The first time I planned a layover in Singapore was for one thing: to visit its world-famous hawker centres. By that point, I’d already watched countless TV travel personalities like Anthony Bourdain eat their way through the Lion City. And after a quick nap to recharge my jet-lagged body upon arrival, I couldn’t have been more excited to get my turn.
Since that first introduction in 2017, I’ve visited Singapore twice more, each visit longer than the last. Over the three trips, I’ve chowed down at all the city’s most popular hawker centres. (Made a point of it as any self-respecting foodie would!)
Conveniently, many of the most delicious dishes I tasted in the city were at the food courts in Singapore’s densely packed city centre. Within mere minutes, you can walk between these foodie havens to savour yummy Singaporean dishes like laksa, nasi lemak, char kway teow, and wonton noodles.
From Chinatown to the Central Business District, let’s spend a day exploring central Singapore’s tastiest hawker centres with this complete walking tour itinerary for foodies.
Hong Lim Market & Food Centre
For our first stop, let’s check out the Hong Lim Market & Food Centre. Tucked away on a side street at the northern edge of Chinatown, this food court is a fantastic spot to start exploring Singapore’s vibrant downtown food scene.
Hong Lim Market & Food Centre (531A Upper Cross St) isn’t as well-known to travelers as other hawker centres in the area. It’s less about its food quality than its location, away from Chinatown’s main streets.
I first hobbled into the Hong Lim Food Centre on my second trip to Singapore while staying just a few blocks away on a quiet side street in Clarke Quay. And it didn’t take me long to find a couple of dishes worth trying here. (Even some Michelin-starred gems!)
My first instinct was to tuck into the flavourful spicy chicken curry noodles at Ah Hong Curry Chicken Bee Hoon Mee (#02-58/59). And it didn’t disappoint.
The chicken was juicy and cooked to perfection. It contrasted perfectly with the spicy, creamy broth, generous portions of tau pok (fried tofu balls), potatoes, and springy bee hoon noodles. (As recommended by the stall owner, I slapped a dollop of sambal on for good measure—and an extra boost of spiciness.)
You can’t leave Singapore without tasting one of its most famous dishes: laksa. And Famous Sungei Road Trishaw Laksa (#02-66) is one of the tastiest I’ve tried in the city.
The laksa here is aromatic and well-balanced, with a less “fishy” broth than varieties elsewhere in the city. (It’s a point of contention among locals, but a boon for more westernized palates, in my opinion.)
While the Hong Lim Market & Food Centre is “technically” open 24 hours a day, I noticed on my first early-morning visit that most vendors (including the two I’ve outlined above) started to open up around 8:45 am to 9:00 am.
Chinatown Complex Food Centre
Next up, let’s walk about 12 minutes south along New Bridge Road to our second stop: the Chinatown Complex Food Centre. This famous hawker centre holds a special place in my heart, as it introduced me to Singaporean cuisine.
After a soul-testing red-eye from LAX and a quick nap, I stumbled sleepily into the Chinatown Complex Food Centre (335 Smith St) just before its closing, hoping to tackle my now roaring hunger. Many of the vendors had already shuttered for the night. Fortunately, I managed to catch a stall still serving what would become one of my go-to Singaporean dishes: wonton noodles.
Although that particular stall is (sadly) no longer around, there are plenty of others around the Chinatown Complex Food Centre to fill in the gap. New Hope Wanton Noodles (#02-53) is a favourite for locals, who rave about its perfectly cooked noodles, juicy wontons, and tender char siu (BBQ pork).
And, of course, you can’t leave Singapore without a meal at Liao Fan Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodle (#02-126). Better known as Hawker Chan, this legendary food stall gained notoriety as the world’s cheapest Michelin-starred meal and the first hawker stand to receive the award.
Hawker Chan’s famous dish, soya sauce chicken rice, is simple and deceptively delicious. The chicken is roasted to perfection, retaining its juiciness while soaking up umami flavours in the crispy skin. Although I didn’t get a chance to try it, their char siu noodles get rave reviews, too.
