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Welcome to Singapore, one of the world’s great food destinations, where eating—and eating well—is a time-honored national pastime.
Here you can splurge on haute cuisine from Michelin-starred chefs in some of the best fine-dining restaurants in Asia, or dig into fragrant bowls oflaksa (a spicy noodle soup) and heaping plates of char kway teow (stir-fried rice noodle strips) at one of the island’s famous hawker centers. The wide range of food and restaurants is what brings many travelers to Singapore in the first place, and few leave disappointed. In most cities the plan of attack is to map out must-see sights to pack in as much as possible; in Singapore it's often more about maximizing your meals and eating until it hurts—and then trying to fit in some more.
You hardly ever have to go far to find one of Singapore’s casual eating houses and hawker centers, which are fun, budget-friendly places to taste as many local specialties as your stomach can handle. The city-state’s indomitable megamalls are loaded with mid-range restaurants, sprawling food courts, and snack stands. Many of the island’s more upscale restaurants are tucked away in posh hotels, and many of the newer and trendier places are inside restored Chinese shophouses and once-abandoned colonial buildings. Note that upscale restaurants often close in the afternoon between lunch and dinner—from 2:30 to 6:30, for instance.
This might be the coolest dinner spot in Singapore. Tucked inside a traditional Singaporean shophouse, this place transforms every night into a Japanese yakitori, where dishes are served in a cloak of dry ice; the alluring smell of charcoal fills the air, and the small plates are always colorful, intriguing, and based on what's fresh that day.
The decor at this chic sumiyaki restaurant celebrating Japanese charcoal-grilling is as authentic as the food. It’s styled after traditional Japanese izakayas, with bar seating where you can watch the chefs delicately fan the meat and vegetables cooked over open coals. Dishes like pork belly with miso and octopus yuzu salad are washed down with an excellent selection of sake drawn from the different prefectures of Japan.
Look for the fabric-covered doorway opposite the HSBC building on Claymore Hill to find this sleek Japanese restaurant. Inside, there are counters made of hinoki wood, a Zen minimalist design, and elegant, kimono-clad servers. The beautifully presented cuisine here includes sukiyaki (skillet-grilled beef and veggies), shabu shabu (hot pot), and sake sherbets. Aoki also presents kaisekis (formal banquets) in which each dish looks prettier than the last, as well as pricey omakase courses, in which the chef chooses the food for you. Fish is flown in from Tokyo's huge Tsukiji fish market several times a week.
You can get excellent kappo-style, modern Japanese food in this serenely-converted shophouse, where you sit at a counter while the omakase menu is cooked before you. Menus are seasonal, with dishes, ingredients, and floral arrangements changing over the course of the year. The dedicated tea-pairing program, using specially-selected high-quality blends, is the perfect complement to the elegant menus.
This upscale, rooftop, Marina Square restaurant is within a tranquil garden replete with a koi pond, stone lanterns, bamboo, and a pavilion. Keyaki's attentive staff is dressed in kimonos and happi coats, and the menu includes what is perhaps Singapore's best teppanyaki, a mix of meat and vegetables stir-fried right at your table, as well as delicious sushi and sashimi and good-value bento lunches.
This lively ramen restaurant at the edge of Holland Village hails from Niigata in Japan. It specializes in shoyu (soy sauce) ramen with homemade noodles served alongside thin slices of chashu pork and nori. The steaming bowls of ramen are the reason to visit, but the restaurant also serves other Japanese classics, including crispy tempura and chicken nanban (a kind of deep-fried chicken in tartar sauce). Wash the food down with the range of Niigata sakes that are surprisingly affordable.
The latest import at Jewel Changi Airport, this Hong Kong yakiniku restaurant finally opened a Singapore branch in late 2022. It’s largely known for its premium A4/A5 wagyu beef sourced from Japan's Miyazaki province. The wines and cocktails of the annexed Wa-En Bar, all best paired with yakiniku meats, accompany the grill-based restaurant.
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