Last updated: October 2026. First published March 2015.
Singapore is the ultimate foodie city, and for Melburnians it's one of the easiest food trips there is. You get to know Singapore through its food more than its sights: Hainanese chicken rice, chilli crab, laksa, popiah, and late nights at the hawker centres. At the other end of the scale sits one of the world's great fine dining scenes, now home to some of Asia's most acclaimed restaurants.
We first wrote this guide in 2015 after attending the Chowzter Asia Awards and Asia's 50 Best Restaurants, held at Capella on Sentosa Island. A decade on, we've revisited every venue: some are better than ever, a few are gone, and there are new names you need to know.
Lunchtime under the lanterns at Maxwell Food Centre.
Our best tip still stands: look for the longest queues at the hawker centres. That's where the best food is.
Hawker Classics
Hainanese Chicken Rice: Tian Tian, Maxwell Food Centre
Steamed chicken, the version our table voted for.
Roast and steamed birds hanging at the stall window.
This is where I fell in love with chicken rice. Tian Tian at Maxwell Food Centre was made world famous by Anthony Bourdain, and the queue is still there all day long. We were served both versions, steamed and roasted with skin, and our table voted for the classic steamed chicken. Pair it with an ice-cold Tiger beer.
The stall, started in 1986 by Madam Foo Kui Lian, has held a Michelin Bib Gourmand every year since 2016, and a plate at Maxwell is still around S$6. If you can't face the queue, Tian Tian opened a full-service flagship at Jewel Changi Airport in August 2026, perfect before your flight home, though at airport prices.
Where: Stalls #01-10/11, Maxwell Food Centre, 1 Kadayanallur Street (Maxwell MRT). Also at Jewel Changi Airport.
Love chicken rice? Read our guide to Hainanese chicken rice in Melbourne.
Laksa: Sungei Road Laksa, Jalan Berseh
The laksa specialists. When we visited, around 50 people were queuing for a bowl that cost just $2. It's one of the last stalls still cooking its laksa over charcoal: creamy coconut curry, cut noodles you eat with a spoon, cockles, fishcake and laksa leaf. The price has risen to about S$4, but it remains one of Singapore's great bargains.
Where: Blk 27 Jalan Berseh, #01-100. Closed Wednesdays; get there early.
Popiah: Kway Guan Huat, Joo Chiat
Laying out the popiah fillings: prawns, egg, bean sprouts and more.
Watching the family spin paper-thin popiah skins on a hot griddle is a phenomenon. The Quek family has made them by hand on Joo Chiat Road since 1938, now led by the third generation. We made our own popiah with prawns fresh from the market and quickly learned that lettuce is the secret to holding it together. Today the shop also runs hands-on popiah heritage sessions.
Where: 95 Joo Chiat Road. Open mornings to early afternoon; check hours before you go.
Roast Duck Rice: Stall 71, Maxwell Food Centre
While you're at Maxwell, follow the second-longest queue to the roast meat stalls. We happily waited 15 minutes for crisp-skinned duck chopped over rice with its sauce. Cheap eating at its best.
Fishball Noodles: The Fishball Story
When we met young hawker Douglas Ng at Golden Mile, he was rising at 4am to hand-make fishballs from his grandmother's recipe: pure yellowtail, no flour. Bouncy fishballs, chilli-scallion fishcakes, sambal and crunchy pork lard made it one of our best hawker meals. The stall later earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand and has since moved from Golden Mile, so check its current location before you go.
Kaya Toast: Ya Kun Kaya Toast
The classic Singapore breakfast: crisp toast with sweet coconut kaya and butter, soft-boiled eggs and a kopi or iced coffee. Ya Kun has outlets all over the city, with a retro feel that suits the ritual.
Chilli Crab: Roland Restaurant, Marine Parade
The home of the original chilli crab. Madam Cher Yam Tian created the dish in the 1950s, and her son Roland Lim still serves her recipe from a restaurant on top of a Marine Parade car park. The crab arrives cracked in a thick, spicy sauce made for mopping up. We also tried Roland's egg-rich version; most of our table preferred the original. The duck and lobster were standouts too.
Roland's dry, egg-rich crab, the alternative to the original.
The roast duck at Roland.
A banquet platter crowned with lobster.
Where: Blk 89 Marine Parade Central, #06-750. Book ahead for groups.
Fine Dining
Zén, Bukit Pasoh (New)
Singapore's headline fine dining address. Swedish chef Björn Frantzén's Zén holds three Michelin stars, and it occupies the very Bukit Pasoh shophouse that once housed Restaurant André, which we mentioned in our original guide. After a three-month renewal, Zén reopened on 25 August 2026 with a redesigned interior by Stockholm studio JOYN.
The meal is a journey through three floors. It begins at a new 16-seat counter, where the chefs serve seven canapés. Six courses follow on the second floor, using produce flown in from Japan several times a week, and the night ends with desserts and digestifs in the third-floor lounge.
Where: 41 Bukit Pasoh Road. Lunch S$450++, dinner S$620++ per person. Book well ahead.
Burnt Ends, Dempsey Hill
Perth-born chef Dave Pynt's Michelin-starred modern Australian barbecue, cooked over apple and almond wood in a custom four-tonne oven. It moved to larger premises on Dempsey Hill and remains one of the hardest tables in town. If you can't get a booking, try the famous pulled-pork Sanger at the bar.
Where: 7 Dempsey Road.
Tippling Club, Tanjong Pagar
A world-class restaurant and cocktail bar from chef Ryan Clift, a former head chef of Melbourne's Vue de Monde. Nearly two decades on, it still spans three shophouses with an inventive tasting menu and one of the city's great cocktail lists.
Where: 38 Tanjong Pagar Road.
Casual Dining and Late Nights
Bar-Roque Grill, Tanjong Pagar
The scene of an Asia's 50 Best afterparty when we visited, where we enjoyed Negronis late into the night. Chef Stéphane Istel's French grill has since earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand for its rotisserie meats, tarte flambée and Alsatian classics.
Where: Amara Singapore, 165 Tanjong Pagar Road.
Kko Kko Na Ra, Tanjong Pagar
Still some of the best Korean fried chicken in Singapore. We ordered all four flavours: original, soy garlic, sweet and spicy, and hot and spicy. The original won: crisp, not greasy, juicy right to the bone. Open since 2008, it's a great late-night supper spot.
Where: 68 Tanjong Pagar Road.
Gone But Not Forgotten
A decade is a long time in Singapore dining. These favourites from our original guide have closed:
- Wild Rocket: Willin Low's pioneering "mod-Sin" restaurant closed in 2018 after 13 years. We still remember his chilli crab rigatoni.
- Pizzeria Mozza: the Marina Bay Sands pizzeria closed in 2018. Nancy Silverton's Osteria Mozza has since reopened at Hilton Singapore Orchard.
- Restaurant André: closed in 2018. Its shophouse is now home to Zén.
- Oxwell & Co and Miss Molly's: both have closed.
Peacocks wander the gardens at Capella on Sentosa, where Asia's 50 Best was held.
Singapore Food Tips for Melburnians
- Carry some cash: many hawker stalls now accept QR payments, but cash is still the safest bet at older stalls.
- Follow the queue, but go early: popular stalls sell out, and many close one day a week.
- Book fine dining weeks ahead, especially Zén and Burnt Ends.
- Alcohol is expensive in restaurants and bars; a hawker-centre beer is the bargain.
- Don't miss the drinks: iced kopi, lime juice and sugarcane from the hawker drink stalls.
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