the way bak kut teh is described, it sounds like a comforting dish to many Singaporeans, something they can’t go too long without. We enjoyed ours with a bowl of rice and a side of braised mushrooms.

Many food bloggers, including sethlui.com and Dr. Leslie Tay, recommended Ng Ah Sio as one of the best restaurants in Singapore to try bak kut teh. They opened on Rangoon Road in 1977 and now have several branches in Singapore.

If you’d like to purchase meal vouchers in advance, then you can do so through Klook. They offer vouchers to the Ng Ah Sio branches on Rangoon Road and the Chui Huay Lim Club.

Ng Ah Sio

Address: Ng Ah Sio has four branches in Singapore.
Operating Hours: Varies per branch

10. Heng Gi Goose and Duck Rice

As its name suggests, the Heng Gi stall is known for its goose and duck rice dishes. As Dr. Leslie Tay puts it: “When you talk about braised duck, this is the one stall that is a bit of a legend in Singapore.” It isn’t hard to understand why considering the man behind Heng Gi has been selling braised duck for over 60 years!

We tried the mixed platter which contained braised duck, goose, pork face, and pork belly. The sauce was incredibly tasty and the meats juicy and flavorful. Everything on this platter was fantastic but my favorite part was the pig face.

If you’ve never had it, pork face has a unique texture that’s a little chewy and gummy but with snap. I love it.

The old man who started this stall is now retired but he’s turned the reins over to the family’s younger generations to keep the tradition alive.

After tasting their food, it’s hard not to agree with Dr. Tay. This place has to be one of the best Singapore restaurants to try braised duck.

Heng Gi

Address: Tekka Food Centre, 665 Buffalo Road, Singapore 210665
Operating Hours: 8AM-3PM, Tue-Sun (closed Mondays)
Closest MRT Station: Little India

11. Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle

You’ve heard of Hawker Chan right? The street food stall that was awarded a Michelin Star in 2016? What many people don’t know is that two hawker stalls were awarded Michelin Stars that year, the other one being Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle.

I think Hawker Chan got all the press because their food is cheaper and it made for a better story, but Hill Street Tai Hwa may be the better hawker stall.

Most of the hawker food stalls we went to in Singapore are popular so as expected, many had long queues. This legendary noodle shop on Crawford Lane had the longest by a mile.

I waited over an hour to get this bowl of bak chor mee. It’s a vinegar-y and spicy noodle dish made even more delicious with pork lard.

Served dry with a light broth on the side, it’s topped with a myriad of ingredients like pork slices, meatballs, liver, dumplings, minced pork, and a sun-dried sliver of fish.

I wasn’t kidding about the line. Though it may not look very long, it moved at a turtle’s pace but no one seemed to mind. We ate here before they were awarded a Michelin Star so I can only imagine how long the lines must be now!

If you’re a short-stay tourist with a full itinerary, then you may want to take this wait into account. Plan for a one- or two-hour lunch to be safe.

Hill Street Tai Hwa is a heritage stall that’s been open since 1935. Even before it was awarded a Michelin Star, it’s long been recognized as one of the best hawker stalls in Singapore. Those pork noodles are damn shiok lah!

Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle

Address: 66 Crawford Lane, #01-12, Singapore 190466
Operating Hours: 9:30AM-9PM, Tue-Sun (closed Mondays)
Closest MRT Station: Lavender

12. Five Star Hainanese Cuisine

Five Star specializes in Hainanese chicken rice which is a Singaporean national dish. You can’t visit Singapore without trying it at least once.

Chicken rice is made by poaching whole chickens at sub-boiling temperatures. The resulting stock is then skimmed off while some of the fat and liquid, along with ginger and garlic, are used to cook the rice. The result is an oily, flavorful rice sometimes known as “oily rice”.

This popular dish is typically served with a trio of dipping sauces that include pureed ginger, kecap manis (sweet soy sauce), and chili sauce. It’s absolutely delicious and one of my favorite things to eat in Singapore.