Since my first visit to Singapore, the Hawker Chan location at Chinatown Complex has lost its Michelin star. The nearby restaurant location (78 Smith St), however, still holds Michelin’s attention, scoring a Michelin Bib Gourmand award in 2019, 2021, and 2023.
Whichever location you decide to try, I would expect to wait a bit. (Thirty minutes or more isn’t unheard of.)
Maxwell Food Centre
From the Chinatown Complex, it’s a quick 4-minute walk down South Bridge Road to another Singaporean food nirvana: Maxwell Food Centre. On my visits to Singapore, I ventured into this small but mighty hawker centre several times.
Unlike the other two sprawling, multi-level complexes we explored in Chinatown, this one-floor food court is tightly packed and easy to navigate. Even so, Maxwell Food Centre (1 Kadayanallur St) has a ton of delicious dishes to explore, representing all three of Singapore’s mixed culinary traditions: Chinese, Malay, and Indian.
I first visited the Maxwell Food Centre on my first morning in Singapore. After getting instantly addicted to the city’s version of wonton noodles the night before, I was tempted to devour more Chinese delights. But I knew I had to challenge my taste buds a bit. Instead, I opted for Singapore’s take on a classic Malay dish: nasi lemak.
The nasi lemak at Old Nyonya (#01-04) was the perfect introduction to the dish. The coconut rice was fragrant and sweet, complemented by a spicy dollop of sambal. With its well-balanced spiciness and crispy skin, the rendang chicken hit the spot, too.
And no visit to Maxwell Food Centre is complete without its pièce de résistance: Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice (#01-10/11). This now-famous hawker stall put the food court on the map, thanks to high-profile visits from Anthony Bourdain and Gordon Ramsey.
The stall’s signature dish, Hainanese chicken rice, is yet another delicious but straightforward Singaporean staple. It plops juicy and tender boneless chicken atop a bed of rice that’s surprisingly packed with flavour.
Every time I visited Maxwell Food Centre, the queue for Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice wrapped around the aisle. Don’t let it scare you off, though. The line moves surprisingly fast. Even though it looked daunting, it only took me about 15 minutes to wade through.
PRO TIP: Table seating is limited at the Maxwell Food Centre. If you’re not traveling solo, I’d recommend having someone in your travel group secure a seat before you order. Otherwise, you might well need to eat while standing! (This holds especially true on weekends or during the lunchtime rush.)
If you’d rather not brave the perpetual queue, Maxwell Hainanese Chicken Rice (#01-40) is another excellent option here.
Not interested in chicken rice? Other dishes I loved at the Maxwell Food Centre include the pork congee and fish porridge from Zhen Zhen Porridge (#01-54), the soya beancurd at Lao Ban Soya Beancurd (#01-91), and the epic mixed meat rice at Fu Shun Shao La Mian Jia (#01-71).
Amoy Street Food Centre
Stuffed to the brim yet? Let’s take a walk along Ann Siang Road to Ann Siang Hill Park. Stroll through the southern part of the park, enjoying respite from the sun under the canopied walkway. Just past the Xian Zu Gong Temple at the park’s southeastern exit, we’ll find ourselves at another foodie gem: Amoy Street Food Centre.
I first stumbled upon this food court accidentally while heading back to my hotel from the Downtown Core. Although it’s not one of the most popular hawker centres to visit in Singapore among tourists, I found plenty of tasty dishes at the Amoy Street Food Centre.
My favorite of the bunch was the signature Singaporean ramen at A Noodle Story (#01-139). It’s a delicious fusion of Japanese-style ramen, topped with wontons, prawns, and roasted pork. Even Michelin took notice, bestowing its Bib Gourmand award on the stall every year since 2016.
As a bona fide noodle lover, I also couldn’t leave Singapore without trying the kolo mee at Swan City NoodleHouse (#02-105). This dish puts a Malay-influenced spin on classic Chinese wonton noodles. It adds a darker soy sauce, crispy wontons, and minced pork in addition to the char siu and soft wonton dumplings.
Although I didn’t get a chance to try it, the authentic Sarawak laksa at Swan City NoodleHouse gets high praise from locals, too.
