30 Famous Local Foods to Eat in Singapore – Part One

Singapore is a hot pot of cuisines to eat, incorporating a rich heritage of food dishes consisting of Chinese, Indian, Malaysian, Western and Indonesian influences. If you are a local Singaporean, you would find these dishes in the hawker centres below your void deck, in the food courts of shopping centres or in the quaint shop-houses for decades .

These are the real dishes you need to eat in Singapore before you die and there are still dozens of dishes in Singapore that are true to our heritage.

For  tourists, this is a good check-list of authentic local cuisine in Singapore and are the foods to eat  when you visit the country:    

1. Bak Kut Teh (肉骨茶 lit. Meat bone tea/ Pork Ribs soup)

One of the many stories of the origin of Bak Kut Teh’s was a tonic invented to ‘revejunerate’ the Chinese coolies that worked in the Clark Quay area.

Bak Kut Teh has been the favorites in Singapore for years by teochew community and deserves its recognition as a simple, humble dish. Most of the Bak Kut Teh here has a white colour soup that is added with pepper and the mild use of herbs like Star anise. For good cooking of the pork ribs meat in the soup, it should give a tender bite. The other variant would be the Klang Bak Kut Teh, a dark and highly flavoured herbal soup originating from Malaysia.

Best Bak Kut Teh stalls:

Ya Hua Bak Kut Teh: 7 Keppel Road, #01-05/07, PSA Tanjong Pagar Complex, Singapore 089053 (closed on Mon)

Song Fa Bak Kut Teh: 11 New Bridge Road #01-01, Singapore 05938

Ng Ah Sio Pork Ribs Soup: 208 Rangoon Road, Hong Building Singapore 218453 (closed on Mon)

Leong Kee (Klang) Bak Kut Teh: 321 Beach Road, Singapore 199557 (closed on Wed)

2. Wanton Mee (云吞面)

The Singapore Wanton noodles was probably influenced by Hong Kong cuisine, but has become entrenched in our culture over the years. You can choose to eat the ‘dry’ version which is drenched with some light sweet sauce, slices of pork char siew (babecue pork), wanton dumplings filled with pork and a small bowl of soup on the side. For spicy taste , chilli is added into your bowl. Wanton dumplings may also come in deep fried or cooked in soup.

The Malaysian variant has a dark soya sauce added to the noodle.

Best Wanton Mee stalls:

Fei Fei Wanton Mee: 62 Joo Chiat Place, Singapore 427785

Kok Kee Wanton Mee: 380 Jalan Besar, Lavender Food Square, #01-06, Singapore 209000 (closed every 3 weeks Wed & Thur)

Parklane Zha Yun Tun Mee House: 91 Bencoolen Street, #01-53, Sunshine Plaza, Singapore 189652     

3. Fried Carrot cake, Cai Tou Kway (菜头粿)

No, this isn’t the American Dessert. The Singapore fried Carrot Cake as its name is cooked with eggs, preserved radish (chai poh), steamed white carrot and radish flour cake cut in cubes  which resembles a cake of ‘white carrot’. Variants include the ‘black’ version, which is added with sweet sauce (molasses), or a crispy white version with  fried egg cooked over the crust of carrot cake.

Best Fried Carrot Cake Stalls:

Carrot Cake 菜頭粿 (that’s the literal name of the store): 20 Kensington Park Road, Chomp Chomp Food Centre, Singapore 557269 (closed on alternate Tues)

Fu Ming Carrot Cake: Blk 85 Redhill Lane, Redhill Food Centre, Singapore 150085

Hai Sheng Carrot Cake: Blk 724 Ang Mo Kio Ave 6, Market and Food Centre, #01-09, Singapore 560724

He Zhong Carrot Cake: 51 Upper Bukit Timah Rd, Bukit Timah Market and Food Centre, Singapore 588172     

4. Dim Sum, Dian Xin (点心)

Another Hong Kong/ Shanghai inspired dishes available in Singapore is the Dim sum or ‘Dian xin’. This is not exactly a single dish, but a set of small dishes to be savoured in a group- a typical Chinese dining sharing custom. Popular dim sum dishes include the BBQ Pork Bun, Xiao Long Bao, Siew Mai, Chee Chong Fun and many more.

