On a recent trip to Singapore I had the opportunity to try a number of excellent dishes at various hawker stalls and restaurants. For the most part I used “Makansutra Singapore”, “The No-Frills Guide to Street Food & Restaurants in Singapore 2003/4 edition” as my guidebook. This book is available in any bookstore in Singapore. The author, KF Seetoh, is widely recognized as an authority on local food, ushering around the likes of Tony Bourdain and Johnny (R.W.) Apple, Jr., and he also has a weekly TV show on the i-network. There is also a web-site www.makansutra.com , that has a discussion forum and some reviews from the book.


Chicken Rice, a Singapore signature dish
Maxwell Road Food Centre
Stall 10 “Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice”
Plain white rice, and boiled chicken, sounds bland but it’s quite tasty. 3 SGD

Also at Maxwell Road Food Centre:
Stall 87 Rickshaw Noodles

Maxwell Road Food Centre is one of the two food centers I’d recommend, along with the Food Center at the Chinatown Complex they offer a wide selection of stalls. This FC can be found at the Tanjong Pagar (EW 15) MRT stop. Exit the MRT to Maxwell Street and walk up Maxwell Street, (5 min walk) towards South Bridge Road, the FC is on your right.


Indian Rojak
Sajiis Indian Food
#01-29 Nan Tai Eating House (this FC has a couple of other interesting stalls which were quite busy at lunchtime)
Blk 262 Waterloo Street
Rojak is a dish originated in Singapore, supposedly. It’s a salad of sorts, made up mostly of fried vegetables, eggs and chicken/prawns served with a spicy dipping sauce. 3 SGD

Seafood
No Signboard Seafood
414 Geylang Road
Quite a few people have recommended this restaurant. Located in the Geylang area, maybe a 5 min walk south of the Aljunied (EW9) MRT stop. I had some spicy prawns (18 SGD) that were excellent.

Chinatown Complex Food Court
Block 335 Smith Street (3 min walk from the Chinatown (NE 4) MRT stop on the NE line
2nd floor, hundreds of stalls, an incredible hawker center.
Satay: Shi Xiang Sha Die stall 02-79, try the pork, mutton, beef or chicken satay, 40 Sing cents per stick, served with an excellent spicy peanut dipping sauce. Awesome. (opens at 5:30 PM)

Char Kway Teow: Hill Street, stall 02-42, flat rice noodles cooked in a moderately spicy sauce along with other ingredients (beef, mussels perhaps?) 3 SGD

Marine Parade Laksa
59 East Coast Road
01-57/59 Nan Sin Food Centre
10 – 15 min walk south/south-east from Paya Labar (EW 8) (walk down Joo Chiat Rd.)
Excellent Laksa, a soup/curry-like bowl of rice noodles, coconut milk, shrimp. 3 SGD/bowl
One of the best dishes I had! Highly recommended.

Also, in the same area, between Marine Parade Laksa and Paya Labar MRT station is:
Joo Chiat Prawn Mee
48 Onan Road
Hoon Bee CoffeeShop
Wheat noodles, in a broth with Prawns. Very tasty. 3 SGD

Satay
Haig Street Food Centre
Block 14 Haig Road (2 min walk SE from Paya Labar MRT stop)
Warong Sufi Mampir
Stall 01-19 11am-4pm
Excellent mutton satay, good peanut dipping sauce. Stall proprietor was a bit grumpy, “you’ll have to wait 30 minutes”, but he realized I was determined and served me within 5 min. 30 Sing cents per stick.


Popiah (essentially an un-fried spring roll)
Hock Heng
100 Beach Road
01-03 Xi An Food Street at Shaw Towers
(1.50 SGD per roll)


Alex’s Eating House
No. 87 Beach Road (opposite Shaw Towers)
#01-01 Chye Sing Bulding
Char Siew (Roast Duck)
Awesome roast duck served with noodles and dumplings. (4 SGD) Highly recommended.

