Food is how Singaporeans recognise each other. Here is what to look for, and soon, where to find it in the world’s big cities.
Poached chicken, fragrant rice cooked in the stock, chilli and ginger sauces: often called the national dish.
Rice noodles in a spicy coconut broth. Katong laksa, with short noodles you eat with a spoon, is the Peranakan classic.
The big celebration dish, with fried mantou buns to mop up the sauce.
The traditional breakfast: toast with coconut jam and butter, eggs with soy and pepper, and strong local coffee.
Wok-fried noodles with that smoky "wok hei" flavour that is hard to copy abroad.
The Malay and Indian hawker classics that make Singapore’s food truly multicultural.
Singapore’s hawker culture was added to UNESCO’s list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2020. More than a hundred hawker centres, from Maxwell and Lau Pa Sat to the humble estate food courts, bring all communities to the same tables. Several hawker stalls have won Michelin recognition, including a street food stall with a star.