Singapore: it’s my idea of food and drink heaven. I love how it’s constantly on the move and reinventing… while also kind of staying the same, if you get my drift. There’s plenty of history, but there’s always something new and exciting to discover. And that goes for the food, too – especially for the food. So strap in tight, because I’m going to take you on a whirlwind food tour through one of my favourite parts of Singapore: Chinatown. There’s traditional fare, there’s modern cuisine, there are global tastes and there are unexpected flavour twists and turns too. Plus drinks. And durian. There’s basically everything (including a serious food coma at the end of it). Ready? Here we go…
Breakfast? At a hawker center, obviously!
Singaporean hawker centres? Legendary. They’re affordable, they have ridiculous choice and honestly, if you can’t find something yum at a hawker center, your pulse needs checking. From Chinese and Malay to Indian and hybrid cuisines – you name it, you’ll find it.
I started my Singapore Chinatown food crawl at Amoy Street Food Centre, inhaling fried carrot cake, nasi sambal goreng (think fish curry, fried chicken, little potato cakes, sweet-spicy sambal and rice, all smooshed together on a plate), and truffle char siu noodles. Yep, you read right: truffles and char sui. Oh. My. Goodness. So much crazy deliciousness. And that carrot cake I mentioned? It’s actually a savoury smash-up of crispy-fluffy fried radish and egg, not carrot. No cream cheese icing in sight, guys. There are two types of this classic street food – a dark version with sweet soy and one without. Both are super good.
Curry puffs, carrot cake, truffle char sui noodles… so much goodness at Amoy Street Food Centre.
And I almost forgot about the curry puffs. The ones from J2 Famous Crispy Curry Puff stall are world famous in Singapore, winning a prestigious Michelin Bib Gourmand award. Here, they hand-make 500 puffs a day and you have to be quick because they sell out fast.
No wonder; these are the puffiest, crispiest, meltiest pastries ever. You should try the sardine ones. And the curried potato ones. And the sweet taro ones. And the black pepper chicken ones. Or all of them. (Defo all).
Amoy Street Food Center, 7 Maxwell Road
Nailing the pre-lunch snack
Walking around Singapore’s Chinatown, you notice colourful old shophouses and how they’ve been given new life, many as bars and restaurants. Which is my kind of repurposing. They make the streets atmospheric and pretty and so – IDK – so Singapore. While the old shophouses are expected, Israeli food is not. But Singapore is seriously cosmopolitan, so hey – pita bread here I come.
Even in the rain, Miznon’s stuffed pita sandwiches are amazing.
I stop at Miznon, owned by chef Eyal Shani who’s super-famous for putting the whole roast cauliflower thing on the map. His place is packed with voracious office workers so I take my falafel pita to the street to eat. As it starts to rain. But honestly? This sandwich was so amazing I’d have eaten it almost anywhere. Even in rain.
Next up, an intended coffee stop at Loulou inexplicably turned into an accidental wine stop. Ooops. I can’t think how that happened but when you’re too busy sizing up Singapore’s gorgeous architecture and not paying attention to your drinks order, wine will happen. And it wasn’t even lunch time yet.
Miznon, 6 Stanley Street; Loulou, 6 Keong Saik Rd
Xiao Ya Tou, where have you been all my life?
Xiao Ya Tou: my new fave place in Singapore’s Chinatown.
You know how I love bending culinary rules? So does this cute place in Duxton Hill, once a hotbed of opium dens, gambling parlours and other dodgy-ness. Xiao Ya Tou means ‘Little Rebel’ and it’s literally the restaurant version of my soulmate. The decor’s a bit kitschy but in a deliberate, cool way, not in a ‘your-nana-lives-here’ way. Anywhere that mixes cold, milky Milo with vodka, whisky AND chocolate liqueur gets my money!
Lobster kueh pie tee.
The lobster kueh pie tee, a riff on a traditional Nonya snack of shatter-crisp pastry shells and a sautéed filling, are stuffed with a rich, Japanese-style lobster mix. Soooo good. And non-trad pancetta and octopus in hokkien mee? Totally their thing. And mine, it turns out. I barely need excuses to re-visit Singapore but I think I just found a good one at Xiao Ya Tou. So much care taken with the cooking; so many fun vibes. I’ll be back.
