Food Culture in Singapore
Singapore is famous for its food culture. No matter where you are, there is great food for every taste and budget in Singapore. Dining in Singapore is an essential aspect of the state’s unique culture and Singapore is one of the top destinations for food lovers. If you prefer haute cuisine, of course there are many dining options in many of Singapore's top hotels and posh restaurants. If you are feeling bored, always dining out in your usual familiar restaurants, why don't you venture out and try some delicious inexpensive local food instead.
There are the legendary hawker centers, open-air food courts that offer traditional Indian, Chinese, or Malay food at very reasonable prices. A simple noodle dish is about S$3-4, up to about S$50 or more for a plate of chili crab in the hawker centers, food courts or coffee shops. A simple but delicious meal with a nice dessert in the hawker centers will cost around S$6-8 per person making Singapore a paradise for food lovers.
Singapore cuisine is unique because it integrates different cultures. If you look at laksa, it really combines curry leaf, coconut, sambal and Chinese noodles to perfection. Singapore’s unique cuisine has a little bit of everything. It is really a fusion of all the national foods and influenced and created many of Singapore’s unique food throughout the years. Because of all the different traditions and influences intertwining, people with dietary restrictions will not be left behind. Vegetarian food and Halal dishes are also widely available.
There are the legendary hawker centers, open-air food courts that offer traditional Indian, Chinese, or Malay food at very reasonable prices. A simple noodle dish is about S$3-4, up to about S$50 or more for a plate of chili crab in the hawker centers, food courts or coffee shops. A simple but delicious meal with a nice dessert in the hawker centers will cost around S$6-8 per person making Singapore a paradise for food lovers.
Singapore cuisine is unique because it integrates different cultures. If you look at laksa, it really combines curry leaf, coconut, sambal and Chinese noodles to perfection. Singapore’s unique cuisine has a little bit of everything. It is really a fusion of all the national foods and influenced and created many of Singapore’s unique food throughout the years. Because of all the different traditions and influences intertwining, people with dietary restrictions will not be left behind. Vegetarian food and Halal dishes are also widely available.
Where Do the Locals Eat
Where to Find Nice and Cheap Food in Singapore
Where to Find Nice and Cheap Food in Singapore
Popular Local Food in Singapore
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Fried Carrot Cake
It is a dish made with radish cake (steamed rice flour, water, and radish), which is then stir-fried with lot of eggs, preserved radish, and sweet dark soy sauce, to create the aroma and sweet taste.. This dish can be easily found in most hawker centers or coffee shops in Singapore. Recommend:
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Nasi Biriyani
Nasi Biriyani or biriani, is a mixed rice dish from the Indian subcontinent. It is made with spices, rice and meat or vegetables and served with prickled and nice thick curry sauce. Order this dish with a glass of refreshing fresh lime juice and you will have an unforgettable dining experience. Recommend:
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Chicken Rice
Singapore's 'national' dish. This delectable dish can be found at almost every dining spot, from humble hawker centres to high-end restaurants. The rice is cooked to perfection with sesame oil and chicken stock, to create the unforgettable aroma. The chicken is juicy and tender. A must try in Singapore. Recommend:
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Chili Crab
This is a famous seafood dish in Singapore. Mud crabs are commonly used and are stir-fried in a semi-thick, sweet and savoury tomato and chili based sauce. Despite its name, chili crab is not a very spicy dish. It is listed at number 35 on the World's 50 most delicious foods compiled by CNN Go in 2011. Also a must try. Recommend:
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Fish Head Curry
This is another dish adopted from the Indian cuisine. This is a spicy dish of stew curry cooked with vegetables and the head of a fish. The curry which is rich in coconut milk, curry and spices goes really very well with steam rice. However, this is quite a spicy dish. Recommend:
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Fried Hokkein Prawn Noodle
This is a simple and all time favorite dish of stir-fried yellow and white noodles boasts a rich prawn stock that keeps fans coming back for more. It can be found in most hawker centers and is a very popular dish for supper. Recommend:
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Kaya Toast
