Singapore Food - Hawker Centers
 

My husband and I will be traveling to Singapore (after Shanghai) on a trip very soon and we would love to eat some great "street food" in Singapore. From what I have read, the hawker centers are the place to go for this (please correct me if I'm wrong). Do you have a favorite place/favorite food to get there?

Also, what is the general procedure to order food? Is it fairly easy to figure out?

Thanks!

The high priest of travel - His Bobness - will no doubt respond having just returned from a trip that included Sing and a visit to some Hawker Centers there.

There are extensive reviews of hawker centers and hawker foods here. Do a search. Below the search box is a link that says "advanced search" Click on this type in hawker centers, check search full post, choose Asia and Singapore and make the window two years long.

You'll get a nice list of posts. This one has some good links
http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...lls-review.cfm

Thanks for the links and the search advice, Kathie! I will do that now. I am already overwhelmed with the food choices. In looking at those links, I see more food I want to eat than I could possibly eat in 4 days. I think I may have to eat 4 or 5 meals a day in Singapore!

The newest Cooking Light magazine has a spread on Singapore food/restaurants. . .

East coast food centre is somewhere i could recommend, nice setting and great food.

East Coast food center was our favorite too - for food and atmosphere.

Is it air-conditioned? I really had problem eating in Singapore during my previous visits. Great food at the those hawker centers, but the heat and humidity...

The Singapore portion of our trip is over-we ate at the Maxwell Road hawker center (twice) and the Newton Circus hawker center. Had excellent food at both. The Maxwell Road center wasn't horribly hot-they had fans going and we ate at Newton Circus at night, so it wasn't bad heat.

Newton Circus has become more for tourists. A reason for popularity among locals is that it's near Orchard Road and it's open till early morning. I haven't been there in years.

I'm afraid that hawker centers are not air conditioned. The government has been upgrading them progressively so that they are cleaner and better ventilated.

The alternative are food courts which are mostly found in shopping malls. Downside is the food are not as good as those found in the hawker centers.

The thread which Kathie provided the link has good guide to the food available.

When eating in a group, it's common to order dishes from different stalls to be shared. This way you can have try different things.

East Coast food center - you mean East Coast Lagoon Food Village? It's located along East Coast Park. It's not air conditioned. We do not usually eat there during lunch as it gets a bit hot. The most popular time is dinner when it's really bustling. There's no MRT station or convenient bus services so you'll have to get a cab.

http://ieatishootipost.sg/search/lab...Food%20Village

Forgot to mention, if you're eating barbeque seafood or seafood for that matter but especially at Newton please enquire on the price before ordering. Unfortunately there's been cases where some unsuspecting customers have been charged pretty hefty prices for the food.

No, the East coast food entre is outside, it was very hot when i went and i remember we walked there from my friends condo but they do have those little misting fans. Lovely place though and worth going.

ooops just realised KMLoke replied re the question of East Coast food centre.

There are a few popular Singapore dishes. I am listing some of them that I got them off the Internet. Pretty good compilation.

Most stall assistants in hawker centers and food courts don't speak English, so ordering the dishes can be abit of guess work and with some surprises. There may be picture menu at some places so you can just point to order.

I found the downloadable food guide on travellerfoodguide.com very useful because there is a section in every mentioned dish where you can mark a selection in English on the guide & a corresponding Chinese or Malay version is provided. Beside being able to communicate your selection, the guide is very helpful to customise the food when many Singapore food allow some kind of customisation. For example, we can order chicken thigh part for chicken rice and there are "white" and "black" or roasted chicken. And if you don't like chili, the guide helps you remove the chili from you dish before it is too late.

Chinese Influenced Singapore Dishes:
1. Hainanese Chicken Rice
Not spicy. Very famous. Widely recognised as the “National Dish” of Singapore.
http://travellerfoodguide.com/singap...e-chicken-rice
http://www.yoursingapore.com/content...cken-rice.html

2. Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee (Noodles)
Can be spicy when eaten with a special chili sauce.
http://travellerfoodguide.com/singap...okkien-har-mee
http://www.yoursingapore.com/content...prawn-mee.html

3. Char Kway Teow (Noodles)
Can be spicy if fried with chili.
http://travellerfoodguide.com/singap...char-kway-teow
http://www.yoursingapore.com/content...kway-teow.html

4. Chai Tow Kway (Diced Rice Cakes)
Can be spicy if fried with chili.
http://travellerfoodguide.com/singap.../chai-tow-kway
http://www.yoursingapore.com/content...rrot-cake.html

Malay & Chinese Influenced Singapore Dishes:
1. Laksa (Noodles)
Definitely spicy.
http://travellerfoodguide.com/singap...od-guide/laksa
http://www.yoursingapore.com/content...hes/laksa.html

Malay Influenced Singapore Dishes:
1. Mee Rebus (Noodles)
Slightly spicy but can be very spicy if added with chili.
http://travellerfoodguide.com/singap...uide/mee-rebus

2. Mee Siam (Rice Noodles)
Definitely spicy
http://travellerfoodguide.com/singap...guide/mee-siam

3. Nasi Lemak (Rice)
Spicy when eaten with chili sauce.
http://travellerfoodguide.com/singap...ide/nasi-lemak
http://www.yoursingapore.com/content...asi-lemak.html

Indian Influenced Singapore Dishes:
1. Roti Prata (flattened flour)
Not spicy on it own but can be eaten with spicy curry
http://travellerfoodguide.com/singap...ide/roti-prata
http://www.yoursingapore.com/content...oti-prata.html

2. Nasi Biryani (Rice)
Spicy because of curry gravy over the rice
http://travellerfoodguide.com/singap...e/nasi-biryani

You might want to pick up one of these popular guides, or take one of their food tours:



http://www.makansutra.com/guides.html

East Coast in the evenings is great - get a bit of a breeze blowing off the water, it is quite comfy.

The OP posted this over a year ago, in July 2010....

View from the food court at Marina Square. Nice view, good choice of inexpensive food and no reservations needed.

http://dropmocks.com/mYX26

The post is so old but I would love to know about your trip..how was it? And what food you enjoyed?

Wow, this is a blast from the past! We loved Singapore! I am not at home so don't have notes - if you click on my name you can find my trip report on this trip.

We ate Fuzhou oyster cakes (really yummy) and a fish soup (bee hoon, I think) at the Maxwell Road hawker center. DH ate some kind of shrimp stir fry. Had a good Indian meal at a place in Little India - can't remember the name right now but it may be in my trip report. Newton Circus hawker center was fun because it was nice to eat outside in the evening. It is more touristy, though. Like someone said above, however, be sure to ask about prices before ordering. We had barbecued huge prawns - almost like little lobsters, but we made sure of the price ahead of time and I believe DH may have negotiated some - but not sure.

I really want to go back again just to eat!