Five Star uses kampong chicken which is a breed native to Indonesia and Malaysia.

It seems that every Singaporean has an opinion on which restaurant serves the best version of this dish. We went to Five Star based on my friend’s recommendation. He’s been living in Singapore for many years and he loves to eat so I trust his judgement.

According to him, Five Star Hainanese Cuisine is one of the best restaurants in Singapore to try this dish. He may be right. It was delicious.

Five Star Hainanese Cuisine

Address: 419 River Valley Road, Singapore 248318
Operating Hours: 11AM-2AM, daily
Closest MRT Station: Orchard

13. Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice

Like many people, we’re fans of the late great Anthony Bourdain. Any place he features on his shows will definitely go on our itinerary.

Tian Tian is one of those places. According to him, the rice at Tian Tian is exceptionally fragrant and flavorsome, and is delicious even on its own.

We’ve had chicken rice many times before and this was indeed one of the best I’ve ever tasted. I enjoyed it even more than Five Star.

Apart from the flavorful rice, the owners say their secret is in the sauce (which was indeed very tasty), but what I remember most was the texture of the chicken. It was perfect – soft, succulent, and incredibly juicy.

Open since 1987, Tian Tian at Maxwell Food Centre has developed a reputation for being one of the best Singapore restaurants for chicken rice. It’s a Michelin Bib Gourmand awardee and beloved by both locals and tourists alike.

In 2013, Chef Gordon Ramsay was arrogant enough to challenge Tian Tian to a culinary showdown and see who could make the better chicken rice. Tian Tian won, sending a clear message that it clearly is one of the best restaurants in Singapore.

Tian Tian

Address: 1 Kadayanallur Street, #01-10/11 Maxwell Food Centre, Singapore 069184
Operating Hours: 10AM-5:30PM, daily
Closest MRT Station: Chinatown

14. 545 Whampoa Prawn Noodles

Also known as hae mee, prawn mee is a popular soup dish in Singapore made with egg noodles. 545 Whampoa is said to be one of the best places in Singapore to have this famous hawker dish. According to Dr. Leslie Tay, the owner is a third generation hawker whose grandfather started selling prawn mee from a pushcart in the 1920s.

You can choose between a dry or soup version. I believe the dry version is a stir-fried dish known as hokkien mee. Dr. Tay recommended both but we went with the latter based on his slightly higher rating (4.25 vs 4.5). The soup was bold and delicious with a deeply flavorful broth that tasted heavily of prawn.

Like Fatimah Stall Ar Rahman Royal Prata and Heng Gi Goose and Duck Rice, 545 Whampoa is located at Tekka Food Centre.

People looking for cheap but delicious food in Singapore should definitely check out this hawker centre. As you can see from this list, it’s home to many stalls offering exceptional food.

545 Whampoa Prawn Noodles

Address: #01-326 Tekka Food Centre, 665 Buffalo Road, Singapore 210665
Operating Hours: 6:30AM-2PM, Mon-Fri (closed on Saturdays and Sundays)
Closest MRT Station: Little India

15. Huat Huat BBQ Chicken Wings

We chanced upon Huat Huat and their bbq wings at the Rasapura Masters food court in Marina Bay Sands. They were delicious so I thought of adding them to this list as a non-local dish you may want to try in Singapore.

Only when I saw this list of the best bbq wings in the city did I learn that they were actual Singaporean hawker food! Very cool!

Unlike the wings I’m accustomed to, the skin on these wings are crisp but delicately thin. Paper thin in fact. It feels like it was stretched taut over the wing and crisped!

There’s no heavy batter or thick sauce, just flavorful marinated wings cooked over charcoal and served with lime juice and a spicy chili sauce. They’re surprisingly good and highly addictive.

As described, we ate at the Rasapura Masters food court branch in Marina Bay Sands but Huat Huat has several outlets throughout the city.

