So when I visited Singapore, I knew I needed your help to decide what and where to eat in Singapore.
I decided to publish a video, linking to this blog post, asking you (the Migrationology.com community) for personal recommendations on places to eat.
So many Singaporeans and CMD368 even non-Singaporeans offered an abundance of restaurant suggestions and tips (check out the comments below). Thank you to all of you, I couldn’t have eaten my way through this guide without you.
My wife and I went to Singapore and ate. The result is this Singapore food guide.
Get ready for 25 dishes you should try in Singapore (plus a few extras that I had to add in), and where to eat them!
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1. Laksa
Laksa is one of the ultimate demonstrations of the combination of Chinese and Malay flavors and ingredients all in a single bowl. Noodles, often rice noodles, make up the foundation and starch of a bowl of laksa, followed by a gravy or curry, some pieces of protein, and often some vegetables and herbs.
There are many different types of laksa, some that include rich coconut milk, and others that are more water based. Laksa is very popular throughout the Malay peninsula, and when you’re in Singapore you’ll find a number of extremely famous laksa restaurants.
Sungei Road Laksa
Among the list of heritage hawker food stalls in Singapore, Sungei Road Laksa is well known among laksa lovers, and it has an interesting story behind it and how they obtained their recipe from a customer who then disappeared. The stall has been serving laksa for decades in the same way – the curry is cooked in an aluminum curry pot over charcoal. At peak times the line at Sungei Road Laksa can stretch across the food court, although luckily the line goes pretty fast as they only serve one dish with no variations.
The rice noodles were cut up so they were bite sized, and the curry was creamy from the coconut milk, but very mild in spice. Finally, on the top of the laksa was a handful of lightly cooked blood cockles, a sprinkle of chopped Vietnamese coriander, and some extra sambal chili sauce on the side. I enjoyed my bowl of laksa at Sungei Road, however it was quite mild, like cockle chowder.
2. Bak Kut Teh
Literally translated to pork bone tea, bak kut teh is a dish that’s popular throughout Malaysia and Singapore with Chinese origins. Although one would think the pork is cooked in tea, tea is not actually included in the recipe, but according to Wikipedia, it got its name because strong tea is consumed along with the pork soup to wash down the grease.
The basic recipe for bak kut teh includes pork ribs that are boiled in water along with white pepper, lots of garlic, and salt, until the pork become tender and all the flavor of the pepper and garlic is mingled into the pork bones to create a comfortingly flavorful soup. Bak kut teh is eaten with a bowl of rice, and often some other Chinese side dishes like preserved mustard greens or braised tofu. And of course, when you eat bak kut teh, you need to wash it down with hot Chinese tea.
Outram Park Yahua Rou Gu Cha
There are quite a few bak kut teh restaurants in Singapore, but due to location and open hours, I decided to try out Outram Park Yahua Rou Gu Cha. The restaurant is open air, on the patio of a complex, and what I liked is that it was nice and spacious.
I ordered a bowl of the lean ribs bak kut teh, plus a bowl of kidney soup, both of which were pretty good. The broth of the bak kut teh was nice and peppery, but not too spicy, but just with a slight burn to the throat in a very pleasant way. The meat was also tender, and dipped in just a bit of dark soy sauce, along with rice, it was delicious.
3. Hokkien Mee
Along with Char Kway Teow (coming up soon), Hokkien Mee is one of the most popular fried noodle hawker dishes in Singapore. It’s a dish that has roots in China’s Fujian province (which is where the Hokkien people are originally from), that has now been adopted into Malaysia and Singapore.
Hokkien Mee includes a mixture of both yellow egg noodles and white rice noodles that are fried in a wok with egg, often pieces of seafood (usually squid and shrimp), and bean sprouts. Different hawkers prepare it slightly different, some stir frying it more dry, and others making it with a gravy sauce. Hokkien Mee is then typically served with some sambal chili sauce, plus a calamansi to squeeze on top for a extra citrusy sourness.
Nam Sing Fried Hokkien Mee
One of the Singapore food hawker legends when it comes to Hokkien Mee is Nam Sing Fried Hokkien Mee, located at the Old Airport Road Food Centre. I watched the noodles being cooked, and the mixture of noodles and ingredients were cooked in a large wok, by the big batch, and every now and then after doing some stir frying, a big wooden cover was placed on top, so the noodles both stir fried and steamed at the same time.
4. Chicken Rice
Although it’s just a simple combination of boiled chicken, paired with flavorful rice and sauce, this Hainanese influenced dish, ranks as one of the most popular and beloved dishes to eat in Singapore (it’s also extremely popular in Thailand, known as khao man gai).
I think just about everyone in Singapore has their own favorite version or favorite restaurant or hawker stall that serves it, each varying by the way the chicken tastes, the texture, the taste or oiliness of the rice, and then most definitely the different styles of sauces – some more spicy, others more gingery or salty.
Tian Tian Chicken Rice
Possibly one of the most famous hawker food stalls in all of Singapore, known by both locals and tourists, is Tian Tian Chicken Rice. Although I would have guessed it’s become more of a touristy place to eat chicken rice, Dr. Leslie Tay from I Eat I Shoot I Post, conducted a survey for best hawker stalls to eat chicken rice, with mostly locals I assume voting, and Tian Tian still won – so it’s loved by many locals as well. This is the stall that Anthony Bourdain also raved about, especially proclaiming the delicious fragrance of the rice.
5. Char Kway Teow
When it comes to stir fried noodles in Singapore, one of the ultimate local favorites is char kway teow, a dish of flat wide rice noodles, stir fried with egg, a sauce of dark soy sauce, shrimp paste, a bit of chili, and often some Chinese sausage and blood cockles to finish it off.
Stir frying batches of char kway teow takes some serious skill… I’ve tried frying the sticky wide rice noodles before, only to end up with a big gooey lump at the end – so it really takes wok and heat skills, and a knowledge of the ingredients to be able to fry a good plate of char kway teow.
Hill Street Char Kway Teow
You’ll find char kway teow at many hawker centres throughout Singapore, but many major fans of the dish including Dr. Leslie Tay, highly recommend Hill Street Char Kway Teow as one of the best in the city, so I had to make a trip there.
Located in a neighborhood food court, surrounded by some giant flats, the food court is nice and laid back, friendly, and popular especially at lunch time. I joined the continual lunchtime queue, and even though there were about 20 people in front of me, I received my plate of char kway teow within about 15 minutes.