Best Dim Sum Stalls:

Swee Choon Tim Sum: 191 Jalan Besar, Singapore 208882 (closed on Tues)

Tim Ho Wan: 450 Toa Payoh Lorong 6, #02-02, ERA Centre, Singapore 319394

Wen Dao Shi (搵到食): 126 Sims Ave, Singapore 387449

Related Guide: Best Dim Sums in Singapore History: The Ultimate Guide

5. Coffee, Kaya Toast and Half-boiled Eggs

The one and only traditional Singaporean breakfast- Kaya toast with half-boiled eggs. The traditional bread is an old school rectangular white loaf, toasted with a bread grill or toaster, lathered with coconut or egg kaya then slapped with a thick slice of SCS butter that slowly melt within the slices of warm bread. This is the classic kaya toast. Variations include using thinly sliced brown bread, round buns or ‘Jiam Tao Loh Tee’ like a French baguette.

For the eggs, it’s usually cooked in a large hot water metal pot and covered with a plate. Then you  can choose the time of cooking before  taking out the egg to put on your plate (about 7-10 minutes depending on how well you like your egg). Trying not to scream like a little girl, crack open the eggs with your bare hands and throw the shells on the remaining extra plate. Season to your personal taste with the suitable portions of pepper mix dark/light soya sauce.

Best Coffee Kaya Toast Stalls:

KIlliney Koptiam 67 Killiney Road, Singapore 239525

Chin Mee Chin Confectionery: 204 East Coast Road, Singapore 428903 (closed on Mon)

Good Morning Nanyang Cafe: 20 Upper Pickering Street, Hong Lim Green Community Centre, Singapore 058284

Ya Kun Kaya Toast: 18 China Street #01-01, Far East Square, Singapore 049560 (there are like over 30 outlets of Ya Kun in Singapore now)

Tong Ah Eating House: 35 Keong Siak Street in Chinatown.

(the shop has served coffee, half-boiled egg, toast and family cooked local foods for 30 years.    

6. Crabs (Freid in Chilli or Pepper)

The 2 most famous styles of crab cooking in Singapore are  a sweet, spicy tomato/chilli sauce or the hot black pepper sauce. Chilli crabs are usually eaten along with fried mantou (buns), which are dipped in the luscious chilli sauce. Well prepared crabs go through a 2 step cooking process, boiled them first before frying them, so that the meat doesn’t stick to the shell. Recently, many popular styles of cooking have surfaced as well, like salted-egg steamed crabs or crab cooked with bee hoon.with a soup base.

Best Singapore Crab stalls:

Red House Seafood Restaurant: 68 Prinsep Street, Singapore 188661

No Signboard Seafood: 414 Geylang Singapore 389392

Long Beach Seafood: Blk 1018 East Coast Parkway, Singapore 449877

Crab Party: 98 Yio Chu Kang Road, Singapore 545576

Ban Leong Wah Hoe Seafood: 122 Casuarina Road, Singapore 579510    

7. Laksa

Laksa is a dish merging  Chinese and Malay elements otherwise known as Peranakan culture. There are 2 main types of laksa- curry laksa and asam laksa. Curry laksa is more predominant in Singapore, while asam laksa is found in Malaysia like the fish based Penang Laksa. In fact there loads of variants of Laksa differing in fish type, broth and even noodles.Traditional Singapore Curry Laksa uses vermicelli, coconut milk, tau pok (beancurd puffs), fish slices, shrimp and cockles (hum). Due to cost cutting or taste preference, some stalls might opt out of shrimp and cockles. A unique Singapore variant known sold as roadside laksa that uses thicker vermicelli with short ends and eaten only with a spoon. There is much debate on who is the original laksa but some eaters like Katong Laksa because of its popular name.

