Singapore lives in the highs and lows and that’s why I love it so much.
Viewed as a Southeast Asian country, I’m heading straight for hawker classics. Seen as a global cosmopolitan hub, I’m equally tempted by Michelin stars and World’s 50 Bests.
With only 3 days in Singapore I was determined to experience both ends of the spectrum. My list was ambitious, my pinned places excessive and I knew I wasn’t going to get to it all.
I arrived early in the morning after a 16hr flight from Vancouver. I was exhausted but ready to taste my way through the city the best I could.
My first stop was Albert Food Centre. While I had marked different stalls to try, I was too tired to look at my notes. I decided to let my eyes and nose guide me along. I wandered through the aisles and became overwhelmed with the choices. In the end I decided on char kuey teow and carrot cake.
I became obsessed with char kway teow (CKT) from my last visit and have been in search of the same flavour and wok hei since then. Nothing close to home has come close so I was determined to eat as much CKT as I could in this trip to Asia.
On my last visit, I was also introduced to black carrot cake, which I enjoyed, but this time I was curious about the white, often touted as the “healthier version”. While the white was flavorful, I prefer the sweeter more deeply savory taste of the black.
It was hot and humid, and after a long flight I knew I had to pace myself. A quick wander through Bugis Street and Haji Lane was enough to convince me it was time for a break. I needed time to recharge so my mind could shift from hawker stalls to bars.
Singapore is one of the world’s great cocktail cities. Many of its bars, including several that I visited, regularly appear on the World’s 50 Best lists. On my last trip, I didn’t spend any time cocktailing, which I deeply regretted. This time, traveling with a friend group happy to follow my bar-hopping agenda, I wasn’t making the same mistake. I was armed with an incredible “must” list from friends in the industry and ready to tackle the scene.
When I started researching the cocktail scene in Singapore, I was surprised by its unusually strong happy hour culture, even at top-tier bars. What I learned is that because the city is hot and the workdays run long, people tend to go out later. While I’m used to happy hours ending at 6pm at home, in Singapore, they stretch into 7 or 8pm. Instead of cheap drinks, I found pared-down versions of signature cocktails at reasonable prices. It was a easier entry point (especially for my friends) into high-end bars and a great way to sample some of the best spots in the city.
My first stop was Cat Bite Club on Duxton Road, an area I’d quickly learn is packed with great drinking spots. Hidden behind café curtains, it’s a cozy speakeasy-style bar focused on agave and Asian spirits. The vibe is relaxed neighbourhood and the cocktails are meticulous and beautifully crafted. It was exactly my kind of place.
Next was Jigger & Pony, one of Singapore’s heavy hitters and a fixture on the World’s 50 Best Bars list. It had a warm, polished energy that made me feel like I’d walked into a classic cocktail institution, because that’s exactly what it is.
The drinks were refined takes on the classics, made precisely the way I hoped for but couldn’t have imagined. I settled in easy and wished I had more time to spend because the experience was exceptional.
For dinner, we went to The Coconut Club, a modern spot serving classic Singapore flavours. With only three nights in the city, I wanted to eat a kopitam classic, but in a more polished setting. This was the perfect choice.
I ordered the nasi lemak with ayam goreng berempah; coconut-fragrant rice with sambal, anchovies, peanuts, egg, and spiced, crispy fried chicken. The simple was simple and better than any version I’d get close to home. It was exactly what I needed after a long travel day.
The next morning, we left early to beat the heat. We started at Gardens by the Bay to check out the Supertrees, then crossed over to Marina Bay Sands for a quiet morning walk along the waterfront before the city fully woke up.
After that, we headed to Maxwell Food Centre to cross another “must eat in Singapore off my list: Hainanese chicken rice. On paper this dish sounds simple as it’s poached chicken over rice. But as with many Singaporean classics, it’s all in the details. Fragrant rice cooked in chicken fat and stock, silky chicken and the essential chili-ginger sauce and broth served on the side.
In Singapore, it’s so much more than “cold chicken on rice”, which has often been my experience with versions I’ve tried at home.
I chose Ah Tai Hainanese Chicken Rice over Tian Tian Chicken Rice for its shorter line and because everyone insists it’s just as good. I can’t compare the two, but I thoroughly enjoyed the Hainanese chicken rice from Ah Tai and would have happily returned if I had more time.
We’d originally planned to head to Sentosa for an afternoon at a beach club and stay through sunset, but the heavy clouds and threat of rain scrapped that plan. Instead, we went up to Level33, the world’s highest urban microbrewery for a drink. It was a stop chosen mostly to appease my beer-loving friend, but the view stretching across Marina Bay turned out to be a winner.
After a brief nap to recharge, we headed out for the evening. We started at Live Twice, a moody, mid-century Japanese-inspired bar and sister to Jigger & Pony. Singapore’s happy hour culture really shines here with a small list of of beautifully made cocktails.
The bar is warm and cinematic and the drinks are precise. It’s the kind of place I instantly loved.
Next was Sago House, which leans a little divier but in the best possible way. It’s dim, loud and instantly welcoming. The menu changes constantly, but the incredibly friendly bartenders are happy to help guide you through it.
I loved that it felt more like I was drinking in my friend’s rec room than visiting a highly acclaimed bar. It was a fun and easy stop and probably the most unpretentious of all we visited in Singapore.
