ABC Brickworks Market & Food Centre

The argument over the name has run since 1974. The argument over the char siew ended long ago.

Go for the pork, and go early. ABC Brickworks is a walk from Redhill MRT, which keeps it a neighbourhood hawker centre rather than a tour-group stop: around 90 stalls, ceiling fans and regulars who know their order before they reach the counter. It suits a weekday lunch if you work around Redhill or Tiong Bahru, or a weekend graze with friends who will share plates and queue in rotation. The compromise is the walk and the timing, because the soup stall worth crossing town for is one to reach before the lunch rush.

Start at Fatty Cheong and ask for the bu jian tian cut, the fatty, caramelised piece of char siew; it is the order we would build the trip around. Then Bao Zai for small char siew bao, eaten at the table while they are hot (a bao does not improve on the walk back to the office).

Ah Er Soup is the slow-cooked counterpoint and holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand for 2026, under the spelling Ar Er Soup. Order the Buddha Jumps Over The Wall, and plan for an early lunch with a back-up: a slow soup cannot be hurried out of the pot when the morning's batch runs down.

For the friend who wants none of the above, Wow Wow West does chicken chop under black pepper gravy, the coffee-shop Western order. Jason Penang Cuisine covers northern Malaysia with Penang fried kway teow and assam laksa; take the kway teow if you want a plate to share alongside the pork. Finish at Jin Jin Dessert, home of the cheerfully named Power Chendol and Gangster Ice, which is what a sticky Redhill afternoon calls for.

The name is a good argument to have over lunch. Most people assume the bricks are literal; the other story traces the letters to the old Archipelago Brewery Company, which stood near where Anchorpoint mall is today. Either way, the centre has fed Redhill since 1974, which is longer than most of the people arguing about it have been eating here.

How to do it well: arrive before the lunch rush on a weekday, send one person to Ah Er and one to Fatty Cheong, and meet at a table in between. Stalls keep their own hours inside the centre's, so check the one you are coming for before a special trip.

What to order

• Char siew rice, bu jian tian cut · Fatty Cheong · #01-120Ask for the bu jian tian, the fatty, caramelised cut. This is the stall to build the visit around.
• Buddha Jumps Over The Wall · Ah Er Soup · #01-141Michelin Bib Gourmand 2026, under the spelling Ar Er Soup. Come early and have a back-up stall in mind.
• Char siew bao · Bao Zai · #01-135Small buns; eat them at the table while they are hot.
• Chicken chop with black pepper gravy · Wow Wow West · #01-133The coffee-shop Western option, for whoever didn't come for the pork.
• Penang fried kway teow or assam laksa · Jason Penang Cuisine · #01-112Northern Malaysian plates; the kway teow is the one to share.
• Power Chendol or Gangster Ice · Jin Jin Dessert · #01-21Long-running dessert stall; the chendol is the sticky-afternoon finish.

Good to know Blk 6 Jalan Bukit Merah, a walk from Redhill MRT. The centre's hours are in the box; individual stalls keep their own, so check the one you are coming for before a special trip.

ABC Brickworks Market & Food Centre | Blk 6 Jalan Bukit Merah, ABC Brickworks Market & Food Centre, Singapore 150006 | Nearest MRT: Redhill (a walk)