Singapore makes it easy to dine out with an abundance of cuisines available for your tastebuds to explore. One of our top reasons for traveling to Singapore was to eat their lip-smacking affordable dishes. We traveled to Singapore in February of 2020, right in the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Singapore was open to tourists except to those traveling from China and so it was pretty empty compared to their usual tourist crowds.
Hawker Centers
The place to go for incredible food on a budget! Basically a Hawker Center is a giant outdoor food court, but with TONS of food options to choose from. There are many Hakwer Centers around to choose from, some food stalls even have one or two Michelin Stars—Incredible! When you enter a Hawker Center, first grab a seat at a table (or someone in your group grab a seat), or place napkins on the table to “claim” it. It is very common to share table space with strangers. Some of the food stalls may be self-service where you take your tray of food from the stall to the table or some may deliver your food to you. We had experience with both options and because English is a primary language in Singapore it was easy to communicate with the food vendors. We explored three different Hawker Centers, two of them in the financial district (Lau Pa Sat) and one of them in Chinatown (Maxwell).
Hainanese Chicken Rice
Singapore’s National dish, it is a soulful mix of steamed chicken and rice cooked in chicken stock, served with clear soup, sliced cucumber or other vegetable, ginger, chili, and soy dips. We tried this dish in a food court on Orchard Road, a 1.6 mile stretch of shops, restaurants, and more!
Satay (Malay & Indonesian)
Satay is one of our favorite meals, Liz is part Indonesian so we of course had to find a spot to eat this staple food. Satay is grilled kebabs of chicken, beef, pork, or shrimp with spicy peanut sauce to dip it in. We went back to the Hawker Center, La Pau Sat, they host a Satay Market outside of the center’s walls. There were many satay stalls to choose from and there is a lot of pressure from the stall vendors for you to choose their food and they will push menus in your face and try to seat you as if you are in a restaurant. We fell into the pressure of Satay 7 & 8, but ultimately it was worth it and the food was outstanding.
Indian Cuisine
Spicy South Indian food dominates Singapore and a popular attraction for tourists to visit is Little India. We do not eat Indian food often (or at all), but our cuisine experience in Little India at Muthu’s Curry was amazing! The best curry we’ve ever tasted!
Chicken Kalmi Kebab 
Fish Head Curry
Nasi Lemak
Nasi Lemak is an aromatic breakfast rice dish commonly in Malay cuisines. The rice is infused in coconut milk and pandan leaves giving it distinct flavor, usually served with sambal and various garnishes such as cucumber slices, roasted peanuts, and hard boiled eggs. We ate this popular dish at the Singapore Zoo, once at our Breakfast with Orangutans experience and then again at lunch in the food court after we explored the zoo.
Nasi Lemak itself 
Nasi Lemak w/ chicken
Laksa, Singapore Sling, & Bubble Tea
A common spicy noodle dish found in Singapore is Laksa, there are many variations of it with thick rice noodles, topped with chicken, shrimp, or fish, in a rich and spicy coconut soup. We enjoyed a bowl of this spicy goodness in a food court inside The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands.
Ever heard of the Singapore Sling? It is a famous gin-based cocktail developed in the early 1900’s by a bartender who was working at the Long Bar in Raffles Hotel. If you are a cocktail-enthusiast it is a must-try, or at least experience the Long Bar–an absolutely beautiful bar that you can enjoy a large bag of peanuts in.
Bubble tea is extremely popular in Singapore, but a trending flavor is the brown sugar pearl milk. Originally created in Taiwan, ย the indulgent drink and its delicious-looking tiger stripes of caramel streaking the insides of its cupย has taken Singapore by storm. There are many different versions of this bubble tea drink to be found in dozens of different bubble tea shops. A sweet treat to have in the warm climate!
We hope you enjoyed reading through our top food experiences while we were in Singapore and the purpose of this article is to give you inspiration to try something new. We dined out every day and had many different meals including dishes that are not staples in Singapore such as burgers, flatbreads, ice cream, pad thai, various food choices from our hotel breakfast buffet, etc. The opportunities to eat were endless!
Comments
Wonderful! Do they deliver? ๐โค