Best Food in Singapore: Exploring the Culinary Delights of the Lion City

Hainese chicken rice is oft-described as Singapore’s national dish. Its roots go back to the 1800s, when the Hainese people first immigrated to Singapore, and the locals love it for its intense flavour, frugal ingredients, and beautiful simplicity. The chicken is poached slowly for ultimate juiciness, inside a huge saucepan of garlic and ginger broth. It’s sliced, then served alongside fragrant rice. Indeed, it’s the rice that’s the star of the show here, typically cooked in the very same broth as the chicken and invigorated with zingy lime or a dash of hot sauce.

It’s a popular, everyday street food, found at most (if not all) hawker centres, with variations available in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia.

First things first, the satay in Singapore is as tasty as it gets. Secondly, it’s a great way to stay on budget too, with sticks starting from as low as 40-50 cents – what a bargain! You’ll find them on almost every street corner, at every hawker centre, but our favourites are the ones on offer at Chomp Chomp Food Centre. Choose from pork, chicken, mutton and beef varieties, each as peanuty, juicy and fragrant as the last.  

Choosing your order at Janggut is easy, as there’s only one laksa on the menu! Claiming to be the “original” laksa – rising to fame in the forties – the Janggut Laksa is spicy, salty, and sweet, delicately flavoured with dried shrimp and coconut milk. The noodles are chopped into short pieces, so no chopsticks required for this one, and topped with cockles, prawns, and fishcakes, not to mention a range of other fishy ingredients.

Bib and napkin at the ready: prepare to get messy at Keng Eng Kee Seafood! This restaurant serves mostly Hainanese and Cantonese dishes, but the main attraction is the chilli crab claw – another one of Singapore’s most famous dishes, and a must try. You’ll be served an entire crab, draped in tangy tomato sauce – sweet, spicy and savoury, all at the same time. The crab comes slightly cracked for you, but you’ll need to dig deep to get all that juicy crab meat from the shell.   

“When visiting Godmama, we were served a tasting menu of all of their best dishes, which I would highly recommend,” says our Singapore Travel Expert Maggie, “but if you can only order one or two, you absolutely must have the beef rendang.”

A tender cut, the beef falls apart, blending blissfully into a curry that is ever-so spicy, creamy and coconutty. Honourable mention also goes to Godmama’s black nut chicken stew: a unique dish made with buah keluak. These tangy, truffle-esque black nuts are usually poisonous, but undergo a lengthy (and thorough) cooking process to make them edible. 

“If it’s good enough for Barack Obama, then it’s good enough for me!” states Maggie. This long-standing restaurant is famous for its South Indian-style fish head curry, so much so that it’s made dishes for many a celebrity over the years. Addressing the elephant (or fish head) in the room, it does really contain an entire fish head – including the eyeballs, which are supposedly a delicacy. Maggie abstained from the eyeballs: “But the fish was succulent and the curry fragrant. We ordered plates and plates for the table, and I filled up on mutton, giant prawns, paneer and squid… all great South Indian food.”

This relaxed restaurant is renowned for its traditional Malay dish: nasi lemak. Flavours and textures collide here: think fragrant, coconut milk rice served with sambal, crispy fried anchovies, toasted peanuts and chopped cucumber. Coconut Club serves it alongside various meat and fish dishes – the chicken in particular is spicy, fried until crispy, and mouth-wateringly tender. “Wash it down with their signature coconut shake,” Maggie recommends, “Which includes every bit of the coconut and fresh coconut ice cream – so creamy.”

No visit to Singapore is complete without a delicious Singapore Sling. Head for Raffles – the birthplace of this fruity cocktail – to try it at its most authentic. If you’re not fussy about locations (or choice of cocktail, for that matter), you can also try the Lantern Bar, on the rooftop of the Fullerton Bay Hotel. According to our expert Maggie: “I could have drunk anything at this bar and been content as the views are just incredible.

“You enter through the lobby, which is gorgeous, then, once the elevator door opens on the rooftop, you immediately see the hype. The Marina Bay Sands looms over you and you have panoramic views across the whole bay. I highly recommend the ‘Fullerton Sling’ – a twist on the classic, because, when in Singapore…”

For a less boozy Singapore drinks option, don’t miss the teh and kopi (tea and coffee), delicious bubble tea, and – for an energy hit – a cup of sugarcane juice, a refreshing drink literally made from squeezed sugarcane, sometimes with a dash of lemon or salted sour plum.

Despite being a relatively rich city, Singapore’s food options are extremely affordable. This is thanks, in large part, to its hawker centres. These open-air food courts, with stalls upon stalls sandwiched together, offer a variety of different food and drink options – all in one place, at wallet-friendly prices.

For an authentic taste of Singapore, be sure to try the Old Airport Road Food Centre. It’s been open since the early seventies and boasts loads of family-run stalls, with recipes handed down through generations. Similarly, we love the Geylang Serai Market, launched in 1964. Experiment with a selection of Malay cakes (kueh) here.

Fancy a biryani, or some handmade thosai? Indian fare is the big draw at Tekka Market. Or if you want to keep it Singaporean, the Michelin Bib Gourmand-tier dumplings available at Amoy Street are fresh and juicy: try them at Hoo Kee Bak Chang.

And if, like us, you prefer to kick your day off with a fully belly, hawker centres are a great place to grab breakfast. Head for Tiong Bahru, where you can sample some Singapore-style soft boiled eggs with toast slathered in kaya jam, a local delicacy of coconut milk, eggs, and sugar. “You’ll be served your eggs with a timer,” explains Maggie. “Once your timer is up, crack the eggs into your bowl, stir them, and add a drizzle of soy sauce and pepper then – stay with me here – dunk the toast and jam.

If you’re still unsure where to begin, our biggest tip is to explore with a guide. “Hawker centres are a really great experience, and full of amazing food, but they can be a little overwhelming if you go by yourself without knowing what’s good to try,” Maggie says.

Littler than London and just 0.9 times the size of New York City, Singapore is compact. Thankfully, that makes this small but mighty island-nation relatively easy to get around. The MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) and LRT (Light Rail Transit) are both extensive and reliable, not to mention cost effective and air conditioned: crucial when you consider Singapore’s average humidity hovers around 84%. That said, if you prefer to get under the skin of the city (and its food) more, we highly recommend a tour:

A Vespa Sidecar city tour is the perfect way to get the lay of the land, in style. Don brightly coloured helmets and hop into an equally kaleidoscopic sidecar, and away you go! You’ll head out in convoy, stopping for photo opportunities at local landmarks, as well as in the Kampong Glam district. While you’re here, explore the trendy shops and eateries of hip Haji Lane – we recommend Fike Swedish Café for juicy meatballs, the Earlybird Café for all-day brunch, or the Good Luck Beerhouse for its choice of 12 local taps.