This is a simple and humble but delicious dish. Kaya toast is prepared with kaya (coconut jam), a topping of sugar, coconut milk and eggs, pandan, and sometimes margarine or butter. It is generally served on toast and is considered a breakfast staple usually goes with half boiled eggs and local coffee or tea. Recommend:
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Laksa
The laksa broth offers the right balance of spice and coconut milk, a distinctive noodle soup that will tickle the tastebuds. Found in many hawker centers but one of the best laksa are found in Katong, east coast of Singapore, an area known for Peranakan Chinese or Straits-born Chinese. Recommend:
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Prawn Noodle Soup
is a popular local dish made up of yellow mee (yellow noodles) in a broth of pork bones and prawn stock made from prawn heads and shells, and garnished with bean sprouts, slices of pork and prawn, and kangkong (water spinach). Try it once and you will go back for more... Also served dry with chili sauce a favorite among the locals. Recommend:
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Rojak
This is a dark and sticky salad that may not look very appealing at first. But once you tuck into this culinary marvel and you’ll be amazed by the delicious mix of sweet and savory that is rich in aroma of the prawn paste mixed with the fragrant of grinded roasted peanut and tamarind juice. Recommend:
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Roti Prata
This Indian specialty is pleasing to the palate and the eye. Watch the prata-maker stretch the dough by slapping and swinging it in one skilful motion. Roti Prata is either served with curry sauce or sugar. Also a favorite breakfast or supper dish among the locals. Recommend:
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Char Kway Teow,
Literally mean "stir-fried ricecake strips", is a popular noodle dish. stir-fried over very high heat with light and dark soy sauce, deshelled blood cockles, bean sprouts and sometimes chopped Chinese chives. The dish is commonly stir-fried with egg, slices of Chinese sausage and fishcake. Also found commonly in most hawker centers and coffee shops in Singapore. Recommend:
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Satay
Satay is a dish of seasoned, skewered and grilled meat, served with spicy peanut sauce. Satay may consist of diced or sliced chicken, mutton, beef, pork. These skewered meat are grilled or barbecued over a wood or charcoal fire, then served with various spicy peanut sauce. A must try in Singapore. Recommend:
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Mee Siam
In Singapore, it is served with spicy, sweet and sour light gravy. The gravy is made from spice paste, tamarind and salted soy bean. Mee Siam is typically garnished with shredded omelette, scallions, bean sprouts, garlic chives, and lime. Recommend:
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Sambal or BBQ Stingray
This is also known as Spicy Banana Leaf Stingray and by the Malay name Ikan baker (barbecued fish). This is a Malaysian/Singaporean seafood dish. The dish is prepared by barbecuing the stingray, fish or squid over banana leaf and served with sambal paste on top. Recommend:
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Yong Tau Foo
This is a Hakka Chinese cuisine consisting primarily of tofu (bean curd) that has been filled with either a ground meat mixture or fish paste. Variation of this food include vegetables and mushrooms stuffed with ground meat or fish paste. Yong tau foo is eaten in numerous ways, either dry with a sauce or served as a soup dish Recommend:
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Popular Dessert and Snack in Singapore
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Cheng Tng
Cheng Tng is a light refreshing soup with longans, barley, agar strips, lotus seeds and a sweet syrup, served either hot or cold. |
Curry puff
This is a delicious snack of Southeast Asian origin. It is a small pie consisting of specialised curry with chicken and potatoes in a deep-fried or baked pastry shell, and it looks like the Portuguese stuffed bread called Empanada. |
Dim Sum
This is a style of Chinese Canton cuisine prepared as small bite-sized portions of food traditionally served in small steamer baskets or on small plates. Popular dim sum includes, Char Siew Bao, Har Gow, Siew Mai, Phoenix Claws, Egg Tarts |
Durian Puff
Sophisticated yet funky, the Durian Cream Puff is a wild Asian twist on a English dessert. As you sink your teeth into that crisp and hollow choux pastry shell, deliciously rich and creamy durian pulp oozes out with every bite. |
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Ice Kacang
Ice kacang was originally made of only shaved ice and red beans. Today, ice kacang toppings also include bright colors sweet syrup, evaporated milk, coconut milk, corn and a generous amount of the aromatic gula melaka, which is coconut sugar syrup. |
