MORE Singapore food recommendations!
If you missed out on the previous newsletter, you can click here to read the first 5 recommendations.
6. Oyster omelette and wine-marinated crab at San Shu Gong (135 Geylang Rd, #01-01, Singapore 389226)
San Shu Gong is a highly raved about spot that requires prior booking. Given the hype, I have to say that I was rather disappointed with most of the dishes that we ordered - the braised duck was dry and the desserts weren’t as soulful as I’d hoped. If you’re in the mood for solid Teochew fare, I would recommend going to Chao Shan Cuisine from my last newsletter instead. That said, the Shaoxing-marinated crab and oyster omelette at San Shu Gong were exemplary.
The crab was well-marinated, sweet, perfectly steamed, and full of creamy roe - a faultless dish. The oyster omelette is not your usual from the hawker centre or Teochew restaurant. It is as if little curds of egg and oysters are bound with just enough starch goo to hold everything together, and the mixture is spread out in a thin layer on a pan. It is browned on one side until it is crisp enough to cut with a spoon. Elegant and moreish, this is the sort of dish that exemplifies what ‘modern Singaporean’ means.
7. Loo’s Hainanese Curry (30 Seng Poh Rd, #02-67/68, Singapore 168898)
I was never a big Hainanese curry fan and could never understand the obsession of soaking rice with curry until everything is sloppy. But Loo’s Hainanese Curry was on my list because it’s been so long since I last had the dish.
The queue for this Tiong Bahru market stall was insane - who knew that Hainanese curry would be so popular! It was a great meal on the whole, but the humblest dish of the lot spoke the loudest - stir-fried beansprouts and egg which had so much wok hei and depth of flavour. It is the kind of dish I would not order based on its appearance, but Wex had done the ordering for our table that day and I was grateful for it.
8. Tripe satay at Yunos N Family at Ang Mo Kio Central Market & Food Centre (724 Ang Mo Kio Ave 6, #01-01, Singapore 560724)
I discovered this hawker stall by joining the longest queue at a hawker centre in Ang Mo Kio. According to the uncle queuing in front of me, the stall is famous for its mee rebus, but what I found more memorable was the tripe satay, which is not at all common in Singapore these days. Smoky from the charcoal grill and tender but still retaining a pleasant chew. Goes perfectly with the side of peanut sauce! Note: you have to order a minimum of 10 sticks of satay, but you can mix it up with any of the stall’s other satay offerings.
9. Shaliza Kitchen (1 Geylang Serai, #02-147, Singapore 402001)
Another discovery made by joining a long queue. I was surprised to find many dishes that are not commonly found at other nasi padang stalls - fish eggs fried in sambal, quail egg in sambal, cockles, cassava leaves, rawon (on the side), and tempeh with kecap manis. Everything was amazing, and the rawon, in particular, was knock-your-socks-off good. We sopped up the gravy with baguette from a nearby kacang pool stall and it was *chef’s kiss*.
10. Tom’s Palette (51 Middle Rd, #01-01, Singapore 188959)
While there are swankier places in Singapore to have your ice cream, my favourite is hands down Tom’s Palette. Here you’ll find inventive local/ Asian flavours that actually make sense. (I was at a posh ice cream shop the other day which had blue pea & sea salt ice cream… so you’re paying a premium for what is essentially salted ice cream??) My absolute favourite used to be their nori and white chocolate, but now it’s been dethroned by the kueh dar dar ice cream. The flavour reminded me so much of my homemade pandan chiffon cake - the pandan and coconut really comes through - and you have gula melaka-ed coconut running through the custard. Wex had pipagao ice cream which he loved!
11. Heavens (20 Ghim Moh Rd, #01-26, Singapore 270020)
If you’re looking for a light hawker breakfast on the sweet side, you can’t do much better than appam from Heavens! Served with orange sugar and freshly grated coconut, the made-to-order appams are fluffy in the middle and crisp on the sides.
12. Song Fa Bak Kut Teh (11 New Bridge Rd, #01-01, Singapore 059383)
It is always a good time at Song Fa! Free-flow broth. Offal. Meaty pork ribs. Preserved mustard greens that cut through the grease. Kungfu tea. Your choice of meesua or rice. Good range of greens. What’s not to love? I’ve been to the Chinatown branch and New Bridge Road branch and they are both good. My only gripe: their bak kut teh spice sachets that don’t even come close to replicating the house-made broth.
The New Bridge Road branch is a short walk away from Mei Heong Yuen (#B2-32/33, Chinatown Point, 133 New Bridge Road. Singapore 059413). Comforting, traditional Chinese desserts that are the perfect sweet end to the meal.
13. Cheng Mun Chee Kee Pig Organ Soup (24 Foch Rd, Singapore 209263)
This was the hardest spot to find dining companions because it is all about pig organ soup here, and offal isn’t exactly well-liked amongst my peers. Cleaning the offal well is half the battle won when making a good pig organ soup - I’ve had some that are close to inedible because they carry a stench. The ones at this stall are always fresh-tasting, and the broth is not overwhelmingly peppery (don’t you hate it when cooks spam white pepper powder to mask the lack of flavour in their food?)
This is a good place to dine if you feel, like I was, rather sick from eating too much greasy and heaty food, because the tang from the preserved vegetables is so appetizing and the soup is easy on the stomach.
Note: Some people have told me that there are better pig organ soup stalls out there… visit and decide for yourself!
14. Salted vegetable duck soup at Hup Seng Duck Rice (22 Sin Ming Rd, Singapore 570022)
I didn’t visit this hawker stall; my grandmother-in-law’s sister bought the duck soup for us. If there’s a gold standard for kiam chye ark tng (preserved vegetables and duck soup), this would probably be it - full-bodied broth that strikes the right balance of tang from the kiam chye (preserved vegetables) and asam gelugur (tamarind slices) and heat from white pepper. The duck was also fall-off-the-bone tender. Life changing! I would love to visit this stall on my next trip to try their duck rice, which I hear is amazing too.
15. Orang Laut SG (available via their site)
I’d been seeing so much of Orang Laut SG’s food on social media and was so stoked to finally have had the opportunity to taste it. My favourites were the sotong hitam, assam pedas ikan, and ketam lemak - everything went so well with rice! What made the experience even more special was receiving a postcard that bore a photograph of the family and a card that told stories of the individual dishes in relation to Pulau Semakau, their former home. The meal was a gateway to understanding the community’s close ties to the sea, and left me feeling blessed to have sampled this unique culinary heritage. Very heartened that there are folks like Firdaus who are keeping Orang Laut traditions alive - thank you for doing what you do!
Of course, there’s more amazing food that I had/to be had in Singapore that are not covered in this newsletter, but I hope these recommendations pique your curiosity and whet your appetite for the range of food we are lucky to enjoy on our island! 🧡
If you have a recommendation to share, please leave a comment for others to discover more of what Singapore has to offer - I might also visit them on my next trip home!