For dinner, we made our way to the Alexandra Village area to Keng Eng Kee Seafood (KEK). The outdoor zi char restaurant, run by a long-standing family team is casual, loud and ideal for a post-booze dinner made for sharing.
I’d wanted to eat chili crab on this trip, but my friend isn’t big on shucking crab from the shell. KEK solved that dilemma with their shelled chili crab. It was all the flavour with far less work. The portion size also meant we could sample more dishes, which is always a win.
We ordered the sweet, crunchy and addictive butter cereal prawns, moonlight hor fun with the raw egg stirred through, and sambal green beans. Everything arrived fast, hot, and boldly flavoured. It was perfect, messy, and unmistakably Singaporean.
I woke up on my last day with a sense of sadness that I only had one day left in the city. As I’d felt on my last trip to the city, 3 days in Singapore is not enough, I was determined to make the most of what time I had.
I wasn’t chasing Michelin on this visit. My feeling was that there’s so much extraordinary food in Singapore outside of what Michelin tells me to seek out. And yet, as it turned out, my final day would include several Michelin-rated stops anyway. It’s a reminder that here, great food exists at every level.
First on the agenda was finding a truly great bowl of laksa. On this trip from Singapore up to Penang, I was especially interested in tasting the regional differences of the dish. Singapore laksa is rich, savoury, and coconut-based, with hints of dried shrimp. It is the version I’m most familiar with and the one I’ve grown accustomed to at home. I wanted a bowl that would remind me why I fell in love with real laksa on my last visit.
We headed to the Hong Lim Food Centre for the Famous Sungei Road Trishaw Laksa. My bowl was deeply flavorful without feeling heavy. The broth was unmistakably coconut-forward, layered with savoury, umami seafood notes from dried scallops, prawns, and oysters used in its preparation. The prawns, cockles, tofu puffs, and fish cake were generous, and the vermicelli soaked up the broth beautifully. As I slurped down every last bit of the bowl, I found myself wishing I had more time in the city for more laksa, and more of this laksa in particular.
The weather wasn’t great, so we spent the rest of the morning at National Gallery Singapore. I loved the quiet, cool pace of wandering through the exhibitions and the view of the city from the outdoor patio. The gallery was unexpectedly beautiful and a perfect moment of pause in between days of eating and drinking.
My cocktail list for Singapore was so long that I had to take advantage of every possible opportunity to drink when bars were open. Atlas bar is housed inside the breathtaking, art-deco–inspired Parkview Square and opens most days at noon, making it an ideal spot for a day drink.
The room is elegant and spectacular, with soaring ceilings and a sense of old-world grandeur. The drinks matched the setting perfectly, polished and confident, and felt like a fitting way to experience one of Singapore’s most iconic bars.
The main event meal in my visit to Singapore was at Candlenut, a one–Michelin-star Peranakan restaurant. Peranakan food, also known as Nyonya cuisine, is a richly layered culinary tradition born from the blending of Chinese migrants with Malay, Indonesian, and local Southeast Asian influences. It’s a cuisine closely associated with Singapore and Penang, and one I was especially excited to experience at its highest level.
From everything I’d read, I expected deeply complex flavours of rich sambals, slow-braised meats, coconut, and spice. At Candlenut, I found all of that, but presented with a sense of elegance and restraint.
I opted for the “ah-ma-kase” lunch, a more approachable format that allowed me to experience the breadth of the cuisine without completely undoing me for the rest of the day.
By late afternoon, the rain had settled in but our plan for happy hour was within walking distance. With one last evening in Singapore, there was time to visit a few more cocktail bars and satisfy our hunger before saying goodbye to the city.
Our first stop was Nutmeg & Clove, a bar that’s often credited with helping shape Singapore’s modern cocktail scene. The drinks here lean thoughtful and distinctly local, drawing on regional ingredients and flavours without feeling heavy-handed. It felt grounded and confident. It was the kind of place that reminds you why Singapore punches so far above its weight as a cocktail city.
From there, we moved upstairs to Last Word, a Japanese-inspired bar that felt calm, precise, and quietly excellent. The room is intimate, the drinks impeccably balanced, and everything about it encourages you to slow down. Happy hour cocktails include a soul comforting plate of oden. It was an elegant, low-key way to ease into the evening and a nice counterpoint to some of the more high-energy bars earlier in the trip.
The rain picked up again, and with it came a craving for something warm and comforting. My friend suggested Song Fa Bak Kut Teh, a dish she was craving that was completely new to me. The peppery pork broth was deeply savoury and soothing, especially on a wet night, and instantly made me understand why this dish inspires such loyalty. Simple, satisfying, and exactly what the moment called for.
We finished the night at Lau Pa Sat. It’s not my favourite hawker centre as it leans heavily touristy. But we we were looking to satisfy a few last cravings and this location worked. I ordered one last oyster pancake and a black carrot cake and washed it down with sugarcane juice. It was a familiar ending to a trip built around flavour and contrast.
Places I visited in this post:
- Albert Food Centre
- Cat Bite Club
- Jigger & Pony
- The Coconut Club
- Maxwell Food Centre – Ah Tai Hainanese Chicken Rice
- Level33
- Live Twice
- Sago House
- Keng Eng Kee Seafood
- Hong Lim Food Centre – Famous Sunhei Road Trishaw Laksa
- Atlas
- Candlenut
- Nutmeg & Clove
- Last Word
- Song Fa Bak Kut Teh
- Lau Pa Sat
Call Me a Food Lover... 