Interesting places to eat in Singapore

Singapore is well-known for its eclectic foodie scene and interesting places to eat, offering a delicious hybrid of Malay, Chinese, Indonesian and Indian influences. From small eateries to high-end restaurants, cultural culinary experiences at Hawker Centres, to must-try local dishes, Singapore’s dining scene reflects its rich heritage.

For lip-smacking, delicious food our guide explores the best places to eat in Chinatown, Bugis, Orchard, central Singapore, and everywhere in between. You will also discover more about Singapore’s national food treasures and where to find them. 

A unique aspect of Singaporean culture is the different hawker centres found all over the city. First time visitors will be charmed by these open-air complexes housing hundreds of diverse food stalls, selling affordably priced food. These lively, community hubs offer a window into daily life, and you can sample a range of national dishes in one sitting.

Favoured hawker centres among locals include Lau Pa Sat and Maxwell Food Centre. Originally a fish market, Lau Pa Sat, located downtown, is the matriarch of hawker centres in Singapore, enticing customers with the best satay and grilled seafood in the city, giving visitors a taste for Victorian architecture.

Maxwell Food Centre in the middle of Chinatown offers an eye-opening range of multi-cultural dishes. Indulge in comforting fragrant chicken rice from Tian Tian, flavourful laksa’s at Old Nyonya, delicious oyster cakes from Fu Zhou and red bean dough fritters from Hum Jin Pang.

If you are going to indulge in fine dining, then Singapore is the place to do it. There are well over 40 Michelin starred restaurants in the city and there is always something new and exciting popping up. Michelin-starred Burnt Ends, presided over by owner-chef Dave Pynt, is set in trendy Dempsey Hill. The restaurant is a celebration of quintessential Australian barbecue fare cooked over fire. Signature meat dishes include the Wagyu onglet and forty-five-day, dry aged Blackmore's oven roasted ribs. Appetisers include courgettes topped with heirloom tomatoes and smoked quail eggs loaded with caviar.

Odette is a timeless fine dining establishment housed in Singapore’s National Gallery. Headed up by Chef Julien Royer and inspired by his grandmother, Odette, this jaw droppingly good, three-Michelin-starred restaurant favours French cuisine. Chef Royer sources his artisanal produce from boutique producers from all over the world. Recommended dishes include Kampot pepper crusted pigeon and Normandy brown crab with wasabi oil and nashi pear.

Top Tip: You''ll need to make reservations well in advance at both Odette and Burnt Ends or any other Michelin restaurants in the city.

Innovative dining experiences in Singapore reimagine what it means to dine out. From hidden gems to restaurants pushing the boundaries of traditional culinary dishes, Singapore offers blended culinary adventures.

Mustard Seed’s Singaporean chef, Ming Kiat offers a Japanese twist on traditional local dishes. You can watch Ming cook from one of the restaurant’s thirteen counter seats. His innovative omakase-style tasting menu, which changes every two months, blends Singaporean flavours with progressive Japanese techniques. Some of Mustard Seed’s imaginative dishes have included turmeric fried frog legs, laksa leaf pesto and pulled duck ssam with sambal hijau and baek kimchi which is made with ingredients like jujubes, pine nuts, chestnuts, and vegetables.

Top tip: You need to book at least two months in advance but it’s worth it!

Labyrinth highlights authentic Singaporean produce and flavours. Chef LG Han’s inexhaustible passion and curiosity for Singaporean-Hainanese dishes is unlimited, and he brings to the table his grandparent’s heritage recipes, favourite hawker dishes and a bounty of sustainably sourced local ingredients. Deeply connected to his roots, Chef Han’s food is a celebration of reinterpreted classics - skilfully presented with complex depths of flavour. Labyrinth’s hallmark chilli crab ice-cream is served with custard apple and pomelo. Must-try Hainanese dishes include Kaya Teh Tarik and eggs - an authentic caviar dish and his grandfather’s Hainanese steak dish – Tochigi Wagyu steak in a red wine sauce. The Labyrinth Rojak is a layered dessert of locally grown herbs, ginger, and jackfruit sorbet, cempedak fruit and stingless bee honey from Batam.

Singapore’s favourite dishes are adapted from the city’s multicultural heritage. Discover where to get the best chicken rice, the best char kway teow, the best chilli crab, the best Hokkien mee, the best satay, the best roti prata and the best laksa.

1. Chilli Crab is a Singaporean staple and is made with mud crab doused in chilli sauce and served with deep fried mantou, Chinese fried bread buns, to soak up the spicy gravy.  The best chilli crab and mantou in the city has to be from Kelly Jie Seafood. This Toa Payoh eatery, which was started by Kelly Soon, a doyen of the food community in Singapore, is now being run by her daughters, Rachel and Zara Lim.

