Best Hawker Center food in Singapore: what to eat in Chinatown Complex

As I mention in my main post about Singapore, the unity of the city revolts around food, and this is nowhere clearer than in hawker centers. Hawker centers are food courts where hundreds of street food vendors cook and sell their signature dishes in rows of stalls around public tables. People line up to buy their favourite food (at very low prices) and eat together at the tables. Chinese, Malay, Indian and Indonesian cuisine (among others) – hundreds of different delicious dishes waiting for you IN THE SAME PLACE? Chinatown is home to many amazing hawker centers, but in this post I will focus on what to eat in Chinatown Complex.

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Chinatown Complex

Chinatown Complex is one of the biggest and most diverse hawker centers in Singapore (and one of my favourites!). In fact, it is the largest food center in the city with 260 stalls. This makes choosing the goodies to taste all the more difficult, but in Chinatown Complex you should focus on getting your Chinese and Peranakan treats, including dumplings, roasted meats or claypot rice. If the name didn’t give it away, it is also located in Chinatown.

Chinatown Complex Food Center.

What to eat in Chinatown Complex

Chicken rice

Chinatown Complex is home to the famous Hawker Chan (#02-126), the hawker vendor that won a Michelin star ion 2016 for his soya sauce chicken rice. Now he also has a proper restaurant located just outside the food center (and many other locations as he has chained up!) and no longer a Michelin star, but if you’d still like to try his famed soya sauce chicken rice, this is your chance. An alternative is Ma Li Ya Virgin Chicken (#02-189).

Claypot rice

Claypot rice is a casserole dish popular in Southern China and the Chinese populations in SEA. The rice is cooked on a claypot over charcoal and is usually accompanied by chicken, Chinese sausage and vegetables as well as a dark soy sauce. The claypot gives it a smokey taste and a crust that really enhances the experience. Try it at Zhao Ji Claypot Rice (#02-53) or Lian He Ben Ji Claypot Rice (#02-198/199).

Claypot rice @Zhao Ji

Rice dumplings

Rice dumplings: one of the biggest surprises for me were the rice dumplings. They don’t look like much, but they are packed with flavour! They are literally just pyramids of pressed glutinous rice with a pork-based filling, but they have a fatty, sweet, slightly spicy taste that I can’t get enough of. Also, they are very cheap and they fill you up very quickly! My favourite ones are from Jia Ji Mei Shi (#02-166), a stall led by a lovely auntie that has been at it for a while. Try also her Soon Kueh (steamed dumplings).

Laksa

Laksa is the staple of Peranakan cuisine. It is a spicy rich seafood either curry coconut or tamarind (assam) soup with rice noodles and typically topped with seafood (prawn and blood cockles), egg and other goodies. The most popular one in Chinatown Complex is Terry Katong Laksa (#02-094), where they specialize in Singapore’s regional variation with shrimp paste.

Popiah

Popiah was another discovery for me as one of the best hawker center food in Singapore. It is a kind of spring roll wrapped in battered “crepe” and filled generally with grated turnip, sprouts and greens and, depending on the vendor, many kinds of extra goods like meat, seafood, crushed peanuts, etc. The roll is eaten both fried and fresh, but for me the fresh version is far superior. You can try it at Chinatown at Ann Chin Popiah (#02-112).

Roasted duck

I am a sucker for roasted duck. It is fairly easy to find it in many spots around the city, but give it a go at Jin Ji Teochew Braised Duck & Kway Chap (#02-156).

Roasted duck @Jin Ji Teochew Braised Duck & Kway Chap

Xiao Long Bao

So… Xiao Long Bao is my all time favourite dumpling. The thin springy dough, the fragrant meat and the warm explosion of broth makes of it one of my favourite Chinese treats. There are two stalls (to my knowledge) that offer the best Xiao Long Bao in Chinatown Complex: Zhong Guo La Mian Xiao Long Bao (#02-135) and Shanghai Fried Xiao Long Bao (#02-104). If you are having doubts on what to eat in Chinatown Complex, start here!

Xiao Long Bao @Zhan Guo La Mian

Others

Brisket noodles at Fatty Ox HK Kitchen (#02-084), Yong Tau Foo at Hakka Hamcha and Yong Tou Fu (#02-123) or chwee kueh at Bedok Chwee Kueh (#02-43).

Where to stay in Singapore

Singapore is an expensive city for the standards of Southeast Asia, so you may need a little extra planning when choosing your accommodation if you’re on a budget. However, you can find all kinds of accommodations in the city, so choose depending on your main interests based on the area. Check out this post where I give you recommendations based on the type of trip you’re looking for and the areas in Singapore:

Where to stay in Singapore

Or you can use the map below to find where to stay:

Booking.com

Closing statement

Trying new food while traveling is probably one of the things that brings me the most joy in my life and Singapore and its hawker centers make it all the easier for me! The fact that you can taste not only many different dishes of a culture but of many cultures that are intertwined in the making of this city state in a single place is the most convenient thing. Now that you know what to eat in Chinatown Compex, make sure you include it in your Singapore itinerary!

And remember, this is only what one man could manage to taste in a couple visits to the city, but by no means it is an exhaustive guide in terms of dishes or even hawker centers, so explore and go with your gut (quite literally!).

If you are still hungry, have a look at my recommendations for the best food at other hawker centers, and since you’re in Singapore, you’ll probably need some things to do in between meals, so you can read a bit on that too!

Best Hawker Center food in Singapore: our experience with Singapore’s street food

What to do in Singapore: Top 11 things to do in Singapore

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