Breakfast is always a motivation to get out of bed, especially for weekends. While brunch is arguably Singaporean’s favourite meal of the day, and while I like my eggs, French toast and pancakes, I also love going to the hawker centres in the suburbs and neighbourhood for my local breakfast fix. In Singapore, we are really spoiled for choices when it comes to cheap and good hawker food.
Here are 7 of the cheapest Singapore’s local hawker breakfast options.
Kaya Toast
Old-schol bread toasted over traditional charcoal grill, with a generous spread of kaya (with soft-boiled eggs and a cup of kopi (coffee) is the quintessential Singaporean breakfast. This is probably the simplest, yet most satisfying and local breakfast cannot get any better than this. Most coffee shops serve a set for under S$2.50.
Carrot Cake
One of my favourite hawker food is Carrot Cake, also known as Chai Tow Kway. Not to be mistaken with the Western dessert, Singapore’s rendition is stir-fried radish cake with eggs, and it comes in either white or black (sweet soy sauce).
Chee Cheong Fun
Chee Cheong Fun is a Chinese dish of thin rice noodle roll which comes with a variety of fillings – like shrimp, char siew and beef. Or you can opt for the plain ones, which is doused in either sweet or chilli sauce, and topped with sesame seeds.
Chwee Kueh
Chwee Kueh, a type of steamed rice cake topped with diced preserved radish, is another popular local breakfast in Singapore. You can get a packet of four Chwee Kueh for S$1.20.
Economic Bee Hoon
This is one of the cheapest hawker breakfast. You can usually get a plate of economic bee hoon with one topping like fried egg or luncheon meat for S$2. It is affordable and very satisfying.
Nasi Lemak
There is the kind where you get to choose from an array of dishes and they charge accordingly, and there is the simplified breakfast version that is pre-packed in banana leaf with an assortment of ingredients, usually a generous serving of the fragrant rice that is cooked in coconut milk, together with roasted peanuts, deep-fried anchovies, fish and egg – all for under S$2.
Roti Prata
Another iconic Singapore breakfast staple is Roti Prata – an Indian flour-based pancake which comes with different fillings like cheese, onion, mushroom or egg. An Roti Prata ‘Kosong’ (no fillings) is less than S$1. Most people eat the prata by dipping it with curry, but we prefer to have it with sugar.
Brings back memories of when I was growing up in Singapore!
Great post on Singapore’s delectable hawker food for breakfast. Who wouldn’t want to start the day with one of these tasty looking morning snacks? I was drooling the whole time while reading through the post and looking at the photos. The great thing about Singapore’s hawker food is that the prices are always cheap and the food tastes really good as well. Thanks for sharing.
the carrot cake with the cream cheese icing is the western rendition of ours, not the other way!! =p hah kidding.
All with zero nutritional value except eggs.
Thanks for your great blog!
Looking forward to come back to Singapore and refresh memories
I loved the Kaya Toast and Kopi from a food stall before starting work. That was in the early 90s.
How strange, I thought that stall was the only one that serves such great breakfast and now I saw it on your photo again.
Need to have that so heavily. Sometimes I make it even over here in Germany.
Can you recommend a place for having that?
Thanks again and best regards from Heidelberg / Germany
Dietmar
@Dietmar Hello! When are you coming back to Singapore again? You really need to come back soon, Singapore has changed so much over the past few years. For kaya toasts, when you come visit Singapore, check out Ya Kun, Toast Box, and Tong Ya Eating House.
should suggest where to get in addition to the food type.