2. Another Singaporean staple is chicken rice. A bowl of fragrant deliciousness that includes steamed chicken, aromatic rice, and hot chili sauce can be found at Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice at the Maxwell Hawker Centre. |

3. Roti Prata is a delicious crispy and flaky flatbread. Variations include cheese and onion stuffings and sweet and savoury toppings. The Roti Prata House on Upper Thomson road offers over eighty varieties of prata, including durian, ice cream and kaya (jam made with coconut, egg and caramel) but without a doubt the best is the coin prata which is a smaller version of the plain prata and instead of being completely flat, the dough is rolled and twisted before frying.

4. Char kway teow is made with flat rice noodles and fried in a wok with garlic, soy sauce, Chinese sausage, bean sprouts and cockles. You need to wake up early to sample Outram Park Fried Kway Teow Mee’s signature wok-fried noodles as the queues are long. This Michelin Bib Gourmand-listed eatery is located in the Hong Lim Market and Food Centre on Upper Cross Street in Chinatown housing estate.

5. Hokkien mee comprises egg and rice noodles braised in a rich prawn and pork bone broth and then stir-fried in pork lard with prawns and squid. Simon Road Hokkien Mee has been frying up plates of tastiness since the 1960s. They’ve relocated from their landmark spot in Simon Road to the Kovan 209 Market and Food Centre.

6. Laksa is a spicy rice noodle and aromatic coconut-based curry broth topped with a variety of ingredients like shrimp, fish cake, tofu puffs and cockles. Since 1956, Sungei Laksa, located at Jalan Besar, has attracted Singapore’s Laksa connoisseurs. The humble stalls, charcoal cooked laksa is topped off with a fishcake and cockles and is quite literally heaven in a bowl.

7. There is nothing quite like the Singaporean Malaysian version of satay. The marinade is sweeter and spicier, and the accompanying peanut sauce is thick and rich. You can find the best satays at any one of the Lau Pa Sat hawker stalls.

Bugis is an interesting and diverse neighbourhood home to countless popular eateries, street markets and a variety of food options. Whether its Indonesian bakmi, Cantonese or authentic hawker fare, you’ll find it in Bugis.

Bugis Street Market is Singapore’s largest street market with over eight hundred general stores and a myriad of food options including satay and laksa stalls. You can also find neighbourhood food gems at the Albert Centre Market & Food Centre at the rear of the Bugis Street Market. Sample the fried carrot cake at Guan Kee and enjoy delicious Chinese Teochew fish soup at Angel Horse. Try the Michelin recommended rojak at Sinapore Famous Rojak. This traditional Singaporean salad is filled with fried dough fritters, tofu puffs, cucumber, pineapple, turnips, and beansprouts tossed in a spicy shrimp dressing and topped with crushed peanuts.

Bali Lane is perfect for getting your Indonesian fix on. At Kulon you can enjoy different variations of Bakmi. Ranging from the classic - clear broth with egg noodles, chicken, and spring onions to Bakmi Gulai Sapi which includes Javanese beef curry. There are also different strength accompanying chilli sambals.

Explore the authentic Cantonese menu at Song Garden at Mercure Singapore Burgis. The mainstay of the menu are the thirty plus dim sum dishes. The steamed Cheong Fun crispy prawn fritters and the pan-seared Otah Siew Mai dumplings filled with spicy mackerel and prawns are interesting and delicious.

Chinatown captures the essence of Singapore’s gastronomic prowess, dishing-up ancient Perankan and Chinese family recipes that have been valued and reimagined by multiple generations. And like all great Chinatowns the world over, special attention is paid to the flavours and quality of the ingredients. One of Singapore's original kopitiams (traditional coffee houses) is Tong Ah Eating House which opened in Chinatown in 1939 on Keong Saik Road. Here you can enjoy sweet kopi - coffee made with condense milk, French toast with kaya jam and comforting Chinese homemade tze char dishes like beef hor fun noodles and braised pork trotter bee hoon (rice noodles).

Chinatown Food Street on Smith Street is where you’ll find inexpensive and tasty local food. The expansive selection of stalls and shophouse tea shops, craft beer stalls, and eateries make this street a culinary tour de force. Stalls are open in the morning, but Food Street really comes alive in the early evening. Here you will discover the best dim sum in Singapore at Zhong Guo La Mian Xiao Long Bao and delicious crispy roast duck at Tiong Bahru Meng Kee.

