Lau Pa Sat

Residents pretend to be above it. The chicken satay says otherwise.

Lau Pa Sat is a better dinner than its reputation, and the right call for a CBD after-work meal or a visiting friend's first hawker night. The reasons to choose it over Amoy Street or Maxwell, both a short walk away, are the building and, in the evening, Satay Street. The compromise is that it is a managed food market in the middle of the financial district, not a neighbourhood hawker centre, so come for the range and the ironwork and not for the cheapest plate in town.

Lau Pa Sat opening hours

The market at 18 Raffles Quay is open 24 hours, but each stall keeps its own. The operator's directory puts most of them at 10am to 10pm. Ten trade round the clock, among them the Kopi Kiosk for a kaya toast set, Fragrance Garden Chicken Rice, Lao Fan Ji's bak kut teh and claypot rice, Hao Zai Lai Teochew Porridge, Lion City Dim Sum and Seng Kee Local Delights, which fries carrot cake, Hokkien mee and char kway teow. The two barbecue seafood stalls, Ming Yen and Hong Kong Street, open from 5pm to 1am. Food Folks, the local food shop inside, opens from 10am to 10pm.

Satay Street

Satay Street is the evening move, when Boon Tat Street beside the market fills with smoking grills and tables. It runs from 7pm to 3am on weekdays and from 3pm to 3am at weekends, and the operator counts nine satay carts, a teh tarik stall and a drinks stall among them. The carts go by number as much as by name: Best Satay 7 and 8 list prawn and chicken satay, Satay Power 6 mutton and duck. Make chicken the base of the round and treat the rest as extras. If you arrive before the street opens, City Satay at stall 41 inside grills from 10am to midnight. Prices are not published online, so read the board at the cart before you order.

What to eat at Lau Pa Sat

There are more than 80 stalls, so arrive with a plan. For the local plates, the directory lists Lao Fu Zi Fried Kway Teow at stalls 74 and 75 (black or white char kway teow, and laksa), Heyya for braised duck rice and kway chap at stall 72, Kallang Airport Wanton Noodle at stall 57, Warong Pak Sapari for mee soto and mee rebus at stall 58, Qiu Lian Ban Mian at stall 18 and Thunder Tea Rice at stall 25. For a table that wants crab, the two seafood stalls do chilli crab, black pepper crab and sambal stingray. There is Indian, Thai, Korean, Filipino and Japanese cooking too, and Maya Veggie Delight and Moon Chay for vegetarians. Stalls change, and three units on the map were marked as coming soon when we checked.

The building that came apart

The name means "old market", and it is earned. Lau Pa Sat's own history dates the first Telok Ayer Market, in timber and attap, to 1824; the cast-iron octagon you eat under was completed in 1894 on newly reclaimed Raffles Quay. The ironwork was prefabricated by Walter MacFarlane & Company of Glasgow to a design by Municipal Engineer James MacRitchie. It was gazetted a national monument in 1973, and in the mid-1980s the whole structure was dismantled piece by piece to make way for MRT construction, then reassembled on a new foundation. Look up between mouthfuls: the radiating arches are the reason to eat here and not in a food court.

When to go

Friday after work is when the whole CBD has the same idea, so arrive as the grills light up, or come at the weekend when Satay Street starts at 3pm. Live bands play in the market from 7.30pm to 9.30pm on several nights a week. With children, an early weekend dinner is the easy version, since the grills start at 3pm.

Getting there

The operator lists four stations as nearest: Raffles Place, Downtown, Telok Ayer and Shenton Way. It does not publish exits. Nearby car parks include One Raffles Quay and Hong Leong Building.

Nearby

If the cheapest good lunch in the CBD is the goal, Amoy Street Food Centre is a short walk away, and Maxwell Food Centre is one stop along the Thomson–East Coast Line. For a drink with a view afterwards there is LeVeL33 at Marina Bay Financial Centre.

Good to know The market at 18 Raffles Quay is open 24 hours; most stalls open 10am to 10pm and ten trade round the clock. Satay Street runs 7pm to 3am on weekdays and 3pm to 3am at weekends. Live bands play 7.30pm to 9.30pm: the operator's event page says Wednesday to Saturday and its home page Friday to Sunday, so Friday and Saturday are the safe nights. Nearest MRT: Raffles Place, Downtown, Telok Ayer and Shenton Way. Details from laupasat.sg, checked 13 November 2026.

Another hawker centre with a story: our food centres guide.

Lau Pa Sat | 18 Raffles Quay, Singapore 048582 | Nearest MRT: Raffles Place, Downtown, Telok Ayer or Shenton Way