55 Must-Eat Famous SINGAPORE FOOD
1 Bak Chor Mee
Bak Chor Mee is quite a uniquely-Singapore hawker dish, typically of dry noodles with minced pork, pork balls and braised mushroom tossed in a vingary-sauce. The soup version has gotten quite popular as well.
Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodles 大华猪肉粿条面 at Crawford Lane is well-known as it is one of the 2 hawker stalls in Singapore awarded THE MICHELIN STAR.
It is commonly known as the best Teochew style Bak Chor Mee aka minced pork noodles in Singapore.
Here’s the magic: Al dente springy noodles tossed in a savoury vinegary sauce, filled with tender pork and liver slices, minced pork, dumplings, and a sprinkling of fried sole fish.
Each bowl is priced at $5 – $10.
The queue is crazy though, and can last from 30 minutes to 2 hours as many tourists would have made this part of their itinerary. Please be ready for the heat if you intend to join in the line.
2 Bak Kut Teh
Talk about Singapore’s most iconic dishes, and Bak Kut Teh or Pork Rib Soup will come to mind.
Song Fa Bak Kut Teh (with main outlet at New Bridge Road) is one of the most known brands around, in fact the only Bak Kut Teh shop in Singapore awarded the Michelin Bib Gourmand.
There are generally three main styles of Bak Kut Teh in Singapore – the dark, soy sauce Hokkien soup base; the less commonly seen herbal Cantonese style; and the peppery garlicy Teochew style.
Song Fa specialises in the Teochew-style heritage soup.
Its features include fall-off-the-bone tender ribs, and soup that is lighter in colour and aromatic. Served piping hot, the soup displays its trademark clarity and spicy-peppery flavour.
3 Ban Mian
Ban Mian is considered a fairly simple dish, of handmade noodles (usually rolled over a pasta maker), cooked in soup typically, and added with ingredients such as minced pork, anchovies, mushrooms and spinach.
There are You Mian and Mee Hoon Kway fans – one’s thinner, while the other is squarish and flat. The dry versions are gaining popularity as well.
China Whampoa Home Made Noodles at Whampoa Food Centre make their noodles within the stall in little batches, with a range of delicious ingredients like fish slices, clams, abalone or prawns.
It is then added to the light and clear broth with mani cai to give it a tangible sweetness.
4 Cendol
After CNN named “Chendol in Singapore” as one of the 50 world’s best desserts, there was an uproar on social media about the dessert’s origin.
Cendol (or “Chendol”) is a sweet iced dessert known for its mixture of ingredients from the signature green rice flour jelly, to coconut milk and palm sugar (Gula Melaka).
Some add in other ingredients such as red bean, sweet corn and attap chee.
Jin Jin Hot / Cold Dessert at ABC Brickworks Food Centre serves up a version of ‘Power Chendol’.
The Gula Melaka was thick, flavourful and mildly sticky, almost like glue sticking on top of the mini-hill. The gooey and heavy palm sugar imparted an intense and rich flavour.
5 Char Kway Teow
Char Kway Teow which is essentially stir-fried noodles with rice noodles, is one of those local hawker dishes that I appreciate more as I get older.
You never get the same type of Char Kway Teow between stalls. And as most owners (typically older uncles of a certain age) fry them plate by plate, you may not even get that same taste even as you go back to the same stall.
Outram Park Fried Kway Teow Mee at Hong Lim Food Centre serves up a semi-wet, eggy version with soft texture, and lots of cockles added.
Hawker Ng Chin Chye (who took over the stall from his father) fries every plate individually, squeezing an exact 42 squeezes of a special mixture made of soy sauce and fish sauce.
6 Chicken Rice
A quintessential local Singapore dish. The Hainanese Chicken Rice is made up of poached chicken and fluffy rice (typically cooked with chicken stock), served with cucumber, minced garlic, chilli sauce and dark sauce.
The most famous Chicken Rice stall in Singapore is probably Tian Tian Chicken Rice Maxwell Food Centre, though it is probably seeing more tourists than locals in its queue nowadays.
The late Anthony Bourdain once mentioned that the chicken rice was so fragrant and delicious that it could be eaten on its own. Gordon Ramsey ‘lost’ a hawker challenge here.
7 Chilli Crab
Chilli Crab can be said to be one of Singapore’s most representative dishes, and I like dipping deep fried mantou into that gooey spicy-sweet-orange sauce.
This is also the kind of food that can get our hands dirty, with lots of laughter from sharing stories around the round table.
You cannot talk about Chilli Crabs without a mention of Roland Restaurant at Marine Parade, known to be the creator of the iconic Chilli Crabs and mecca for crab devotees.
Of course, some other restaurants also do lay claim on that honours, but probably none has “The Year 1956 – Founder Of Chilli Crab” printed on the menu.
Compared to most Singaporean seafood restaurants, their chili sauce was more red than orange, and its savoury taste mildly spicy and slightly sweet. Very delicious.
8 Chwee Kueh
The Teochew dish of Chwee Kueh comprises of steamed rice cake topped with preserved radish known as chai poh, and served with chilli sauce.
Many Singaporeans would agree that Jian Bo at Tiong Bahru Food Centre offers one of the best chwee kuehs around, a simple dish of smooth and soft steamed rice cakes topped with oily preserved radish.
This is actually what I eat regularly since I was a child. Simple, yet so very satisfying and nostalgic.
Other favourites include Bedok Chwee Kueh and Ghim Moh Chwee Kueh.
9 Claypot Rice
Traditional Claypot Rice requires the rice to be cooked within the pot itself, with appropriate control of the fire. Stalls which uses charcoal, would require customers to wait at least 30 to 45 minutes for the rice to be cooked (Tip: always call to reserve first).
New Lucky Claypot Rice at Holland Drive is known to serve one of the best Claypot Rice renditions arouns.
The signatures at New Lucky Claypot Rice include the Claypot “Wu Wei” Rice for two pax ($10/$15), 3 pax ($15/$20), 4 pax at ($20/$25). The “Wu Wei” rice includes a mix of both chicken and Chinese sausages.
The waiting time is estimated to be between 20 to 30 minutes for off-peak periods, and 45 to 90 minutes for peak period.
10 Curry Chicken Noodles
Just how did poached chicken and curry come together again? While Singapore is the land of Hainanese Chicken Rice, the other much over-looked dish is Curry Chicken Noodles.
If you are looking for Curry Chicken Noodles, your best bet is at Hong Lim Food Centre.
There is Heng Kee Curry Chicken Bee Hoon Mee downstairs – said to be the original, and oh that chilli sauce; and Ah Heng Chicken Curry Bee Hoon Mee which now comes with a Michelin recommendation.
A bowl comes with bee hoon (rice noodles) or yellow-noodles in a laksa-resembling curry broth, topped with ingredients like chunks of potato, spongy tau pok (fried bean curd), slices of fish cake, bean sprouts, and the main protein of Hainanese chicken.