Hawker Centers

Written by Viator, May 2011

RECOMMENDATION Keywords:
Good Place to Eat

A must on any trip to Singapore is to visit a hawker center; a variety of food stalls under one roof. The hawker stalls are somewhere between street food and a restaurant, with lots of seating, eating utensils provided, and a wide variety of foods available.

Singapore has an extraordinary blend of local delicacies to sample, from Hainanese Chicken Rice, Nasi Lemak, Laksa, Rojak, Beef Kway Teow and Fish Head Curry. And then there’s the Peranakan, Indian, and Malay cuisine! It’s a foodie’s paradise, with tasty, fresh food available all day and long into the night.

Find a hawker center – there are lots, including Tiong Bahru, the Esplanade, Maxwell Road and Changi Village – and ‘chope’ (reserve) a table by leaving something small on it (a packet of tissues is a favorite). Find a tasty stall and order your dish. Tell them your table number and they’ll bring your food and drinks to you. Pay when the food arrives (cash only!).

Even if you’ve been street-food shy in the past, hawker centers are are a wonderful and safe experience.

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All Hawker Centers Reviews

Reply by Viator, February 2013
Doing what: Singapore Peranakan Trail Food Tasting Tour

We did several tours on Singapore with different companies but without question this was the best. It was a great mix of history and culture with the promise of some authentic Peranakan food at the end. Our guide (Mr Foo) was extremely knowledgeable and entertaining - so much so we booked up for another tour with him. We'd recommend this over the normal city tour to get behind the scenes in Singapore...

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Reply by Viator, December 2012
Doing what: Singapore Peranakan Trail Food Tasting Tour

I loved this tour. Part of it may have been partly due to my travel companions.We were a small group of six and thoroughly enjoyed the Pernakan Museum and the tea and snacks that followed. Walking through the spice garden wasn't that interesting to me, but was the first time I'd found any green space in Singapore and no crowds and that was WONDERFUL!

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Reply by Viator, October 2012
Doing what: Singapore's Chinatown Food Tour

Was an excellent tour, very interesting and informative, got to try lots of tasty morsels, guide was great and was very good value for money.

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