By the WahLiao desk · Last verified 28 September 2026

On a first trip to Singapore, eat these five before anything else: Hainanese chicken rice, laksa, satay, char kway teow and roti prata. Each costs about S$4 to S$8 at a hawker centre. Add chilli crab once, at a seafood restaurant, where it is sold by weight at the day’s price.

Singapore’s food is the sum of its people: Chinese, Malay, Indian and Peranakan cooking, borrowing from each other for two centuries in the same open-air food halls. Those hawker centres are where the city eats, and UNESCO listed Singapore’s hawker culture as intangible heritage in 2020. Here is what to order, what it costs, and how the hall works.

The first-timer’s list

Dish	What it is	Typical hawker price
Hainanese chicken rice	Poached or roasted chicken over rice cooked in chicken stock, with chilli, ginger and dark soy	S$4 to S$6
Laksa	Rice noodles in a spicy coconut-curry broth with prawns and cockles	S$5 to S$7
Satay	Grilled skewers of chicken, beef or mutton with peanut sauce	About S$1 a stick; order ten
Char kway teow	Flat rice noodles wok-fried with dark soy, egg, cockles and Chinese sausage	S$5 to S$7
Roti prata	Flaky flatbread, crisp outside and soft inside, with curry for dipping	S$2 to S$4 for two
Nasi lemak	Coconut rice with sambal, fried anchovies, peanuts, egg and fried chicken	S$4 to S$7
Bak kut teh	Pork ribs in a peppery or herbal broth, with rice and fried dough	S$8 to S$12
Hokkien prawn mee	Yellow and rice noodles fried in prawn stock, with lime and sambal	S$5 to S$8
Fried carrot cake	Radish cake (no carrots) fried with egg, white or black with sweet soy	S$4 to S$5
Wanton mee	Springy egg noodles with char siu and dumplings, dry or in soup	S$4 to S$6
Oyster omelette	Starchy, crisp-edged omelette with small oysters and chilli	S$6 to S$10
Fish head curry	A whole fish head in a sour, spicy curry, for sharing	S$25 and up, restaurant
Mee siam or mee rebus	Thin noodles in a tangy gravy, or yellow noodles in a sweet potato gravy	S$4 to S$5
Rojak	Fruit and vegetable salad in a sticky prawn-paste sauce with peanuts	S$4 to S$6
Kaya toast set	Toast with coconut jam and butter, soft-boiled eggs and kopi	S$5 to S$7
Chendol or ice kachang	Shaved ice with coconut milk and palm sugar, or with syrups and beans	S$2 to S$4
Chilli crab	Whole crab in a sweet, spicy tomato-chilli sauce, with fried buns	Seafood restaurant, sold by weight
Durian	The pungent “king of fruits”. Loved or loathed, never ignored	Priced by variety and weight

The WahLiao Verdict

Cost	About S$5 to S$8 a plate at a hawker centre, with a drink.
What you get	Some of the best cheap food in the world, cooked by specialists who make one dish all day.
The alternative	The same dishes in a mall restaurant, at two to four times the price.
Worth it for	Everyone. This is the reason many people come back.
Watch out for	Chilli crab “market price”. Ask the price per kilogram before you order.

How a hawker centre works

1. Find a seat first. At busy times, locals “chope” (reserve) a table by leaving a tissue packet on it. Respect the tissue.
2. Order at the stall. Tell them your table number, printed on the table. Some stalls bring food over; most call you back.
3. Pay as you order. Many stalls take cards or QR payments now; a few still take cash only. Carry small notes.
4. Look for the queue. A long line of locals at lunchtime is the most reliable review in Singapore.
5. Return your tray. Clear your table and return trays and crockery to the return points. It is expected, and it is enforced.

Drinks come from the drinks stall. Kopi is coffee with condensed milk, kopi-o is black with sugar, and “kosong” means no sugar.

Where to eat these dishes

Every neighbourhood has a hawker centre, and most dishes on this list are sold in all of them. For visitors, the famous ones are easy to reach: Maxwell Food Centre and Chinatown Complex in Chinatown, Lau Pa Sat in the CBD (with its satay street at night), Tekka Centre in Little India, and Old Airport Road and Tiong Bahru Market a little further out. The Table names the best stalls, with the bill shown.

Halal and vegetarian eating

Halal stalls display a certificate from MUIS, Singapore’s Islamic authority, and Malay and Indian-Muslim stalls are in every hawker centre. For halal groceries and how to check a label, see our guide to halal groceries in Singapore. Vegetarians do well at Indian vegetarian restaurants in Little India and at Chinese vegetarian stalls, which serve mock meats.

A note on prices

A typical hawker meal now costs about S$5 or more, and prices are still rising. In April 2026, many Chinatown Complex stalls added 50 cents to a dollar a plate, citing fuel and ingredient costs. The prices above are our desk’s ranges; your plate may cost a little more at the famous stalls.

What to eat in Singapore: FAQ

What is Singapore’s national dish?

There is no official one, but Hainanese chicken rice is the dish most Singaporeans would name. Chilli crab and laksa are close behind.

How much does food cost at a hawker centre?

About S$4 to S$8 for most dishes, and S$1.50 to S$3 for a drink. Sharing dishes and seafood cost more.

Is hawker food safe to eat?

Yes. Stalls are licensed and graded for hygiene by the authorities, and tap water is safe to drink.

What does “chope” mean?

To reserve a seat, usually by leaving a tissue packet on the table. Look for an unmarked table instead of moving one.

Where can I find halal food in Singapore?

In every hawker centre, at stalls displaying a MUIS halal certificate, and at Malay and Indian-Muslim restaurants across the city.

Read next

This page belongs to Visiting Singapore, our guide for first-time visitors. Our 3-day Singapore itinerary builds a hawker meal into every day, and what a trip costs puts the food budget in context.

Sources checked 28 September 2026: Eatbook on typical hawker meal prices; Secret Singapore on the April 2026 hawker price rises; Department of Statistics on hawker food prices. Dish prices are desk estimates, shown as ranges. Last updated 28 September 2026.