When it comes to cheap and good food in West of Singapore, the first place that comes to mind is definitely Bukit Timah Food Market & Hawker Centre. It is one of my usual hang-out places for local food as it’s only ten minutes away from my home.

It can be quite a daunting task when you are ordering food in hawker centres. Which stalls do we order from? Shall we flip a coin, judge by the number of newspaper cuttings, or simply look at the queue of each stall? If you are planning to make a trip to Bukit Timah Hawker Centre, I’ll like to share with you some of my favorite food there.

For those of you who have been reading my food blog for a while, I’m sure you know that Char Kway Teow is one of my favorite hawker food. I usually order it from Xin Heng Char Kway Teow (Stall 181) when I’m having dinner at Bukit Timah Food Centre. He Zhong Carrot Cake (Stall 185) is extremely famous for their white carrot cake. I very much prefer the sweet and eggy black carrot cake so I seldom order this unless my friends want to try it.

For Oyster omelette, avoid the one from Fried Carrot Cake Fried Oyster (Stall 145), the omelette was soggy and there was hardly any oyster. I can’t remember the name of the stall that I always order from — it’s in the same row as Xin Heng Char Kway Teow.

It’s always a good idea to eat at hawker centre with a group of friends (at least 4-5 people) so that you can order more food. Stall 156 BBQ Seafood offers a good variety of BBQ seafood like stir fried Lala clams, BBQ Stingray and sambal kangkong – great for sharing, but I can probably finish the excellent stingray on my own.

I have tried two of out three of the hokkien mee stalls in Bukit Timah Hawker Centre. On one occasion, we decided to try Fried Hokkien Mee (Stall 145) because of the long queue. Unfortunately, the hokkien mee was a total letdown, the sambal chili wasn’t spicy enough, and the taste of the noodles was subtle – bordering on bland. The second Hokkien Mee Stall is located in the middle row of the food centre and they use the distinctive flat yellow noodle. I’m going to try out the third stall (facing the main road) the next time round.

Peter Pan Western Food (Stall 133) has been around for some time, and they have value-for-money Western Food. Otherwise, there’s Tom Kitchen Western Food which is located near the stairs. Long House Popiah used to have a branch in Bukit Timah Hawker Centre, but on my recent visit, I realized that it’s not there anymore. Try the popiah and kueh pie tee from Stall 127 instead. There’s also the famous Satay bee hoon, Japanese food, and Thai Food stalls worth trying if you want something different.

If you are having breakfast at Bukit Timah Food Centre, be sure to order the Kway Chap from stall 138. There’s always a long queue when I go there during weekends. My mother is a big fan of the huge fishballs from Teochew Fishball noodle, (Stall 179) as well as the dark sauce wanton mee from Stall 197 Happy Wanton Noodle. To end the hawker feast on a sweet note, have the smooth beancurd and Tang Yuan (glutinous rice balls) from Soyako (Stall 166).

// Bukit Timah Food Market & Hawker Centre is within walking distance from Bukit Timah Shopping Centre, and Bukit Timah Plaza. For other options, there’s a stretch of eateries and restaurants at Cheong Chin Nam road, Chun Tin road and Lorong Kilat opposite Beauty World.

Singapore Hawker Food Review
Bukit Timah Food Centre
116 Upper Bukit Timah Road

The Singapore Food Scene is getting very exciting with the opening of Celebrity chef restaurants, and many new dining concepts. But when my overseas friends ask me for recommendation on what to eat in Singapore, or what is the true Singaporean cuisine, I’d definitely reply: Hawker Food.

With the exception of places like Newton Circus, Lau Pa Sat & Chomp Chomp Hawker Centre, the prices of food in the other food centre usually are around $2-3. You are going to be shocked by this, but my last visit to Old Airport Road Food Centre was actually a few years ago, before the renovation. I need someone to scold me for taking so long to revisit this wonderful place, which undoubtedly is one of the best Hawker Centres in Singapore.

As much as I do not fancy oysters, it is a joy to dip the oyster omelette into the chili sauce which is slightly sour, yet sweet and spicy. I’m not sure if Katong Ah Soon Fried Oyster is one of the better stalls in Old Airport Road Hawker Centre, but the oyster omelette was the first empty plate on the table.

It was one o’clock in the afternoon, and everyone was hungry. It’s a damn Sunday morning, and we should all be sleeping in bed. Instead, I was queuing up for the Blanco Court Kway Chap at Old Airport Hawker Centre with ten (equally crazy) people in front of me. After a long wait of 27 minutes, it was finally my turn to make the order. The intestines were cooking in the stove, yet the chef/cook/hawker grabbed them with his bare hands, put it on the chopping board and cut them into appropriate portions with breathtaking speed.