Huat Huat

Address: Huat Huat has a few branches in Singapore.
Operating Hours: Varies per branch

16. Red House Seafood Restaurant

Red House Seafood Restaurant is one of the many places in Singapore to try chili crab. Often referred to as the country’s national dish, chilli crabs are synonymous with Singapore. It’s considered one of its greatest culinary inventions and arguably its most important dish.

To make chilli crabs, chefs stir-fry crabs – commonly mud crabs – in a thick, tomato and chili sauce. Despite its name, it isn’t very spicy at all. It tastes sweet and tangy with just a hint of spiciness.

If you were to have just one dish in Singapore, something to represent the cuisine as a whole, then it should definitely be chili crab.

The best part of any crab? The sinful roe in its shell, of which ours had tons (pictured below). Instead of the usual Sri Lankan mud crabs, Red House uses Scottish brown crabs which are said to be meatier and less pungent.

According to my friend who recommended Red House to us, chilli crabs are delicious pretty much anywhere in Singapore so it doesn’t matter as much where you go.

He specifically recommended this restaurant because they’re equally known for their black pepper crabs, which we’ll definitely try on our next visit to Singapore.

Red House Seafood Restaurant

Address: Red House Seafood Restaurant has several branches in Singapore.
Operating Hours: Varies per branch

17. Don Signature Crab

Don Signature Crab is known for their crab bee hoon, a popular Singaporean rice vermicelli dish made with whole mud crabs cooked in seafood stock.

Crab bee hoon shot to international fame after Anthony Bourdain tried it at Sin Huat Eating House and included the restaurant in his list of 13 places to eat before you die.

With an endorsement like that, I wanted to try it at Sin Huat Eating House but I was put off by its many negative reviews which called the place overpriced and poor value for money.

Thankfully, I learned about Don Signature Crab from this article listing 15 of the best restaurants in Singapore for crab bee hoon.

Because the dish is made with whole crab, it can be expensive which is why I chose Don Signature Crab. I was traveling in Singapore alone so I didn’t want to spend an arm and a leg for it.

At Don Signature Crab, the smallest order of crab bee hoon is good enough for two people.

Don Signature Crab

Address: Block 206, Toa Payoh North 1, #01-1197, Singapore 310206
Operating Hours: 12NN-8:30PM, daily
Closest MRT Station: Braddell

18. The Banana Leaf Apolo

Google “best restaurants in Singapore” and The Banana Leaf Apolo will surely come up. This legendary restaurant has been open since 1974 and is known for serving many delicious dishes, one of the most popular being their fish head curry.

A Singaporean dish with South Indian and Chinese origins, fish head curry is prepared by stewing a whole sea bream’s head in a Kerala-style curry with assorted vegetables and a secret blend of eighteen spices.

Served on banana leaves, Apolo’s curry is available in small, medium, or large sizes. We got the medium which was more than enough for two people.

I believe this was the fish’s tongue. Be sure to pair this dish with plenty of rice and/or naan bread. The curry has a sourness and depth of flavor that’s absolutely wonderful.

The Banana Leaf Apolo

Address: 54 Race Course Road, Singapore 218564
Operating Hours: 10:30AM-10:30PM, daily
Closest MRT Station: Little India

19. Ayam Penyet Ria

Ayam Penyet Ria is a restaurant chain that serves Indonesian food. Their signature dish – ayam penyet – literally translates to “smashed fried chicken”.

Ayam penyet is prepared by lightly pounding chicken with a mortar and pestle (or mallet) to make it softer. It’s then deep-fried, topped with kremes (crispy spiced flakes), and served with rice, sambal, cucumber slices, fried tofu, and tempeh (soybean cake).

I learned about this restaurant when I was searching for a good place to eat along Orchard Road. Ayam Penyet Ria fit the bill nicely.

The chicken tasted great but I’m not sure it was softer than “unsmashed” chicken. Ours seemed a bit dry as well. I loved the sides and the texture of those crispy flakes.

Ayam Penyet Ria

Address: Ayam Penyet Ria has several branches in Singapore.
Operating Hours: Varies per branch

20. MA Deen Biasa

Sup tulang has been on top of our must-eat list from the moment we read about it. It refers to the most sinful-looking bone marrow dish cooked in tomato paste and spices.

