Hi there,
Do not go to the food court along Orchard Road, the quality is not good. Instead, take the MRT *(train) and go to places that have no air-condition food center.
I highly recommend Bedok Centre, there is a MRT stop next to it.
Check this blog: it also tells you how to get there.
http://www.angryangmo.com/2009/03/20/best-hawker-center-singapore/

Happy Eating!

Newton Circus-good variety

The chinese resyaurant at Raffles is superb. As good as the best in San francisco or NY.
We did not run into any hawkers except in Chinatown which in our opinion is not worth visiting anyway.

Thanks so much for the suggestions! We are staying in Marina Bay Sands. Any good hawkers near that or even restaurants?

Ah ha we are staying at the same hotel travelnmymind! Here's a list of the restaurants that we will visit next week that are near to the Sands.

No Signboard Seafood Restaurant at the Esplanade mall, near the Sands. http://nosignboardseafood.com/
Jumbo Seafood Restaurant one of the branch is not too far from the Sands. http://www.jumboseafood.com.sg/

Glutton's Bay Hawker center is fairly close to the Marina Bay Sands. It is next to the Durians, on the water. It's is a little fancier than some centers, with great food.
http://www.makansutra.com/eateries_mgb.html

Thank you! We will try No signboard right away after we put our bags down at the hotel!

Check here for good reviews on Singapore food. There's lots of info on hawker centers as well.

http://ieatishootipost.sg/

You can check out my humble blog for some photos of food in Singapore.

http://frosty889.blogspot.com/

KMLoke - I see a picture of Tian Tian and I was wondering what you thought of the Hainanese Chicken rice there?

Opps upon looking at the photo again it appears that is not Tian Tian in the picture!

Tian Tian is considered to be the best in Singapore by many. It's not unanimous though as there's lots of places which offer very good chicken rice. Tian Tian is good in all aspects of being considered as good chicken rice ie chicken meat, rice and chilli. There few if any that does it better then them.

They are still in Maxwell FC which is near Chinatown. If you're going to Chinatown it's nearby. There's lengthy queues during lunch hours except maybe weekends.

They have opened to restaurants at Joo Chiat Road and Simpang Bedok. They are in their own shop houses and are air conditioned. Quality matches that of their stall at Maxwell. Prices are higher though for the air conditioning and service.
They offer a wider menu due to bigger kitchen space.

Just had a meal at Jumbo Seafood on Dempsey Hill and No Signboard at the Esplanade. Both were very bland and geared towards the Western palette, in another word - not very flavourful IMO. Should had stuck to my old haunt at Amok Hill!

I really liked Tian Tian, and this is coming from someone who normally doesn't like Singapore's national dish. I thought the version at Chatterbox at the Mandarin hotel was overrated.

I haven't eaten at the Chatterbox for years. There are much better which costs much less.

You should check out the original No Signboard at the junction of Geylang and Aljunied Roads. Most of the customers are local.

I don't have too much experience of Hawker center's but here's a list of food joints I liked.

By far my favorite restaurant in Singapore would be Samy's Curry at Holland Village. They serve amazingly flavorful Indian cuisine, and their fish dishes are superb.

The Da-Dong in Chinatown serves pretty good Chinese fare though make sure you order something that entices you rather than their specials.

This is too late for the original poster, but others might benefit. The Marina Bay Sands is a little isolated from everything, built out into the strait. "Hawkers" all over Singapore now resemble shopping mall food courts although far tastier. The multi-level shopping centre (and casino) attached to Marina Bay Sands has a big collection on its lower level, surrounding the artificial ice rink, a feature that suggests a certain lack of authenticity. I can't judge the roots of the food(although the attempts to ice skate are funny as a circus) but the wide range of food styles is very tempting.

Southam - we tried that food court and found the food not to our liking. The Indian food Nan station was the only thing that was OK the rest were just passable and the atmosphere was bad.

The food court at ION had much better quality food and they even have a Peking duck booth where you can buy pre-rolled peking ducks! Did not try it but everything else we did try there was excellent.

YUM-Glad I am thinking of adding 4 nights at the end of our stay next year in Singapore

Any suggestions re a good hawker centre or restaurant near Katong or Marine Parade area? Just in Singapore overnight again and hotel is in Roxy Square.

Ttt

There is so much good food in Singapore that I can't remember them all. What I do is to bookmark the top wok singapore website in my iphone and I always manage to find the nearest good food as recommended by the foodies. Here's the link http://netsenger.com/topwok/index.htm