Everyone crowded around the table, waiting impatiently for the food blogger to take the photos. Eating commenced after that, and luckily, it was worth the wait.

Char Kway Teow is one of my favorite Singapore’s Hawker Food, and Lao Fu Zhi fried kway teow is one of the most famous char kway teow stalls in Singapore. Unfortunately, I thought that Lao Fu Zhi’s rendition was a little too dry, and it lacked a certain wok-hei. The million dollar question: is there another better char kway teow stall in Old Airport Hawker Centre?

This is the Xin Mei Xiang Lor Mee, otherwise known as the lor-mee-that-we-queued-for-half-an-hour. There are many hawker stalls in Old Airport Food Center, but Xin Mei Xiang Lor Mee is one of the few that has an incredibly long queue. It’s good to eat out with a group of friends who are willing to brave the snake-like human traffic and wait for a seemingly-ordinary bowl of noodle.

Lor Mee is a bowl of noodle served in a thick starchy gravy and comes with ingredients like prawn roll (ngo hiang), half boiled egg, fish cake, and fish. My friends were won over by the generous toppings, and the flavor of the sticky gravy. Me? I will only eat it if someone else is queuing up.

If you like the kick from having the spicy-hot sambal chili, you will be very disappointed with the famous Nam Sing Hokkien Mee. In place of the familiar sambal chili, they have sliced red chili instead. The Hokkien Mee has a much higher proportion of the rice noodles to the yellow egg noodles. Nam Sing Hokkien Fried Mee definitely has their loyal supporters, mind you — we waited slightly more than twenty minutes for this plate of Hokkien Mee. Thankfully there is no need to queue as they will deliver the Hokkien Mee when it’s ready.

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I’m definitely going back to Old Airport Road Food Centre soon, do share with us which are some of the other hawker stalls that are worth a try.

Singapore Hawker Food
Blanco Court Kway Chap
Blk 51 Old Airport Road #01-135
Old Airport Road Food Centre Singapore

Katong Ah Soon Fried Oyster
Blk 51 Old Airport Road #01-07
Old Airport Road Food Centre Singapore

Lao Fu Zhi Fried Kway Teow
Blk 51 Old Airport Road #01-12
Old Airport Road Food Centre Singapore

Nam Sing Hokkien Mee
Blk 51 Old Airport Road #01-32
Old Airport Road Food Centre Singapore

Xin Mei Xiang Lor Mee
Blk 51 Old Airport Road #01-116
Old Airport Road Food Centre Singapore

When my good friend came back from a holiday in Europe, I was determined to get her appetite for our favorite Singapore food back. The food blogger was the one who chose the place, but for once, I couldn’t decide where to go for dinner. To be safe, I asked which is her favorite hawker center.

Her reply was very straight forward: “Chomp Chomp is the best hawker centre in Singapore.”

It was such an overwhelming experience to step inside Chomp Chomp market at Serangoon Gardens. There were stalls on the left, and on the right. Rows and rows of them stretching right to the end. I know all the hawker centres in Singapore look the same, but somehow there is this sense of hope in Chomp Chomp — it feels like everything will taste good no matter which stall we order from.

I felt as though I was a kid in Disneyland as I walked around to check out the different food stalls in Chomp Chomp. There was so much food! And everything seemed to look so good! I was tempted to order something from every stall, but it was impossible since there was only two of us.

Whenever I asked for recommendations for the best BBQ stingray in Singapore, people will always point me to the ones in Chomp Chomp. Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember the name of the stall when I was there.

In the end, I randomly ordered from some stalls since I have never been to Chomp Chomp Food Market before. “OH MAN! I miss BBQ Stingray!” I almost shouted that out when it was brought to our table. Even though I sweated profusely after eating the BBQ Stingray ($8), I just couldn’t stop having more of it.

The oyster omelette from Ang Sa Lee Fried Oyster was delicious. I actually prefer fried carrot cake to oyster omelette since I only like the egg and not the oyster. But still, you can never say no to oyster omelette, and the slightly spicy-sourish chili sauce made it even better!

I’m not sure if Chomp Chomp is the only hawker centre that has the big glasses of sugarcane juices, but I absolutely love it! Sugarcane is the perfect choice of drink to go along with our local Singapore hawker food.

A dollar for a chicken wing? Just give me all the wings on the rack!

The hokkien mee from Ah Hock Fried Hokkien Noodle wasn’t really my type. They used very fine yellow and rice noodle, and it was a drier version (I preferred wet hokkien mee).