When KF Seetoh described MA Deen Biasa’s sup tulang as “the most desperately delicious” in Singapore, I knew I found the right place to try it.

Served with slices of baguette to mop up the savory-sweet sauce, hunks of beef bone with marrow are cooked with tomato paste and a variety of spices to create this devilish-looking dish. We made the mistake of ordering basmati rice with it but don’t bother. It’s perfect with the bread.

The sauce and beef are fantastic but the real star of this dish is the marrow. MA Deen Biasa will give you straws so you can suck out the marrow like a mosquito. Awesome!

MA Deen Biasa is a simple restaurant but don’t let its spartan looks fool you. For us, it’s one of the best restaurants in Singapore. This dish is amazing.

MA Deen Biasa

Address: 95/97 Jln Sultan Road, Singapore 198999
Operating Hours: Open 24 hrs
Closest MRT Station: Lavender

21. Candlenut

Candlenut serves elevated Peranakan food. The Peranakans are the descendants of Chinese immigrants who settled in Penang, Malacca, Singapore, and Indonesia between the 15th and 17th centuries.

They inter-married with local Malays and produced an intermingling of cultures that manifested itself in many ways, most notably in their food.

Chinese ingredients were used with local spices and cooking techniques to create Peranakan interpretations of Malay food that are characteristically tangy, aromatic, spicy, and herbal. If you enjoy bold flavors, then you’re going to love Peranakan food.

There are many places to get Peranakan food in Singapore, but I believe Candlenut is the only Michelin-starred Peranakan restaurant in the city. If you’re looking to have a special dining experience in Singapore, then Candlenut is an excellent choice.

Even before it was awarded a Michelin Star, Candlenut already had a reputation for being one of the best restaurants in Singapore.

What makes Candlenut so interesting is that there’s no ala carte dinner menu. Inspired by Japanese omakase, Chef Malcolm Lee creates new dishes each week and serves them in a family-style tasting he likes to call ahma-kase dining. Ahma means “grandmother”.

Pictured below is a course of charred octopus with chincalok (fermented shrimp), cucumber and pineapple achar (pickled), and roasted peanuts.

Pictured here is a dish of tapioca leaf lodeh (vegetable soup) made with young jackfruit and crispy whitebait. You can check my article on Candlenut for more pictures of all the dishes from our ahma-kase dinner menu.

We went with beer but I believe Candlenut may have a wine bar as well. Pairing your Michelin-starred Peranakan meal with a good bottle of wine is a great way to elevate the dining experience even more.

Candlenut

Address: Block 17A Dempsey Road, Singapore 249676
Operating Hours: 12NN-3PM, daily / 6-10PM, Sun-Thurs / 6-11PM, Fri-Sat, public holidays
Closest MRT Station: Commonwealth

22. 3S Beancurd City – CLOSED

We were searching for good Asian breakfast restaurants in Singapore when we came across 3S Beancurd City. They’re known for their soya bean curd served with a side of deep-fried doughstick (you tiao).

According to Dr. Leslie Tay, it’s “probably as good as beancurd gets in Singapore”.

Aside from Dr. Tay, 3S Beancurd City gets high praises from sethlui.com as well. They included it on their list of fifteen of the best Singapore restaurants to have breakfast.

3S Beancurd City – CLOSED

Address: 133 Jln Besar Road, Singapore 208851
Operating Hours: 12NN-8PM, daily
Closest MRT Station: Rochor

23. Simple Delite

Kueh is a blanket term that refers to these Asian bite-sized snacks made with rice. They come in many different forms and can be either sweet, like the kueh lopis below, or savory.

I added Simple Delite to our Singapore itinerary after reading about their kueh lopis on Dr. Leslie Tay’s blog. Made with glutinous rice, gula melaka, and shredded coconut, he described it as having “a sublime texture [with] a superb balance of sweet, salty and savory flavors”. He was right – it was amazing.