Pizza
Spizza
29 Club Street
Excellent pizza restaurant. Medium sized pizza is $15 SGD, enough for one person. Thin crust, wide variety of toppings available.

Popular Hock Lam Street Beef Kway Teow
27 (?) Purvis Street #01-01
(near Raffles Hotel)
Awesome Beef Kway Teow, served dry or as a soup with a choice of noodle types. This is a must-try. (4 SGD)

Excellent post! Thank you and I shall cross reference it to the SIN RUN 2004 thread now.

Next time at No Signboard try the White Pepper Crab. Differenet and good.

Fancy a return trip in January?.......

Mike

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FT Pictures Page (hosted by markbach)
My Starbucks City Mug Collection Page
FT SIN RUN 2004 (2nd Annual Mileage Run For Chili Crabs)

I would also highly recommend the "No Signboard Seafood"

Considering I only go back once a year to see my parents and always have to eat there, it is good. For late night snacks, you can take a 10 min walk along Geylang Road to the 24 hour "xiao long bao" coffee shop, excellent.

Will try to make it on the Sin Run 2004, although if my parents found out they would kill me

My wife and I have gone back a few times without letting her (many) relatives and friends know we were coming, and they were pretty nerve wracking trips. Not at all as relaxing as I'd like. Always looking far up the street and around corners. The island is just small enough that the risk of running into someone we know is pretty high. We would be dead meat if found out...

A funny thread ... on the odd occasion I have
been accosted with the dreaded "what are YOU
doing here?" or when my travels have come up
in conversation, "you should have looked up
Uncle [name one], you would have eaten much
better."

If I had more time to be more active on the
boards (I'm here only because I'm participating
in the early-year UA801/800 run and check
in periodically for the news), I'd start a
thread, "most embarrassing chance encounter
while traveling."

P.S. transpac, it's about time to have
some sort of get-together in Beantown.
Dinner at East Ocean City if your offspring
permits?

It's not actually plain white rice... it's been fried in chicken fat and boiled in chicken stock, and you eat it with sweet soya sauce, chili sauce and ginger to enhance the taste. It has a lot more calories than plain rice, but never mind...

I have a copy of the Makansutra Guide 2003/4 edition that I'd like to give away. If anyone would like it drop me an email.

transpac at comcast dot net

I will send this guide to bamboola.

[This message has been edited by transpac (edited Mar 12, 2004).]

My family and I will be visiting Singapore for the first time later this year. I would love to have your copy of the Makansutra Guide. Please email me for my address. Thanks so much!

I believe No Signboard Seafood has 3 branches. I went to the one on 414 Geylang road. Arriving at 2 pm, I was to find that it opened only at 3 PM, meaning that I would be walking around Geylang, the red light district of Singapore. Being an able bodied young man, but stingy and cautious I decided not to part with my money and imbibe in some of the pleasures available in the area. 3 PM rolled around and the wait as well as saving the money was well worth it as I tried the Chili Crab, a large sized crab was sold to me for 26 Singapore Dollars. Fantastic, and along with a refreshing beverage made a very pleasant lunch. I would definitely reccomend it. MRT stop is Aljunied. On the Green EW line, the stop after it is Kallang en route to Boon Lay. Restaurant is located near Lorong 24.

satay
hawker stands
'nuff said

Thanks for the information.

I borrowed it from bamboola, great resource ^ , I had to wipe the drool off of it before I returned it!

How about trying dinner in the Singapore sky?
It's an interesting concept. You can have a japanese
meal in a cable car. Take a look at the menu at www.cablecar.com.sg
or you can try to win a pair of Cable car sky dining vouchers from
www.infomediamarketing.com/sky.htm
Invite me along if you win. Heehee!

Look for everything Singaporean here : http://www.makantime.com/

Oh you missed Muthu curry and Komalavilas :-) Great post I need to go back soon...