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I know there are some of you who will say that Chomp Chomp is over hyped, with most of the hawker food there being priced slightly higher than the other hawker centres in Singapore. Furthermore, there are limited seats which make it really crowded during weekends. The worst part? The air ventilation is pretty bad, and you leave the place smelling like Chomp Chomp.

But I have to say that it’s quite an experience to eat at Chomp Chomp even though they are similar to most of the hawker centres in Singapore. Which stalls in Chomp Chomp food centre do you usually order from?

Lucy BBQ Seafood
20 Kensington Park road
Stall 5/6 Chomp Chomp Food Centre

Chong Pang Huat
20 Kensington Park road
Stall 26 Chomp Chomp Food Centre

Ang Sa Lee Fried Oyster
20 Kensington Park road
Stall 26 Chomp Chomp Food Centre

Ah Hock Fried Hokkien Noodle
20 Kensington Park road
Stall 27 Chomp Chomp Food Centre

Sawatdee Khrab, welcome to the land of smiles. We sailed the seven ocean, and land ahoy at Phuket, the southern tip of the land of smiles; where there are no land boundaries. The beautiful beaches, the awesome weather, the sporty sea activites, oh I heard so much about you.

The poor people, whom we grieved for during the tragedy that happened a few years back; the beaches were ruined, the folks homeless, the kids without food. They are back, slowly but surely, the glory days; the tourists flocked back, the economy picked up and the people are getting back their better life. I’m glad.

The touts and the trout. I always see this as the touts fishing for their trout, after all, it takes two hands to clap; I swindled on you, and of course you are willing to be tricked by me. Two thousand baht! It was the first offer we got, as we walked further away, so did the numbers slowly decreased. Our final bargain, take eight hundred.

Cashew nuts are apparently one of the famous products there, our first stop was inevitably the cashew factories. And they have it in all kinds of flavours; chilli, honey, sugar – you named it, they got it. We also picked up some pork floss; they are so good that you can eat them on its own. Cliché, but true.

They were gifts for others, we take some, and we give some. That’s the beauty of local products, people always buy them, as gifts for family, friends and neighbours.

I wanted to try the authentic Thai food, eat what the Thais eat. And where better than to sit by the roadside stalls at the night market, sipping a bowl of tom yum soup. It was hot, and I’m not those who could hold their chilli, so the sweat glands started to work as I took a sip, and another mouthful of the delightful-spicy soup. Lots of seafood inside the tom yum soup with a sour twist.

The de-constructed oyster omelette. It was definitely a oyster dish, judging from the numbers of the shellfish present on plate. Instead of frying and mixing everything together, they did it the de-constructed way. And there was lots of fried bean sprouts too!

I smelled it from far away – what’s that stuff floating in the air that was so good to the nose? It was Pad thai, their version of our char kuay teow. You couldn’t imagine my delight, finding my favourite food in a foreign land. And the best part was they threw in lots of bean sprouts, our locals one always seemed to scrimp on the cheap bean sprouts. It was good, we finished it almost in a blink.

If you need to know more about my taste bud, I love sweet & sour pork, that’s like my all time favourite zi-char dish. So here I’m, looking for a Thai rendition. Well it wasn’t what I was expecting, you know not those crispy fried pork coated in bright red tomato sauce. But the pork was still tenderly soft, and this plate was just 40 Thai baht. Cheap!

After the fix of the local Thai food, surprisingly, the famous king of burgers, the Ramly burger caught my eyes. They did it differently here, lots of lettuces, and cucumber too! There was however, no eggs, which I wasn’t sure whether was it because I didn’t tell them to do an egg special, or they never had it served with eggs in the first place. Either way, the best part about the ramly burger was definitely the sauce; drizzled with lots of mayonnaise, chilli and barbecued sauce, awesome!

Under the dim flimsy light, we went behind the thin veil for our secret rendezvous. I was a little nervous to be honest, but you were experienced and started slowly. Harder, harder, I urged you on. Deeper, deeper, you thrust into. Oh, surely, this was one of the greatest pleasure in the world. I never knew such joy like this, before. And now I’m hooked.

Read the other stories of The City Kid here.

Oyster omelete or ‘hao jian’ is another popular dish in our local hawker scene. Who can resist the big pearly oyster together with the tasty omelete? Not me, i’m a big fan of omelete, but i’ll rather it be shrimp than oyster anyday.My family always frequent Heng Leong for their oyster omelete.

