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Singapore food: Dishes, drinks, and desserts you must try
Discover the best Singapore food. Explore famous street food, hawker markets, and dishes like laksa and kaya toast with our local guide.
There’s a good reason why you can find some of the best food in Singapore. Culinary masterpieces and traditions are kept alive by dedicated vendors, stalls, and hawker culture. Since locals know all the best spots to eat, we teamed up with Violet (who travels frequently and has local family members) to create a curated list of must-try dishes and where to eat them.
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Hainanese chicken rice
You cannot talk about traditional Singapore food without mentioning Hainanese chicken rice. This is the country’s unofficial national dish with tender poached and roasted meats served with fragrant rice cooked in chicken stock, pandan leaves, garlic, and ginger.
You can try this dish at Tian Tian at Maxwell Food Center, but Violet recommends more local places to eat, such as Ah Tai or Old Airport Road Food Center.
Plus, if you’re looking for a great Singapore souvenir to pack, Violet recommends “Prima Taste: their laksa and curry noodle kits are legit restaurant quality and very giftable.”
Laksa
Laksa is a spicy coconut curry noodle soup that simply embodies Singapore food and cuisine. This dish includes thick rice noodles, prawns, fish cake slices, and cokes in an aromatic broth with coconut milk, coconut cream, dried shrimp, and a chili paste.
There are quite a few variations of Laksa, but these ingredients make up the core flavors. While you can find Laksa pretty much anywhere in Singapore, there are a few heritage hawker food stalls known among Laksa lovers.
One of them is Sungei Road Laksa. Sometimes it gets so busy that the line stretches across the food court. But it goes quickly since they have only served their iconic Laksa for decades.
Chili crab
An important addition to the best Singapore food is definitely chill crab, which is considered one of the country’s national dishes. This dish features fresh mud crab, stir-fried in a sweet, savory, and tangy tomato-and-chili gravy with whisked egg.
You can enjoy this dish at Long Beach Seafood (a well-known seafood restaurant) with fried mantou (rice cakes) to make the most of the silky, spicy sauce.
Another local tip: ditch the utensils and get your hands dirty when eating chili crab!
Char kway teow
When it comes to stir-fried noodles in Singapore, many believe Singaporean fried noodles are the main dish. However, Violet clears up this assumption with some local insight: “Singapore fried noodles are not actually a local dish. Locals eat char kway teow or Hokkien mee instead.”
Char kway teow combines flat rice noodles and yellow egg noodles, cooked in a wok with dark soy sauce, sweet sauce, cockles, Chinese sausage, bean sprouts, and crispy bits of pork lard or pork fat.
Try this dish at Hill Street Char Kway Teow, which is located in a neighborhood food court.
Bak kut teh
Translated literally from Hokkien Chinese, Bak Kut Teh means “meat bone tea”. This is Violet’s favorite comfort food.
“Song Fa Bak Kut Teh is my go-to,” she shares. “The peppery, garlicky broth, tender pork ribs, and simple pairing with rice make it a uniquely Singaporean comfort dish.”
It stems from early Chinese immigrant traditions, and the Teochew style includes pork bones simmered for hours with intense garlic and white pepper. There are various bak kut teh restaurants in Singapore; one of them is Outram Park Yahua Rou Gu Cha, which offers open-air seating.
Kaya toast and kopi
This is Violet’s favorite local breakfast food. Start your mornings like a true local with a traditional Singaporean breakfast of kaya toast and local coffee.
This dish consists of toasted bread with coconut egg jam (kaya), butter, and a side of boiled eggs with dark soy sauce and white pepper.
Order your coffee like a local. Here’s the lingo:
- Kopi: Coffee with sweetened condensed milk.
- Kopi O: Black coffee with sugar.
- Kopi C: Coffee with evaporated milk and sugar.
If you prefer tea instead, ask for a teh tarik, which is frothed, pulled milk tea. A popular eatery to try this iconic breakfast at would be Chin Mee Chin Confectionery. This coffee shop opened in 1925, and it remains largely unchanged.
Singaporean desserts and snacks
One of the best parts about trying a new cuisine is the desserts. For refreshing Singaporean sweets, try:
- Chendol (a coconut-milk dessert with palm sugar and pandan jelly)
- A bowl of shaved ice kachang (bean ice with sweet syrup and condensed milk)
- Pandan chiffon cake (a light and fluffy green sponge cake made with pandan leaves)
On the savory side, don’t miss sweet-smoky bak kwa (barbecued pork slices) from Bee Cheng Hiang or IRVINS Salted Egg potato chips. As Violet points out: “The salted egg flavor is a huge thing in Singapore.”
Hawker centers and where to eat
To experience true Singaporean food culture, you’ll have to spend time in local food courts and markets. Violet also emphasizes this: “Singapore equals food paradise plus hawker culture, which is officially UNESCO-recognized.”
Top tourist tip: You’ll also need to know the local “hope” culture: the practice of reserving a table by placing a packet of tissue paper on a seat before ordering.
For the best food experiences, explore these places:
- Lau Pa Sat: Head here at night when the street closes down for open-air satay stalls.
- Old Airport Road Food Center: Has local favorites like carrot cake (turnip cake cooked with eggs), oyster omelet, and hokkien mee.
- Maxwell Food Center Singapore: Perfect for classic Hainanese chicken rice.
- Newton Food Center Singapore: Made famous by Crazy Rich Asians, excellent for seafood like sambal chili stingray.
- Golden Mile Food Center: Great for bak chor mee (minced pork noodles) and fish head curry.
Tipping culture
Every destination has its own tipping culture. Similarly, Violet explains how things run in Singapore: “Tipping is not expected. Most places already include a 10% service charge + GST.” Modern cafes and restaurants will add these to your bill, and hawker stalls typically display the total price on the board.
Stay connected while eating your way through Singapore with Holafly
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Born and raised in Queens, New York, I'm a Psychology graduate with a passion for writing that I've been nurturing since 2019. Over the years, I've enjoyed creating meaningful content across various niches, including sports, hospitality, and career development. At Holafly, I focus on crafting useful and inspiring pieces to make your adventures more effortless. One of the best perks of this role? Creating travel content always seems to inspire my next vacation destination!
