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Guide · Food travel · Singapore

The Singapore food bucket list, from kaya toast to chilli crab.

Singapore may be the easiest food city in the world to eat well in and the hardest to finish. This is a bucket list of dishes and experiences, not a ranking: eighteen things to eat, what each one is, and a long-running place to start — from a hawker stall with a Michelin star to a bar where you throw peanut shells on the floor.

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In short

A Singapore food bucket list should include chilli crab with fried buns, Hainanese chicken rice, bak chor mee from Hill Street Tai Hwa (the only Michelin-starred hawker in the 2026 guide), Katong laksa eaten with a spoon, kaya toast with soft-boiled eggs, peppery bak kut teh, fish head curry in Little India, satay on Lau Pa Sat’s satay street, roti prata, carrot cake, ice kachang and a Singapore Sling at the Long Bar.

Checked

The list

Eighteen things to eat in Singapore.

Each stall keeps its own hours and rest days, and famous ones sell out; check before you go. JUMBO’s East Coast Seafood Centre restaurant closed in September 2026; its other outlets are still open.

A Singapore food bucket list: the dish, what it is, and a long-running place to try it
What it isA classic place to start
1. Chilli crabMud crab in a sweet, savoury, mildly spicy sauce, with fried or steamed buns (mantou) to mop it upA zi char stall or seafood restaurant
2. Black pepper crabCrab wok-fried with a heap of cracked black pepperLong Beach, which calls itself the original
3. Hainanese chicken riceSilky poached chicken with rice cooked in chicken fat and stock, chilli and garlicTian Tian, Maxwell Food Centre (closed Mondays)
4. Bak chor meeEgg noodles tossed with black vinegar, lard and chilli, with minced porkHill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle, Crawford Lane — one Michelin star
5. Katong laksaCoconut curry noodle soup with cockles and prawns; the noodles are cut short so you eat it with only a spoon328 Katong Laksa, East Coast Road
6. Kaya toast setToast with coconut jam and butter, soft-boiled eggs with soy and pepper, and a kopiYa Kun (since 1944) or Killiney Kopitiam (since 1919)
7. Bak kut tehPeppery pork rib soup; staff come round to top up your brothSong Fa, New Bridge Road (since 1969)
8. Fish head curryA whole fish head in a tangy tamarind curry, for the tableMuthu’s Curry, Race Course Road, Little India (since 1969)
9. Satay streetGrilled skewers with peanut sauce, at tables set up on the street at nightLau Pa Sat’s Satay Street, Boon Tat Street, evenings
10. Roti prataFlaky griddled flatbread with fish or mutton curry, plain or with eggAny prata shop, ideally late at night
11. Carrot cakeFried radish cake with egg — no carrot; “white” plain, “black” with sweet dark soyAny hawker centre; pick a colour
12. Hokkien meeEgg and rice noodles fried in prawn stock with prawns and squid, sambal and lime on the sideA stall with a queue
13. Ice kachangA mound of shaved ice over red beans, corn and jelly, with colourful syrups and milkA dessert stall
14. Ayam buah keluakA Peranakan chicken stew with black keluak nuts, their paste scooped out and stuffed back inA Peranakan restaurant — it takes days to make, so not every menu has it
15. Curry puffPastry filled with curried potato, chicken and a slice of eggOld Chang Kee (since 1956)
16. Hainanese curry riceRice drowned in curry and braised gravy, with pork chop and cabbageA curry rice stall at lunch
17. DurianThe famously pungent “king of fruits”; Mao Shan Wang is the creamy, bittersweet favouriteA fruit stall on Geylang Road, in season
18. A Singapore SlingThe gin cocktail first mixed at the Raffles Long Bar in 1915; peanut shells go on the floorLong Bar, Raffles Hotel

Starred and stamped

Hawker food with Michelin recognition.

Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle has held one Michelin star since 2016 and is still the only starred hawker in the 2026 Singapore guide. The Bib Gourmand list — good food at a fair price — is where most hawkers appear: Tian Tian chicken rice is one of the few to have been on it for all ten editions, and Song Fa, Chey Sua Carrot Cake and King of Laksa are on the 2026 list too.

A Michelin plate is a nice reason to queue, not the only one. The stall near your hotel with a line of office workers at noon is just as much a bucket-list stop.

