Tiong Bahru, one morning stall at a time.

The place

Why Tiong Bahru.

The market began in 1951 as Seng Poh Road Market, took the name Tiong Bahru Market in 1993, and was rebuilt between 2004 and 2006 into the two-storey building there today. The wet market and shops sit on the ground floor; more than 200 hawker stalls fill the floor above. The MICHELIN Guide lists several of them, and the estate around it is one of the oldest residential neighbourhoods in Singapore.

It is a calmer, more local morning than the big downtown centres. New to hawker centres? Our Singapore hawker food guide covers seats, queues and trays. This page is the Tiong Bahru route.

Eight stops

Eight Tiong Bahru stops and what to order.

Unit numbers are from Eatbook’s January 2026 guide; distinctions are from the MICHELIN Guide Singapore 2025 selection. Every stall keeps its own hours and rest days.

The route

A morning that works.

1. Start softClimb to the hawker floor and begin with chwee kueh at Jian Bo and a cold soya bean milk from Teck Seng. Light, cheap, and the way a lot of the estate starts the day.
2. Something pinkGrandpa Homemade Cheung Fun steams its rice rolls in two colours. Order one plate of each and take the photo.
3. Noodles before noonPick a lane: Hokkien mee at Hong Heng, lor mee at Lor Mee 178, or the char kway teow at Tiong Bahru Fried Kway Teow (#02-11), which headlines Eatbook’s list. Sharing means you can do two.
4. A bowl of soupKoh Brother’s pig’s organ soup or a plate of chicken rice. Both are Bib Gourmand stalls; both are lunch, not dinner.
5. Walk the estateTake the long way to Eng Hoon Street through the old flats, and finish at Tiong Bahru Bakery, which has sat there since 2012 and reopened with a new look in September 2025.

Take home

What to bring back.

• Pastries from Tiong Bahru Bakery — the one thing on this route built to travel, for the afternoon or the flight.
• A bag of anything to go. Say “dabao” at a stall for takeaway; chwee kueh and cheung fun are best eaten within the hour.
• The stall numbers. Write them down. You will want them next time.

Timing and getting there

How to do Tiong Bahru well.

• Take the MRT. Tiong Bahru station on the East-West Line is a short walk away. Havelock station on the Thomson-East Coast Line is closer to parts of the estate.
• Go early. Eatbook’s January 2026 hours show most of these stalls trading from early morning until about 2 or 3 p.m.; a few, like the fried kway teow, run later.
• Check the rest day. Hong Heng cooks Tuesday to Saturday, and Lor Mee 178 rests on Wednesdays (Eatbook, January 2026). Others vary.
• Bring cash. Some stalls take local QR payments, but cash never fails.

Sharing math

How to eat Tiong Bahru with friends.

• Chwee kueh: one set for two. It comes in pieces; split them.
• Noodles: one plate per two, two different kinds on the table.
• Soup: one bowl for three to taste, unless someone is a pig’s organ soup person.
• Cheung fun: one pink, one green, passed around.
• Bakery: one pastry each, chosen before you see the queue.

Copy this

Your Tiong Bahru checklist.

Screenshot it and tick it off between the stairs and the bakery.

• ☐ Chwee kueh — pieces eaten: ___
• ☐ Hokkien mee or lor mee? ___
• ☐ Char kway teow — smokiness out of 5: ___
• ☐ Pink or green cheung fun? ___
• ☐ Chicken rice — steamed or roast? ___
• ☐ Pastry that made it home: ___
• ☐ The stall number to remember: ___

Keep the trip

Eight plates, one estate.

A Tiong Bahru morning is eight small plates in two hours, and by dinner they blur. Snap each one in PlateDiary and every dish is cut out on your phone into its own save; the market becomes one moment and the bakery another, both pinned on the map.

Give each stall a stamp in Stamps, your stamp book of places you’ve eaten — a hawker stall counts — and put the unit number in its note. Next time, the place page shows what you had there and how many times.