Singapore Local Dishes

Let us help you in your food expedition: Most shopping complexes in Orchard Road have a food court.

Food centres in local neighbourhoods or air-conditioned food courts located conveniently in shopping complexes offer you a variety of local dishes.

Breakfast Special

Kaya toast with a cup of local coffee

Kaya is a sweet coconut egg jam spread generously over toasted bread. Eat the toast with half-boiled eggs and add a dash of black soya sauce for extra taste!

Roti Prata and teh tarik

Roti Prata is a flaky Indian bread made with or without eggs and served with a thick vegetable based lentil curry. Teh tarik is a tea that is mixed with carnation milk and 'pulled' from one mug to another to create a froth when served.

Bak Kut Teh and rice.

This is a Chinese clear pork rib soup cooked with five spices and served usually with rice.

Nasi Lemak

Nasi lemak is a hearty meal comprising coconut rice, a slice of omelette, anchovies, a slice of cucumber and some chilli paste, uniquely packed in brown paper or banana leaf.

10 local favorites for lunch or dinner

1. Hainanese Chicken Rice

Steamed chicken served with rice cooked in chicken stoc

2. Laksa

Rice noodles in a coconut curry gravy with shrimp, egg and chicken as garnishing.

3. Char Kuay Teow

Broad white noodles fried with black Soya sauce, bean sprouts, fish cake, clams and Chinese sausage.

4. Hokkien Prawn Mee

Vermicelli and yellow noodles fried with shrimp, sliced cuttlefish and pork bits.

5. Murtabak

A local version of pizza served with curry.

6. Fish Head Curry

A huge fish head and vegetables cooked in a curry and served with rice. Have a glass of 'calamansi' or local lime juice to go with it.

7. Satay

Meat kebabs served with rice cake and cucumber and a peanut sauce.

8. Char Siew Rice/ Noodles

Rice/ noodles served with a generous serving of barbequed pork in a thick sauce.

9. Oyster omelette

An egg omelette mixed with flour and fried with a generous helping of small oysters garnished with coriander leaves.

10. Chilli Crab

Hard shell crabs cooked in a thick gravy that has a tomato chilli base. Bread is normally ordered to soak in the gravy. This dish is usually ordered with other seafood dishes

Desserts for the sweet tooth

Down your food with a mug of fresh fruit juice or fresh coconut water. On a hot day, end your meal with a local cold dessert like ice kacang or chendol. Ice kacang is a mound of grated ice, smothered with different sweet syrups with a base made of jelly, red beans, corn and atap seeds.

Chendol is a coconut milk drink mixed with brown sugar (gula melaka), green starch strips and red beans. If you are more adventurous, a rather 'rich dessert' - the "king of all fruits" - is the durian. Creamy and fleshy with a big seed contained in several segments of one big, thorny fruit, you'll either love it or hate it. An apt description goes something like this "it smells like hell but tastes like heaven!"

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