A word of warning: With its proximity to the financial district, the Amoy Street Food Centre can get jammed during lunchtime hours. And other times I visited during the day, it looked like a ghost town.
Many of the stalls at the Amoy Street Food Centre seem to be open only for lunch; keep it in mind when planning your visit.
Lau Pa Sat
Next up is one of Singapore’s most historic food courts: Lau Pa Sat. This market is famed for its historic Victorian building, dating back to 1894, when the original seaside market moved here before Singapore’s land reclamation project.
To get to Lau Pa Sat, let’s walk north up Telok Ayer Street, turning right at Cross Street. It’s less than nine minutes on foot from Amoy Street.
If you need a breather along the way, stop in at Thien Hock Keng Temple. It’s one of the most beautiful temples I’ve visited in Singapore. This Hokkien temple is dedicated to the Chinese sea goddess of Mazu, and was once situated on the coastline before land reclamation.
The first time I entered Lau Pa Sat, I was immediately struck by its distinct Victorian-style octagonal cast-iron structure. At the exterior, the historic clock tower forms an impressive contrast with the Downtown Core’s skyscrapers.
Despite its historic location, the food court at Lau Pa Sat feels more modern than many of the “classic” Singaporean hawker centres. Unlike other food courts I’ve eaten at in the city, this one had plenty of seating, around 2,500 seats. Even during the lunch rush, I was able to find a spot after only a few minutes of searching.
On my first visit to Lau Pa Sat on my first afternoon in Singapore, I made a mission to try one of the city’s most famous foods: char kway teow. Sadly, that vendor, Lai Heng Fried Kway Teow, is no longer around. But this masterful dish—combining fried wide rice noodles with seafood, pork lard, and dark soy sauce—quickly became a new favorite. It’s now one of the first dishes I seek out every time my feet first hit the ground on a Singapore trip.
Aside from epic char kway teow, Lau Pa Sat offers a variety of international foods. Walk around the pavilion to choose between everything from Indian and Middle Eastern to Thai and Korean.
After a long day of roaming around Singapore, pull up a chair on the patio to enjoy an ice-cold beer at the Beer Republic before continuing on with our walking tour.
Visiting Lau Pa Sat in the evening? Walk out the southern exit onto Boon Tat Street. Every night, the street transforms into Satay Street, an open-air market serving loads of BBQ favorites, from chicken and beef skewers to grilled seafood.
Market Street Hawker Centre
From Lau Pa Sat, it’s a 10-minute walk north via Market Street to yet another Singaporean culinary hotspot: the Market Street Hawker Centre. On my last trip to Singapore, this food court was holed up in an interim location on Cross Street. The new location occupies two floors in the CapitaSpring building in the heart of the Central Business District.
Although I haven’t had the privilege to see the new Market Street Hawker Centre in action, Tiong Bahru Roasted Noodle House (#03-20) was one of my favorites from the Cross Street location. The noodles are springy and delicious, and topped with a heaping portion of sweet and juicy char siu BBQ pork.
Locals also rave about the fried fish dumpling Ipoh-style hor fun at the Ah Liang Ipoh Hor Fun (#02-04), thanks to its flavourful dark gravy.
Makansutra Gluttons Bay
Although I can’t claim it’s a true hawker centre, Makansutra Gluttons Bay is as good a place as any to end a Singapore city centre food tour. This open-air food court is located outside the Esplanade Mall. It’s only about 15 to 20 minutes on foot from the Market Street Hawker Centre via Battery Road and the Jubilee Bridge or Boat Quay and the Queen Elizabeth Walk.
As much as I enjoyed the food here, there’s an even bigger reason to end your evening here: the views.
Makansutra Gluttons Bay is located near the mouth of the Singapore River on the edge of Marina Bay. The vistas over the water towards the iconic Marina Bay Sands and the glitzy skyscrapers of the Singapore CBD are unmatched.
If you’ve still got space left, I would recommend the pineapple fried rice and satay skewers with peanut sauce. Even though I’d already spent the better part of the day—okay, week!—chowing down, I couldn’t get enough of these tasty snacks while sipping a Tiger beer and enjoying the city lights glistening over the bay.