Where to eat it

Four places that cover half the list.

First time at a hawker stall? Our hawker centre phrasebook tells you exactly what to say, and the hawker food guide covers seats, trays and kopi.

  • Maxwell Food Centre — chicken rice, and dozens of stalls around it. Start with our Chinatown Singapore food guide.
  • Tekka Centre, Little India — a wet market with a hawker centre upstairs: biryani, prata and Michelin-listed stalls. More in our Little India food guide.
  • Katong and Joo Chiat — laksa, kueh and Peranakan food along East Coast Road; see our Katong food guide.
  • Jewel Changi Airport — more than 100 places to eat, including Song Fa, Ya Kun and a Food Republic food court. A last kaya toast before your flight.

Copy this

Your Singapore food passport.

  • ☐ Chilli crab — buns used to mop: ___
  • ☐ Chicken rice: white / roasted, and which cut
  • ☐ The Michelin-starred bak chor mee — queue time: ___
  • ☐ Laksa eaten with only a spoon
  • ☐ Kaya toast with eggs cracked into the saucer
  • ☐ Bak kut teh — broth refills: ___
  • ☐ Satay on the street at night
  • ☐ Carrot cake: white / black
  • ☐ Durian: loved it / never again
  • ☐ Peanut shells on the Long Bar floor

Keep it

Eighteen dishes, one trip.

A Singapore food trip is a blur of trays. Snap each one and PlateDiary cuts every plate into its own save on your phone, grouped by hawker centre and meal. Write the stall number in the note and give the stall a stamp in Stamps. Prices stay in Singapore dollars as you paid them; PlateDiary never converts.

Tick off the passport with a tag like “sg bucket list,” and the tag page becomes a wall of everything you ate. More hawker dishes, one by one: Malaysian and Singaporean food.

Sources

Where the facts come from

  1. Chilli crab — Wikipedia
  2. JUMBO Seafood to close East Coast Seafood Centre outlet — Mothership
  3. About us — Long Beach Seafood
  4. Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice — MICHELIN Guide
  5. MICHELIN Guide Singapore 2026 — Eatbook
  6. Iconic dishes: Hill Street Tai Hwa bak chor mee — MICHELIN Guide
  7. Bib Gourmand Singapore 2026 — Daniel Food Diary
  8. The 97 eateries on the Bib Gourmand 2026 list — Mothership
  9. Katong laksa — Wikipedia
  10. Ya Kun Kaya Toast — Wikipedia
  11. Killiney Kopitiam
  12. Song Fa Bak Kut Teh — Eatbook
  13. Muthu’s Curry — Eatbook
  14. Satay Street — Lau Pa Sat
  15. Roti prata — Roots.gov.sg
  16. Singapore’s carrot cake is not what you think it is — SBS Food
  17. Hokkien mee — Wikipedia
  18. Ais kacang — Wikipedia
  19. Buah keluak — Makansutra
  20. Our heritage — Old Chang Kee
  21. Hainanese curry rice — Wikipedia
  22. Best durian stalls in Singapore — Eatbook
  23. Long Bar — Raffles Singapore
  24. Hawker guides: Tekka Centre — MICHELIN Guide
  25. Jewel Changi food guide — Little Day Out

Questions

Questions people ask.

What food is Singapore famous for?

Chilli crab, Hainanese chicken rice, laksa, bak chor mee, char kway teow, satay, kaya toast with soft-boiled eggs, bak kut teh, roti prata and fish head curry — mostly eaten at hawker centres.

Which hawker stall has a Michelin star?

Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle on Crawford Lane, famous for bak chor mee. It has held one star since 2016 and is the only starred hawker in the 2026 guide.

Is chilli crab very spicy?

Not very. The sauce is more sweet and savoury than fiery, with a gentle chilli kick, and it comes with fried or steamed buns to mop it up.

What is kaya toast?

Toast spread with kaya, a sweet coconut and egg jam, and butter, usually eaten with soft-boiled eggs seasoned with soy sauce and white pepper, and a kopi.

Why do you eat Katong laksa with a spoon?

The noodles are cut short, so the whole bowl — coconut curry broth, cockles, prawns and noodles — can be eaten with just a spoon.