Chinatown features three hawker centres all within close proximity to one another - Chinatown Complex Food Centre, Amoy Street Food Centre, and Maxwell Food Centre. There are several Michelin Bib Gourmand stalls within the Chinatown Complex Food Centre on Smith Street. Enjoy claypot rice from Lian He Ben Ji Claypot Rice, Popiah from Ann Chin Handmade Popiah (a type of fresh spring roll filled with different ingredients) and Hong Kong-style beef brisket noodles from Fatty Ox HK Kitchen. Sample the famed soy sauce chicken noodles at Liao Fan Hawker Chan (Michelin-star eatery from 2016 - 2021).

At the Amoy Street Food Centre enjoy local hawker style ramen at A Noodle Story and crispy curry puffs at J2, both Michelin bib gourmand stalls. Aside from the famous Tian Tian chicken rice stall, made famous by the late Anthony Bourdain, other notable stalls at Maxwell Food Centre include Fu Shun Shao La Mian Jia for succulent meat roasts, Peranakan food at Old Nonya and creamy Cantonese-style porridge at Zhen Zhen Porridge.

Orchard Road was once lined with pepper and nutmeg plantations. Today it's one of Singapore’s most exclusive addresses featuring high street fashion, fine dining, glamorous cocktail bars, and Interesting places to eat in Singapore. If you’re in the mood for Maine lobster rolls then pop into Lukes Lobster shack on the first floor of Shaw House. You'll enjoy humble seafood that is pure and simply cooked and paired with delicious chowders and bisques. 

Mandarin Gallery with its floor-to-ceiling views of Orchard Road, is home to several luxurious dining experiences: Lawry's The Prime Rib well-known for its excellent American cuisine; Wild Honey dishes-up breakfast all day long. Each breakfast dish tells a story of near and far flung lands, bringing culinary culture to life; delight in authentic yakiniku cuisine with premium Wagyu beef cuts grilled to perfection at Yakiniquest.

Discover the diverse food scene of central Singapore, where you will find a medley of local and international food flavours and interesting neighbourhoods. Clarke Quay, located along the Singapore River, is where you will find an exciting array of waterfront restaurants and bars set in a series of repurposed stylish warehouses. Located in the heart of Clarke Quay at Central, is Mitsuba Japanese Restaurant. Enjoy authentic sushi temaki handrolls, bite-sized makimono, and chirashi dishes from keyaki train booth seats. Dive into delicious Mexican fare like corn tacos filled with red snapper and pork carnitas at Café Iguana.

Across the street on Hong Kong Street is Foc, a fun-loving, Barcelona-inspired dining experience. Standout dishes include yellow corn and potato bomba stuffed with chicken achiote, avocado and chipotle, Josper-grilled leeks with hazelnuts and romesco sauce, and crispy roasted suckling pig terrine with glazed red wine pickled pear. Enjoy pre- or post-drinks at  28 HongKong Street, or stay and make a night of it. It isn’t signposted but look for an old shophouse at number 28 on Hong Kong Street and you’ll find it. This is the most awarded bar in Asia and Singapore’s best-known cocktail venue.  Enjoy dirty martini’s, kiwi margaritas, and mojito caballito’s.

Four kilometres from Clarke Quay is Tiong Bahru Market and Hawkers Centre. Set amidst heritage shophouses in the old Chinese neighbourhood, the Hawkers Market has garnered attention from Michelin, with several food stalls receiving Bib Gourmand recommendations. Hong Heng Fried Sotong Prawn Mee is a consistent recipient of the Michelin Bib Gourmand award for its Hokkien Mee. This stir fry wok dish is a delicious blend of yellow thick vermicelli noodles (bee hoon) loaded with squid and prawns and drenched in a rich prawn stock. Jian Bo Shui Kueh, a stalwart of the market since 1958, has evolved into a multi-outlet operation in Singapore. The sentinel dish at the core of this hawker’s empire is shui kueh (steamed rice cakes). The shui kueh is topped with preserved radish and sesame seeds and is served with a homemade shrimp paste chilli. Lor Mee 178 is popular for its bowls of thick yellow noodles drenched in a potent spicy gravy, known as lor. It is served with braised pork belly or a boiled egg.

Located at the end of the downtown district is Restaurant Fiz in Tanjong Pagar. The restaurant offers diners different tasting menus that showcase a slew of Southeast Asian cuisines and ingredients. Many of the dishes come from Malaysia’s coastal regions, where chef-owner Hafizzul Hashim spent his childhood years. He values ancient methods coupled with creative modern refinement. His imaginative dishes include pickled king maceral, pomelo salad, and kabocha squash.

If you’re looking for an affordable place to stay while eating your way through Singapore’s smorgasbord of delights, then we recommend Mercure Icon Singapore City Centre. A perfect base for food lovers looking to explore the culinary scene in central Singapore and Chinatown. For a more neighbourly experience, stay in the heart of Bugis at Mercure Singapore Bugis. You can also discover the surrounding neighbourhoods of Little India and Kampong Glam’s diverse blend of culinary culture.