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Welcome to Singapore, one of the world’s great food destinations, where eating—and eating well—is a time-honored national pastime.
Here you can splurge on haute cuisine from Michelin-starred chefs in some of the best fine-dining restaurants in Asia, or dig into fragrant bowls oflaksa (a spicy noodle soup) and heaping plates of char kway teow (stir-fried rice noodle strips) at one of the island’s famous hawker centers. The wide range of food and restaurants is what brings many travelers to Singapore in the first place, and few leave disappointed. In most cities the plan of attack is to map out must-see sights to pack in as much as possible; in Singapore it's often more about maximizing your meals and eating until it hurts—and then trying to fit in some more.
You hardly ever have to go far to find one of Singapore’s casual eating houses and hawker centers, which are fun, budget-friendly places to taste as many local specialties as your stomach can handle. The city-state’s indomitable megamalls are loaded with mid-range restaurants, sprawling food courts, and snack stands. Many of the island’s more upscale restaurants are tucked away in posh hotels, and many of the newer and trendier places are inside restored Chinese shophouses and once-abandoned colonial buildings. Note that upscale restaurants often close in the afternoon between lunch and dinner—from 2:30 to 6:30, for instance.
This atmospheric East Coast Seafood Centre staple is the perfect place to crack into a chilli or black pepper Sri Lankan crab, a glorious, delicious mess of a dish that's a true Singaporean specialty—be sure to order it with sides of fried buns to sop up the sauce. Prices are by the kilogram; some crabs are large enough to feed up to four people, but smaller ones for two are also available.
Cracking into a black-pepper or chilli crab is one of those signature Singapore dining experiences, and there are few places that do it better than Long Beach. There are four restaurant locations across Singapore, including the main branch on the East Coast, near where it first opened in 1946, but this Dempsey Hill branch stands out for its convenience and outdoor seating deck (plus you can stop for a pre-dinner pint or two of tasty microbrews at the nearby RedDot Brewhouse). Long Beach has other seafood specialties, including golden-stripe lobster and steamed razor clams with garlic, but the crab is the thing to go for—you won't be sorry, especially if you order it with fried mantou buns to sop up the sauce.
It may be rough around the edges, it's in the red-light district of Geylang, and the cost of a full meal would make some fine-dining establishments blush, but there's good reason why the late food magnate Anthony Bourdain named Sin Huat one of the "10 places to eat before you die." Chef Danny's rich, gooey, briny, magnificent crab (or prawn) bee hoon (vermicelli-like rice noodles) is a stunning dish. Pair it with on-the-shell scallops slathered in black bean sauce and a plate of kailan (fresh greens) with garlic for a meal to remember.
This seaside branch of one of Singapore’s most long-standing seafood restaurant chains lets you pick your own fish, crab, lobsters, and more from tanks, then have it cooked the way you like. Whatever you choose, don’t miss the black pepper crabs; Long Beach is the creator of the now-iconic Singaporean dish, and its version is still tops.
A step above the island's more rough-and-ready seafood centers, Tung Lok Seafood lets you feast on daily catches that include everything from Alaskan king crab to Australian barramundi and lobster, or follow the locals' lead and grab a cracker to break into a succulent chili or black-pepper crab. Wasabi-mayo prawns, another of Tunk Lok's signature dishes, are highly recommended. A buffet with more than 50 items is served daily for dinner, as well as for lunch on the weekend.
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