Golden Mile Food Centre

Boots and groundsheets upstairs, peanut soup and claypot rice down. One building, two shopping lists.

Order the claypot rice first, then take a slow lap. Golden Mile Food Centre is two sets of errands stacked on top of each other: hawker stalls on the ground floor and in the basement, with Peranakan home cooking and a 1947 peanut soup among them, and an upper storey of shops selling boots, water bottles and groundsheets to National Servicemen from the nearby Beach Road Camp. It suits anyone who likes lunch with a side of social history. The compromise is that it rewards wandering rather than a beeline, and stall hours vary and some dishes sell out, so check on the stall you are coming for.

It was completed in 1975 to rehouse hawkers from the Jalan Sultan street market, and it is easy to overlook now that Golden Mile Complex across the road, long known for cheap Thai food, has closed. That is a mistake. Upstairs, the army stores have branched out into camping kit, name tags and street fashion; they are busiest at weekends, so come on a weekday if you want to browse in peace.

Start savoury on the ground floor. Yew Chuan Claypot Rice at #01-73 cooks each pot to order, so put your name down early and explore while it cooks. Chung Cheng Chilli Prawn Noodles at #01-59 tosses its noodles in a house-made chilli sauce; order it if you like your lunch with some heat in it.

Then go down, because the basement is where Golden Mile earns the trip. Charlie's Peranakan Food at #B1-30 cooks ayam pongteh, beef rendang and buah keluak from recipes passed down by Charlie's mother, the kind of home cooking that rarely makes it into hawker centres. Order the ayam pongteh and share it. Nearby, Hainan Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee at #B1-34 is run by an elderly couple, and newer arrivals such as Ashes Burnnit, a Muslim-owned burger stall with charcoal buns, show the basement still has momentum.

Finish sweet. The oldest flavour in the building belongs to 75 Ah Balling Peanut Soup at #01-75, going since 1947, with glutinous rice balls in peanut soup. Zhao An Granny Grass Jelly at #01-58 makes its own chin chow and serves it in a porcelain bowl with longan, which is the correct response to Beach Road in the afternoon heat.

How to do it well: Nicoll Highway and Lavender are the nearest MRT stations. Come on a weekday, walk both food floors before you commit, put in the claypot order, browse the army stores upstairs while it cooks, then eat in the basement and finish with peanut soup. Dessert is not optional here; it is the oldest thing on the menu, and it has earned the courtesy.

What to order

• Chilli mee · Chung Cheng Chilli Prawn Noodles · #01-59House-made chilli sauce; the ground floor's pick if you want heat.
• Peanut soup with tang yuan · 75 Ah Balling Peanut Soup · #01-75Going since 1947: the oldest flavour in the building, and the way to finish.
• Ayam pongteh and beef rendang · Charlie's Peranakan Food · #B1-30Family recipes from Charlie's mother; home cooking that hawker centres rarely see.
• Claypot chicken rice · Yew Chuan Claypot Rice · #01-73Cooked to order, so put your name down first and explore while it cooks.
• Hokkien mee · Hainan Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee · #B1-34Run by an elderly couple, in the basement; worth the stairs.
• Grass jelly with longan · Zhao An Granny Grass Jelly · #01-58House-made chin chow with longan in a porcelain bowl: the answer to Beach Road in the afternoon heat.

Good to know Golden Mile Food Centre is at 505 Beach Road; Nicoll Highway and Lavender are the nearest MRT stations. Stall hours vary and some dishes sell out, so check before you go; the army stores are busiest at weekends.

Golden Mile Food Centre | 505 Beach Road, Singapore 199583 | Nearest MRT: Nicoll Highway, Lavender