The 10 Best Dishes to Eat

Hainanese chicken rice
Considered one of Singapore’s national dishes, Hainanese chicken rice was created and brought to the country by Hainanese immigrants from southern China. A whole chicken is poached in a light broth flavored with ginger and garlic, sliced up and served with rice that’s also been cooked in the broth. It’s tender, juicy and fragrant, and is usually served with a ginger-garlic sauce, chili sauce or a sweet soy sauce.

Chili crab
Another contender for Singapore’s most-loved national dish is chili crab, and despite its name, it’s not actually a spicy dish. Chopped whole crab is deep-fried and then wok-fried together with a thick, sweet and savory chilli sauce made with plenty of tomato and garlic. It’s served with the shell on, so this is a quite messy—but fun—meal to eat. It’s often eaten with mantou (fried bao buns), which are perfect for mopping up the sauce. 

Laksa
Popular in Singapore and Malaysia, laksa is a spicy and rich noodle soup. It has a creamy, coconut milk-based broth, and contains a mix of noodles (either thick rice noodles or thin vermicelli) and toppings like tofu, prawns, chicken, fish cakes, fresh bean sprouts and lime. Laksa is a typical Peranakan dish, from the descendants of early Chinese migrants who settled in Singapore. The cuisine is a delicious blend of Chinese, Indian, Malaysian and European influences.  

Char siew
This Cantonese-style barbecued pork dish is ubiquitous in Singapore’s hawker centers—you’ll usually see it hanging up behind glass cases in each stall. Boneless pork is marinated with five spice powder, hoisin sauce, soy sauce and honey, before roasting in an oven or open fire. How you eat it depends on your preference, whether you prefer it on its own or with rice, noodles or as a stuffing in steamed buns (char siu bao). 

Char kway teow
There’s nothing quite like a steaming plate of smoky char kway teow—flat rice noodles stir-fried over a high flame with oil, garlic, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce and egg. Char kway teow can also include lap cheong (Chinese sausage), prawns, cockles, bean sprouts and chives. The best char kway teow is cooked with pork lard, which gives it a richer and fattier flavor, but many hawkers leave it out to keep the dish healthier.

Roti prata
Introduced to Singapore by Indian immigrants, roti prata is a type of flatbread with soft, buttery and flaky layers. It’s customizable to suit your taste, and although it’s commonly served with mutton or lentil curry, you can also choose fillings like cheese, eggs and onions. There are also sweet variations with banana, durian, honey and chocolate sauce, making it a versatile snack any time of the day.

Nasi lemak
Nasi lemak is ine of Singapore’s most popular hawker food dishes. The ingredients in this Malay dish vary from hawker to hawker, but at its most basic, it includes rice cooked in coconut milk and pandan leaf, crispy fried anchovies, fried egg, fried peanuts, cucumber slices and chili sauce made from chilies, garlic, shallots and shrimp paste. Depending on what’s on offer at the stall, you can usually add fried chicken or fish, chicken curry or rendang, which is beef slow-cooked in spices and coconut milk.

Kaya toast
Skip the hotel breakfast and head out for some kaya toast. The bread is slathered with kaya, a jam made with coconut, sugar, eggs and pandan leaves. Kaya smells fragrant and coconutty, and tastes sweet like custard. The toast is served with coffee and soft-boiled eggs topped with soy sauce. Although the traditional toast is thin and crispy, it’s now common to use other types of bread, too, such as thick, fluffy slices of French toast.

Fried carrot cake
Singaporean carrot cake is nothing like the westernized carrot cake you might already be familiar with. First, there’s not any carrot in this dish. Instead, it’s made from white Chinese radish (also known as white carrot or daikon), which is steamed with rice flour and wok-fried with eggs, garlic and preserved radish. It’s savory and salty, with a crispy exterior and soft interior. There’s also a black variation with a sweeter taste, thanks to the addition of dark soy sauce. 

Oyster omelet
An oyster omelet is a classic hawker dish. Unlike the fried carrot cake, this is exactly what it sounds like—an omelet made with fresh, juicy oysters, although it looks more like scrambled eggs than a traditional omelette. The batter is made with eggs and potato starch, which gives it a thicker texture, and the resulting omelet is crispy around the edges with a soft and gooey center. It’s often served with a hot and sour dipping sauce.