Kueh Tutu
Kueh tutu is a small steamed cake made of finely pounded rice flour and filled with either ground peanuts or grated coconut. Thought to be Chinese in origin, kueh tutu is believed to be unique to Singapore. |
Mango Ice
On a hot day, cold desserts like the mango ice is a sure winner for quenching thirst with the tangy blend of cool mango puree. The ingredient includes cream milk, mango and mango puree piled over a hill of shaved ice balance out the sweetness and sourness of the mango. |
Nonya kueh
Usually come in different shapes, colours, texture and designs. Some examples are filled, coated, wrapped, sliced and layered. Most kueh are steamed, with some being boiled or baked. They can also be deep-fried and sometimes even grilled. Common kueh include, Ang Ku Kueh, Kueh Lapis, Onde Onde, Kueh Salat, Kueh Dadar. |
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Pandan Chiffon cake
This is a light, fluffy sponge cake of Indonesian and Malaysian origins with Dutch influence flavoured with the juice of Pandanus amaryllifolius leaves. The cakes are light green in tone due to the chlorophyll in the leaf juice. |
Tang Yuan
They are little glutinous rice balls that may be unfilled or filled with sweet or savoury fillings, and served in syrup or broth. They are a traditional Chinese sweet usually served at festivals or Chinese New Year, or anything that is celebrated with family. |
Tau Suan
This is a green bean dessert sweet soup. It is a thick starchy sweet soup, commonly served with Chinese breadstick or Youtiao. It is very common, however, as the bean has the ability to cool the body, aids indigestion, it was therefore a welcoming drink especially in a hot day. |
Chendol
Chendol has become an essential part of cuisine in Southeast Asia and is often sold by vendors at roadsides, hawker centres and food courts. The dessert's basic ingredients are coconut milk, jelly noodles, shaved ice and gula melaka. Other ingredients such as red beans. |
Exotic Tropical Fruits Sold in Singapore
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Durian
The name "durian" is derived from the Malay-Indonesian languages word for duri or "spike". Regarded by many people in southeast Asia as the "king of fruits", the durian is distinctive for its large size, strong odour, and formidable thorn-covered husk. The edible flesh emits a distinctive odour that is strong and penetrating even when the husk is intact. Some people regard the durian as having a pleasantly sweet fragrance; while others may find the aroma overpowering and revolting. |
Mangosteen
This is a tropical evergreen tree believed to have originated in Indonesia. The fruit of the mangosteen is sweet and tangy, juicy, somewhat fibrous, with fluid-filled vesicles (like the flesh of citrus fruits), with an inedible, deep reddish-purple colored rind when ripe. |
Snake Fruit
or Salak is a species of palm tree native to Indonesia. The fruits grow in clusters at the base of the palm, and are also known as snake fruit due to the reddish-brown scaly skin. The taste is usually sweet and acidic, with a strong astringent edge, but its apple-like texture can vary from very dry and crumbly to moist and crunchy. |
Soursop
Also known as Graviola, is widely used by many indigenous cultures for a variety of physical ailments. Many parts of the tree are used, including the leaves, fruit, bark and seeds, and each provides its own set of healing properties. The flavour has been described as a combination of strawberry and pineapple, with sour citrus flavor. |
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Jambu
The fruit is a bell-shaped, edible berry, with colors ranging from white, pale green, or green to red. Despite its name, a ripe jambu resembles an apple on the outside in color. It does not taste like an apple, and it has neither the fragrance nor the density of an apple. Its flavor is similar to a snow pear, and the liquid-to-flesh ratio of the wax apple is comparable to a watermelon. |
Star Fruit
The fruit has distinctive ridges running down its sides (usually five but can sometimes vary); in cross-section, it resembles a star, hence its name. The entire fruit is edible. The ripe star fruits are sweet without being overwhelming as they rarely have more than 4% sugar content, and they have a sour undertone. |
Rambutan
The name 'rambutan' is derived from the Malay-Indonesian languages word for rambut or "hair". The flesh of the fruit is translucent, whitish or very pale pink, with a sweet, mildly acidic flavor very reminiscent of grapes. |
Dragon Fruit
This is the fruit of cactus species. The mild taste of dragon fruit flesh is often remarked upon, as it stands in stark contrast to the vibrant exterior. The taste has been described as being "very bland... like a melon or kiwifruit," with "mild sweetness. |
