Maxwell Food Centre
103 stalls beside Maxwell MRT, and the famous chicken rice queue is one of them. Go mid-morning, before the CBD lunch crush, and note the whole centre shuts for cleaning on 14 December 2026.
- Where: Chinatown
- Price: Under S$30
Singapore flavours
Singapore food in three registers: a hawker meal, a heritage-led restaurant or a tasting menu. If you only do one, start at the hawker centre; the others are riffing on it.
Read the full guide: Singapore on a plate, in different registers.
Song Fa Bak Kut Teh
Clear, peppery Teochew bak kut teh, with soup top-ups that arrive before you ask. The Bib Gourmand is for the New Bridge Road original, so go there rather than to the logo.
- Where: Across Singapore
- Price: Under S$30
The Coconut Club
Nasi lemak with a sit-down room and a coconut milk with its own name, in a Beach Road shophouse with a Bib Gourmand. Taste the parts before you mix them.
- Where: Across Singapore
- Price: Under S$30
Candlenut
The world's first Michelin-starred Peranakan restaurant, at Dempsey, where the Ah-Ma-Kase menu lets grandma decide. Bring a table big enough to share properly.
- Where: Dempsey
- Price: S$60 and above
Labyrinth
LG Han's Michelin-starred tasting menu now digs into Singapore recipes the city has half forgotten. Seafood-led, about three hours at dinner, and strict about diets.
- Where: Marina Bay
- Price: S$60 and above
More restaurants collections
Restaurants worth planning around
Meals worth putting in the calendar, from Peranakan cooking to French dining and Singapore-led tasting menus. Settle the occasion first; the right table follows from it.
- 6 picks
Food centres
The answer when nobody agrees on lunch. Everyone browses, everyone orders their own, everyone meets back at one table; keep a second choice in case your stall is shut.
- 4 picks
Eating in Dempsey
Dempsey is best done as one booked meal with time either side. Peranakan, French or an open kitchen, chosen for the company; don't rush the wander around it.
- 3 picks
Eating at New Bahru
New Bahru works best if you decide what you're eating before you arrive: breakfast, Sri Lankan cooking or pizza. Book the table, then wander afterwards.
- 3 picks
Tiong Bahru cafés and market
The small plan suits Tiong Bahru best: lunch at the market or a bakery stop, then a slow wander. Check which bakery branch you mean before you set off.
- 3 picks