Xiao Ya Tou, 6 Duxton Hill
Tradition, wrapped up in a coconut egg tart
Tong Heng opened in 1935 and is run by fourth-generation owners – don’t you just love that kind of tradition? I do. They’re super famous for diamond-shaped coconut egg tarts, although all their pastries, made without any dairy, are amazing.
Warm and wobbly from the oven, these are the best egg custard tarts in Singapore.
Locals reckon the egg tarts here are the best in Singapore and, if you time it right, you can get yours still warm from the oven. And the coconut version? Smooth. Silky. Decadent. Next-level glorious. So much flavour. Be still, my beating heart. They hand-grate fresh coconut for the filling, that’s how dedicated they are here. Guys! Just put this place on your Singapore list already. It’s incredible.
Tong Heng Traditional Cantonese Pastries, 285 South Bridge Rd
And so to Spring Court
Time to give the lazy susan a workout! Because? Spring Court. It’s thought to be the oldest family-owned Chinese restaurant in Singapore and when I say ‘Chinese’, I specifically mean Singaporean Chinese – you literally get dishes here you won’t find outside this city. Such as the signature yam ring, a plate-sized fried ‘basket’ situation of crispy, fluffy, fried yam, with a mixed veg, prawn and cashew filling tumbling out the top. It’s quite the architectural feat and I’d never tried it before. Now it’s a bit of a fave.
Crab claws literally as big as my head at Spring Court!
I’m no stranger to chilli crab but the version here is new to me, coming in a claypot and with sauce that’s not as sweet as others around town. With crab claws as big as my head, the whole thing was just juicily, crabbily delectable. And if you enjoy Peking duck, they do it masterfully here, carving that crispy skin so perfectly, then leaving you to scoff it in lovely soft pancakes while they take the rest to the kitchen to prepare as a separate course.
Spring Court, 52-56 Upper Cross Street
Just one more restaurant in Chinatown… please
I HAVE to include a zi char (literally ‘cook and fry’) restaurant in my Chinatown tour. These are places where the cooking is comforting and homey and the vibes are casual and friendly. Lots of happy families doing lots of happy eating, basically. It’s a tough call to decide what to eat at the iconic and third-generation-owned Kok Sen Restaurant because theirs is food that’s always deeply delicious, no matter what you order.
Crispy chicken skin. Stuffed with squid and prawn? I die.
But how could I go past the prawn hor fun, that arrives to the table chockers with wok-infused noodles and thick, soupy, prawn gravy goodness? Or pork ribs and bitter gourd in black bean sauce? Golden dragon chicken, which is basically the skin of the bird, all fried and crispy and with a layer of prawn and squid underneath, plus claypot frog in kung pao sauce and poached Chinese spinach were all speaking to me too. Loudly. Incessantly. They couldn’t be ignored. They weren’t.
Kok Sen Restaurant, 4 Keong Saik Road
Durian and tiki-themed drinks
Durian. It had to be done. TBH I’m not a massive fan of the odour-y, spiky durian, which basically marks me a Very Bad Asian. Despite that, I rather enjoyed the Insta-worthy, durian-themed bakes at 99 Old Trees Durian Cafe. Such as the Stinky Bomb (a choux pastry puff with a fancy craquelin crumble and rich, oozy durian cream) and the Stinky Roll. Which is just like a fluffy Swiss roll… only whiffier. FYI, 99 Old Trees is a business that supplies the city with fresh Malaysian durians picked just 12 hours earlier, so their durian is among the best you’ll get.
99 Old Trees Durian Cafe, 1 Teo Hong Road
Time for a nightcap at Potato Head.
Phew. I’d eaten Chinatown! So many flavours, so much incredible food, and I couldn’t even. OK, maybe I could because #drinks! I love the rooftop bar at Potato Head, a glorious Art Deco building on the Chinatown fringe where there’s twinkling lights, tropical beats, a skyline sunset and Singapore’s prettiest people. And tiki-themed cocktails; the best way to wash down a food packed day. Their ‘Zombie #36’ totally had my name on it and what’s better than rum, absinthe, lime and passionfruit after a good day’s grazing, I ask the universe? Nada, the universe answered back.
The Rooftop Bar, Potato Head Singapore, 36 Keong Said Road
And that was me done. The sun set on another wondrous time in Singapore, where I got to try a taste of the old and new, and sample a small taster of its culinary offerings. One thing’s for certain: I’ll be back soon.
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