We also tried these other types of kueh called kueh salat and kueh bingka jagung (if I remember correctly). Kueh salat is made with pandan and tapioca while kueh bingka jagung is made with corn pudding and palm sugar. Both were just as good.

Like a few places on this list, Simple Delite is located at the Tekka Food Centre as well. According to Dr. Tay, they usually sell out by noon so be sure to come early.

Simple Delite

Address: Tekka Food Centre, Buffalo Road, Singapore, 665号 邮政编码: 210665
Operating Hours: 8AM-3PM, daily
Closest MRT Station: Little India

24. Tiong Bahru Bakery

I know what you’re thinking. Croissants may seem like an odd choice for a Singapore restaurant guide but these are an exception.

Opened in partnership with Parisian Chef Gontran Cherrier, the croissants at Tiong Bahru Bakery and coffee shop are to die for. In fact, some say they’re even better than the croissants in Paris! We had the green tea almond croissant and it was divine.

Here’s the aforementioned green tea almond croissant and a kouign-amann. The kouign-amann was average but the croissant really was superb.

If you’d like to purchase Tiong Bahru Bakery meal vouchers in advance, then you can do so through Klook. They offer vouchers to meal sets similar to what you see below.

The bakery is in a stylish coffee shop in trendy Tiong Bahru, just a stone’s throw away from the market. This is a hip and trendy neighborhood in Singapore so if you have the time, then I suggest having breakfast here and exploring the area.

Tiong Bahru Bakery

Address: 56 Eng Hoon Street, #01-70, Singapore 160056
Operating Hours: 8AM-8PM daily
Closest MRT Station: Tiong Bahru

25. Off the Eaten Track with A Chef’s Tour

This last entry isn’t a Singapore restaurant or a hawker center stall. It’s a food tour, an excellent street food tour by A Chef’s Tour featuring the most incredibly delicious char siew rice dish I’ve ever tasted in my life. Just look at that thing!

Char siew (or char siu) is a Cantonese dish of barbecued seasoned boneless pork. It’s the most famous dish from a family of roast meats popular in Hong Kong. I’ve been eating char siew practically all my life and this was the best I’ve had by a mile.

This char siew was tender, meaty, fatty, and juicy with ultra crisp skin and a deliciously thick savory-sweet sauce. Apologies in advance to my friends in Hong Kong, but I’d fly back to Singapore just for this!

If you don’t have the time to go from hawker stall to hawker stall on your own, then I suggest going on this food tour with A Chef’s Tour. It’ll give you a sampling of some of the best dishes this city has to offer.

Check out my article on this Off the Eaten Track food tour for more pictures and information.

A Chef’s Tour

Availability: 3-6PM, Thurs-Sun

LOCATION MAP

I created the map below to help you understand where these Singapore restaurants are in relation to each another. Click here to view an interactive version of the map.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON WHERE TO EAT IN SINGAPORE

This is by no means a comprehensive list but I do hope it helps you plan your trip. With so many great restaurants to choose from, choosing a place to eat in Singapore can be a challenge.

Like all our food guides, this Singapore restaurant guide will continue to grow and improve after each return visit to this island nation. It’s still missing many Singaporean food favorites like char kway teow, hokkien mee, carrot cake, yong tau foo, and oyster omelette. I’d love to add a good dim sum place and maybe a sushi restaurant as well.

With food this delicious and diverse and prepared by a people as food-obsessed as we are, I’m pretty sure we’ll find ourselves in Singapore often. We’re always looking for great places to eat so if you have any suggestions, then please let us know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful time eating the most shiok food in Singapore!

Disclosure

Some of the links in this Singapore restaurant guide are affiliate links, meaning we’ll get a small commission if you make a purchase at NO extra cost to you. We only recommend products and services that we use ourselves and firmly believe in. We really appreciate your support as this helps us make more of these free travel guides. Thank you!

Found this article useful? Help us help other travelers by sharing it!