Best Laksa Stalls:

328 Katong Laksa: 51/53 East Coast Road, Singapore 428770

Sungei Road Laksa: Blk 27 Jalan Berseh, #01-100 Singapore 200027

Janggut Laksa: 1 Queensway, Queensway Shopping Centre, #01-59, Singapore 149053   

8. Curry Fish Head

Is it Chinese, Indian or Malay dish? This is another ambiguous dish with probably a South Indian origin, but heavily influenced by the various ethnicities in Singapore. What I do know is that even there is  different ways of cooking the  curry fish head, all of them are as delicious. Either half a fish head or the whole head of a Red snapper is stewed in hot curry with assorted vegetables like Lady’s Finger (okra) and brinjal. The Indian style of curry has heavier spices and flavours, while the Chinese styles are lighter and sweeter. Variants include the Assam style fish head curry, which adds in a tinge of sourness with Tamarind fruit (assam).

Best Curry Fish head stalls:

Gu Ma Jia (assam style): 45 Tai Thong Crescent, Singapore 347866

Bao Ma Curry Fish Head (Chinese style): #B1-01/07, 505 Beach Road, Golden Mile Food Centre, Singapore 199583

Zai Shun Curry Fish Head (Chinese style): Blk 253 Jurong East St 24, First Cooked Food Point, #01-205, Singapore 600253 (closed wed)

Karu’s Indian Banana Leaf Restaurant (Indian style): 808/810, Upper Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 678145

Samy’s Curry (Indian style): 25 Dempsey Rd, Singapore 249670     

9. Bak Chor Mee (肉脞面 lit. Minced Meat Noodle)

Colloquially known as ‘Bak Chor Mee’ 肉脞面, this is a noodle dish with minced pork, liver, meat balls/ fish balls, fish cake slices and a signature vinegar  sauce that it added for unique taste.

Typically, the dish is ordered ‘dry’ to savour full flavours of the sauce and you can choose between chilli or ketchup, and the type of noodle to use. Noodle choices are normally either Mee Pok (a flat noodle) or Mee Kia (thin noodle), while some stalls offer bee hoon, mee sua or mee tai mak as well. Variants include an exclusively soup version with home-made noodles famous at Bedok Blk 85.

Best Bak Chor mee stalls:

Tai Hwa Pork Noodle: Blk 466 Crawford Lane #01-12, Singapore 190465 (closed on 1st and 3rd Mondays of the month)

58 Minced Meat Mee: 3 Yung Sheng Road, #03-150, Taman Jurong Market and Food Centre, Singapore 618495

Seng Hiang Food Stall (soup variant): Blk 85 Bedok North Street 4, Fengshan Market & FoodCentre, Singapore 460085

Seng Kee Mushroom Minced Pork Noodles: 49A Serangoon Garden Way, Serangoon Garden Market & Food Centre, Singapore 555945  

10. Oyster Omelette (Orh Lua)

A dish popular in Singapore hawkers as well as Taiwan night markets which many foreigners and locals love. Stalls that sell carrot cake typically also sell Oyster omelette as it’s a similar cooking process as well as utilizing a common ingredient: Eggs. Potato starch is usually mixed into frying the egg and gives a thicker, fuller taste. Variants include a version that is without cooking  with rice starch dough and is priced slightly higher due to more eggs needed to be added.. A special vinegar chilli is also eat exclusively with oyster omelette in Singapore.

Best Oyster Omelette stalls:

Simon Road Oyster Omelette: 965 Upper Serangoon Road, Mee Sek Coffeeshop, Singapore 534721 (closed Tue)

Ang Sa Lee Oyster Omelette: 20 Kensington Park Road, Chomp Chomp, Singapore 557269 (closed alt. Wed)

Bedok 85 Fried Oyster Omelette: Blk 85 Bedok North Street 4, Fengshan Market & FoodCentre, Singapore 460085

Ah Hock Fried Oyster Hougang: Blk 90 Whampoa Dr, #01-54, Whampoa Hawker Centre, Singapore 320090 (closed Weds)

Related Guide: 11 Longest Queue Restaurants in Singapore

(From Retiredream.com)