Fried Oyster Omelete ($4)

Although both oyster omelete and carrot cake both used eggs as the chief ingredient, but the former is always more expensive than the latter since oyster is being used. But given a choice, i’ll go for fried carrot cake since i don’t really like oyster. Back to the point, we felt that Heng Leong’s oyster omelete was not as good as it was before, the omelete wasn’t as well-fried, somehow, the feeling wasn’t right.

Heng Leong Oyster omelete
116 Upper Bukit timah road
Bukit timah food centre

Ah Hock Fried Oyster Hougang is another pretty famous stall in Whampoa Food centre also. I always like fried oyster omelette, but not because of the oyster, i just like to eat the eggs! So usually people who eat oyster omelette with me gets to eat the oyster while i targeted the egg.

Fried Oyster Omelette ($4)

A good plate of Oyster Omelette always go together with good chili sauce, in this case their chili is just right, not too spicy and not too diluted. Its a expensive hobby for me if i were to spend 4 bucks and just eat the eggs, in that case eating fried carrot cake will be a better alternative.

While not really an expert on oyster omelette, i do know the way i like my eggs to be done, and i think Ah Hock rendition did a pretty good job, and the oyster is quite fresh too. Compared to other mediocre stores, i think Ah Hock can be consider the better one.

Ah Hock Fried Oyster Hougang
Whampoa Food Market
Block 90 Whampoa Drive

In case you are wondering where is Serangoon Gardens Food Centre, its near Lorong Chuan, just before turning in into the Serangoon Gardens’ roundabout.

First Stop, PK Xpress fish & chips. This store is reputed for their Aussie Fish & chips, and selling at $6 per set in a “hawker centre environment” they really got quite a lot to live up to.

Aussie Fish & Chips ($6)

The aussie fish & chips certainly does not fail to disappoint. Cripsy on the outside, fluffy and soft on the inside. Plus the serving is quite huge. Another thing worth mentioning is the accompanying salad, there’s nothing special about the greens, the slices of mango mixed with the greens are really sweet!

I don’t like the fries though, its just like normal potato fried and served. Anyway we got 2 portions of it and cannot finish because we had other food as well.

Banana Walnut cake ($2.50)

Besides having fish and chips, the store also serve some awesome home-made desserts and cakes. The banana cake may looks quite small at $2.50, but my friend finish it in a mouth-full!

Chocolate Cake ($2.80)

The home-made chocolate cake is really a steal with such a large slice at $2.80. After eating so much food, we really struggle to finish the cake. The chocolate cake can be better if there’s more layer of thin chocolate in between the cake as i find it a tad on the dry side.

Garden Street Kway Chap

I always love Kway Chap but nowadays we can’t seem to be able to find really good ones around. My friend recommended Garden Street Kway Chap, so lets give it a try!

At first glance, they are supposedly quite famous being on so many different media publications already!

Whats Kway Chap without the main character, the “kway”!

Kway Chap serving of 3 person ($15)

We didn’t get the small intestines because my friend didn’t eat that. The rest is pretty good, but i don’t quite like the roast pork though. Kway Chap is actually a very simple and nice dish, but i don’t always eat them firstly because you can’t find much good ones around.

And secondly, the stores usually charged a very high price, as in the price is not really fixed and its up to their call. If anyone know of good and cheap kway chap please let me know!

The must-have sugarcane drinks when you eat at Hawker centre!

Another friend doesn’t eat Kway Chap, so he ordered a plate of roasted meat rice, pretty decent i guess. The roasted meat is ordered from the store see picture below.

Roasted Meat store on the left, Fried Kway Teow store on the right.

Fried Oyster ($4)

The fried oyster is quite good as well, but usually i just go in for the eggs and leave the oyster alone. Its pretty guilty since the oyster is the ingredients that warrents such a high price for a plate of fried oyster, but usually there will be others who will be more than willing to finish up the oysters for me.

Fried Kway Teow ($4)

LIC favourite hawker food, fried Kway Teow! You know people always say when they goes overseas they always miss the local food in Singapore. If there’s only one local food LIC can choose, it will definitely be fried Kway Teow! Sinful as it may be, but having it once in a while won’t makes me feel that guilty.

Serangoon Gardens Food Centre is really a good place for our authentic local delights, and there’s a few other stall selling famous for their duck rice, fishball noodles which was closed on the day that we visited. Furthermore, its relatively cheap when you compared to the better-known hawker centre like Newton Food centre and Chomp Chomp!

The real awesome deal about our local delights is that they are not only nice, but also real cheap! Four of us spend like around 10 bucks each to enjoy all the good food? Its always good to have a group of friends going together, ordered many different food and share!

Serangoon Gardens Food Centre
49A Serangoon Gardens Way