If you’re a self-confessed foodie and you’re planning a trip to Singapore, you’re in for a serious treat. The country’s cuisine is fabulously diverse, blending Chinese, Indian, Malay and Indonesian flavours. It’s exciting, eye-opening and of course, utterly delicious.
But what should you try first? We’ve put together a guide to the best Singaporean delicacies you absolutely must tuck into during your trip:
Laksa
A spicy and vibrant noodle soup dish popular in Malaysia, laksa in Singapore is often served with prawns, cockles, fishcakes and other seafood. It’s bursting with coconut milk creaminess and fresh chilli paste, making it ridiculously moreish.
Chilli crab
This dish comes with the challenge of cracking the shells to get to the succulent crab meat, but it’s well worth the effort. A whole crab, cooked in a thick tomato and chilli sauce, with bread to mop up the sauce. Heaven.
Kaya toast and eggs
This is breakfast, Singapore-style. Your toast is smothered with a thick coconut egg custard jam called kaya, with soft-boiled eggs on the side. Enjoy with coffee or tea for the perfect start to the day.
Chicken rice
Known as Singapore’s national dish, this Hainanese chicken rice is deceptively simple – consisting of steamed chicken and rice cooked in chicken stock. But if the stock is the right quality and the dish made with care, it makes for a fulfilling, aromatic and flavourful lunch.
Barbecued stingray
Never eaten Stingray? Nope, us neither – but it looks incredible! Order it from one of Singapore’s hawker stalls and you’ll get smoky, barbecued stingray meat in thick, spicy sambal sauce. The whole thing is wrapped in banana leaf and cooked to perfection on the grill.
Fish head soup
It may not look too appetising at first, but this authentic dish of fish head and curried vegetables is rich and bursting with flavour. Enjoy with a glass of local lime juice, known as ‘calamansi’.
Char kuay teow
Now for some noodles – broad white noodles fried up to a smoky finish with bean sprouts, Chinese sausage, fish cake, clams and black Soya sauce. If you spot char kuay teow on a hawker stall, go for it.
Nasi lemak
This is a fragrant rice dish you may have sampled if you’ve ever visited Malaysia. Rice cooked in coconut milk, spices and screwpine leaves is served with a marinated, fried chicken wing, a red-hot sambal sauce and small fried fish known as ikan bilis
The best place to find many of these incredible dishes is in a hawker centre, a bustling food hall with stalls specialising in authentic Singaporean dishes. But you can also find versions of most classic dishes on the menu in restaurants and family-run cafés throughout the country. Like the sound of a tasting tour of Singapore? We can put together a bespoke, food-focused itinerary packing in as many gastronomic experiences as possible.
Plan the trip of a lifetime with Blank Canvas and we’ll give your own personal concierge. This is a travel expert who’ll find and book the best restaurants, hunt down local delicacies and arrange personal tours of street food and hawker markets in Singapore – or any other foodie activity you fancy!