If you’re a foodie on a stopover in Singapore, you’re in for a treat. From Michelin-starred hawker stalls, to world famous restaurants, and expansive rooftop views, Singapore, quite literally, has it all.
Read about our list of fantastic restaurants in Singapore and local must-try foods for a singular gastronomic experience.
What are the 10 must-eat restaurants in Singapore?
It is an impossible task to name all the restaurants in Singapore that could rightfully earn a spot on this list, but we’ve got a few that are worth your dining dollars during your stopover in Singapore.
1. Scaled by Ah Hua Kelong
If you adore seafood, then your first dining experience in Singapore should be at Scaled. This delightfully cosy and cool restaurant is located on the famed Haji Lane, and manages to maintain a casual atmosphere, despite its vaunted foodie reputation.
Order dishes like their clams doused in miso butterscotch sauce, or the Smoked Seabass Pâté to get a taste of what Scaled is all about.
Best restaurant in Singapore for: farm-to-table food
2. Labyrinth
Local Singaporean recipes are given contemporary treatment at the Michelin-starred Labyrinth, the brain-child of chef LG Han.
Try one of the curated tasting menus, where you will be served around a dozen delicately cooked morsels, such as Braised Baby Abalone, pandan waffles, and the famed “Nasi Lemak” Cheong Fun.
Best restaurant in Singapore for: modern Singaporean cuisine
3. Candlenut
Serving up Peranakan cuisine, a combination of Chinese and Malay influences, this Michelin-starred restaurant is something special.
Try the ‘ahmakase’ menu, a set lunch ($65) or dinner ($88) of selected dishes, to give you an introduction to this gastronomic treasure.
Best restaurant in Singapore for: Peranakan cuisine
4. Open Farm Community
The Open Farm Community is a perfect family restaurant, not only because the food is organic and offers up a low-carbon footprint. It also has an easy, breezy menu that’s great for kids, plenty of pasta, fish and meat options (as well as vegetarian dishes) and lots of excellent desserts.
Added to that, there is an open field and playground, table tennis and lawn bowls for kids when they’re done eating. Open Farm Community is located in Dempsey, a charming and rustic precinct replete with greenery and hipster cafes and restaurants, just minutes away from Orchard Road.
Best restaurant in Singapore for: families
5. The Coconut Club
Are you partial to Malay cuisine, or curious about it? Then you must visit the Coconut Club. This down-to-earth restaurant was founded because of the owners’ love of nasi lemak, a fragrant rice dish made with pandan leaf and coconut.
The Coconut Club is so celebrated, that even the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong has dined here. If you plan to visit, the best time to go is when it opens at 11am, before hungry diners descend.
Best restaurant in Singapore for: nasi lemak
6. The National Kitchen by Violet Oon
Violet Oon has been cooking and writing about Singaporean cuisine for over 50 years, and so if you want to experience the local cuisine, you cannot go wrong by visiting the restaurant of this culinary doyenne.
Located in the beautiful National Gallery of Singapore, the menu represents Singapore’s diverse heritage, with dishes like Indonesian satay, Indian idlies, and nods to Oon’s own Peranakan heritage, such as fish-head curry.
Best restaurant in Singapore for: diverse cuisine
7. Kok Sen Restaurant
A staple in the Singapore Michelin guide, Kok Sen Restaurant is known throughout the city for its seafood, tofu claypots and curry fish tail dishes.
But with any cze char joint, there are more than enough non-seafood options to try too, such as the mouthwatering Bittergourd Braised Pork Ribs, and seasonal favourites, Braised Pork Belly, and Duck Smoked with Camphorwood.
Best restaurant in Singapore for: seafood
8. Newton Food Centre
The name might not inspire great poetry, but the food certainly will. Established in 1971 the Newton Food Centre is the most famous of its kind in Singapore, not least because the variety of street food you can find here is quite simply, jaw dropping.
Drop by Hup Kee Fried Oyster Omelette, Hajah Monah Kitchen, Guan Kee Grilled Seafood, and Soon Wah Fishball Kway Teow Mee.
Best restaurant spot in Singapore for: street food
9. Makansutra Gluttons Bay
If you’ve been touring in The Shoppes within the luxurious mall of Marina Bay, and come out hungry, and there is nowhere better than 60s vibes of Makansutra Gluttons Bay.
Experience a retro street food scene in one of the swankiest parts of town. Dine on char kway teow a popular local stir fry of flat noodles, or swing by Dave Pynt’s—the Michelin-starred chef of Burnt Ends—hawker stall Meatsmith Western BBQ, and gorge on cha siew grilled ribs.
Best restaurant in Singapore for: a retro vibe
10. Birds of Paradise Gelato Boutique
Set amongst the beautiful colonial architecture of Katong, and right by the water, the Birds of Paradise Gelato Boutique is where you go if you’ve got a sweet tooth.
Easy on the eyes, and even easier on the tastebuds, indulging in an afternoon ice cream has never felt so luxurious. Try the incredible and unique flavours of gelato here, like blue ginger, spiced pear and white chrysanthemum.
Best restaurant in Singapore for: dessert
5 local dishes you must try on your stopover in Singapore
The best part of travelling is trying new foods, and if it’s your first stopover in Singapore, then you must try these delicious local dishes.
1. Chili Crab
Chilly crab is a Singaporean favourite.Made by stir-frying mud crabs in a sweet and savoury chilli-tomato sauce, thisdish was named number 35 on CNN Go’s World’s Most Delicious Foods list in 2011.For a spicy offering, try the dish at Long Beach Seafood Restaurant, but forsomething slightly less explosive go to Boat Quay and the beloved Jumbo SeafoodRestaurant.
2. Fried Carrot Cake
Despite the name, this isn’t like the cake you know back home. This dish is made with eggs, rice flour, garlic and a preserved white radish known as chai poh. This is a hearty dish, which you can have plain, or ‘black’, which comes with a sweet dark soya sauce.
3. Chicken Rice
Hainanese chicken rice has Chinese origins,but is a beloved local staple. You can find this dish anywhere in the city, butwe recommend that you go to the Maxwell Food Centre and the Tian Tian HainaneseChicken stall within. The chicken here is so good, that legendary chefs AnthonyBourdain and Gordon Ramsay swear by it.
4. Fish Head Curry
Fish head curry is a dish with a realmélange of influences, much like its home-city, Singapore. The curry consistsof the head of a tasty Red Snapper, served with vegetables in a richsauce. Trythis singular dish at The Banana Lead Apolo, one of the most famous restaurantsin Little India.
5. Kaya Toast
Got a busy day of sightseeing ahead of youon your stopover in Singapore? Kick off your morning with some Kaya toast. Adish made of toasted bread, and kaya jam – made from coconut milk, sugar, eggsand pandan leaves. This is considered to be the national breakfast dish, butthe easiest place to find it is at Ya Kun Kaya Toast. A must-try.
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