Best Hawker Center food in Singapore: what to eat in Maxwell Food Center

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. However, in this post I will focus on what to eat in Maxwell Food Center.

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Maxwell Food Center

Maxwell Food Center is one of the most famous hawker centers in Singapore. It is located in Chinatown and it is on the smaller scale compare to other centers in the quarter. However, that doesn’t mean it is not filled with delicious options to satisfy your street food cravings. And Singaporeans know that. That is why this small hawker center always seems to be busy. Some hawker centers seem to be somewhat themed, and Maxwell Food Center is one of the best places to try Hainainese chicken rice.

Maxwell Food Center.

What to eat in Maxwell Food Center

Hainanese chicken rive

Hainanese chicken rice is the national dish in Singapore and the go-to comfort food for Singaporeans. It is also the object of many discussions to decide which hawker stall offers the best bite. Hainanese chicken rice consists of soft and jelly poached chicken and fragrant rice cooked in chicken stock with ginger and lemongrass. Although very simple in principle, this dish has a lot of depth. Especially to locals. We tried three chicken rice food stalls in Maxwell Food  Center:

• The most famous one is Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice (#01-10/11). Being highly praised by travel foodie Anthony Bourdain and receiving a Michelin bib gourmand, this hawker stall is very hyped and often has long queues. The chicken is soft and the rice is fragrant. However, the chili sauce is lacking and is generally soft in taste.

• Ah Tai Chicken Rice (#01-07) is spearheaded by a disciple of Tian Tian. While the flavours are more accomplished than that of Tian Tian, the chicken is more moist and the rice is on the dry side.
• Maxwell Hainanese Chicken Rice (#01-40) is the lesser known stall in this list. However, in my opinion, it is the chicken rice winner in Maxwell Center. The chicken was incredibly soft and jelly. The rice was the most tasty, with clear hints of ginger and herbs and the grains were perfectly cooked. And the cherry on the cake was the sauces. It was accompanied by a chili sauce and a ginger sauce. Both of them gave different sharp counterpoints to the softness of the chicken. If you have to choose, I say go for Maxwell Hainanese Chicken Rice.

Chicken rice with chili and ginger sauces @Maxwell Chicken Rice

Appam

This Indian snack consists of a thin pancake-like rice flour and coconut milk dough cooked in a well-shaped manner. This makes the center to be soft and doughy and the edges to be really thin and crispy. Try it with egg and/or cheese! We had ours at Mr. Appam (#01-99).

Rojak

This Javanese fruit, vegetable, sprout and dough fritter salad with shrimp paste peanut dressing was a new discovery for me. It combines the freshness of the fruits and vegetables, the crisp of the fried tofu and the pungent sweet and spicy heaviness of its sauce makes of Rojak a delicious and complex hawker center food in Singapore. We had it at Rojak, Popiah & Cockle (#01-56).

Rojak from Rojak, Popiah & Cockle

Roasted Meat

That is a very broad term, but I am referring to the delicious platter served by Fu Shun La Mian Jia (#01-71) consisting on roasted pork, char siu and roast duck accompanied with rice or noodles and bathed in thick spicy dark sauce.

Others

Fish soup at Jin Hua Fish Soup (#01-77), Peranakan dinner sets at Popo & Nana’s Delights (#01-70), ngoh hiang (or lor bak) at China Street Fritters (#01-64) or curry rice at Hainanese Curry Rice (#01-68).

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 Maxwell Food Center, 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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