31 July 2026

Among the many good things about Singapore, perhaps our favourite is our Hawker Centres! Not only are they cultural gems that are quietly part of everyday life, they are also where some of the island’s best generations old recipes and cooking traditions continue to thrive. Bringing an extraordinary range of flavours together under one roof, Hawker Centres are great choices for a satisfying meal any time of day. And at wallet-friendly prices too!

In this guide, we highlight popular Hawker Centres across Central, East, West and North Singapore and recommended dishes that fans swear by. You’ll also learn how you can use MariBank Scan & Pay for faster, smoother payments when lining up for your favourite local eats. Let’s go!


Best Hawker Centres in Central Singapore

Old Airport Road Hawker Centre

51 Old Airport Road, Singapore 390051

Old Airport Road Food Centre is a great choice when no one can agree on what to eat. That’s because this food centre, tucked away on the outskirts of town, spans over 160 stalls, providing plenty of meal choices from noodles and kway chap to roast meats, seafood and local desserts.

Among the best-known choices is Lao Fu Zi Fried Kway Teow, which serves both black and white versions of the iconic dish. Another established name is Hougang Traditional Wanton Noodle, known for its fresh wantons and flavourful broth. For a quick snack, drop by Wong Wong Crispy Curry Puffs for their flaky curry puffs, freshly fried and bursting with flavour.

Tiong Bahru Market

30 Seng Poh Road, Singapore 168898

Located at the heart of the historic Tiong Bahru enclave, Tiong Bahru Market is a popular wet market with a thriving food centre on its second floor. It houses some of the island’s best hawker eats, from chicken rice and Hokkien mee to lor mee, chwee kueh and roasted meats.

One standout is Tiong Bahru Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice, which has been serving its signature dish since 1988, pairing tender chicken with fragrant rice and a punchy chilli sauce. Hong Heng Fried Sotong Prawn Mee is another longstanding favourite, drawing queues with its smoky rendition of noodles fried with prawns and squid in a rich prawn stock. And before you go, make room for soft steamed rice cakes from Jian Bo Shui Kueh, topped with preserved radish and sambal.

Chinatown Complex Market and Food Centre

335 Smith Street, Singapore 050335

With more than 260 food stalls, Chinatown Complex Market and Food Centre offers one of the widest selections of affordable – and delicious – hawker food in Singapore. Its maze of stalls is filled with traditional rice dishes, handmade noodles, dumplings, roasted meats, traditional drinks and old-school snacks.

Fans come here for Lian He Ben Ji Claypot Rice, each order faithfully cooked over charcoal, producing fragrant rice with succulent chicken, Chinese sausage, salted fish and a crisp layer at the bottom of the pot. Zhong Guo La Mian Xiao Long Bao is known for its handmade soup dumplings and la mian, including noodles tossed in a savoury fried bean sauce. The stall that put Singapore’s hawker food in the Michelin Bib Gourmand, Liao Fan Hawker Chan remains a popular choice for soya sauce chicken served with rice or noodles, alongside char siew and roasted pork.


Best Hawker Centres in East Singapore

Bedok 85 Hawker Centre

85 Bedok North Street 4, Singapore 460085

Officially known as Fengshan Market and Food Centre, Bedok 85 is best known for its soup-style bak chor mee. Beyond noodles, you will also find plenty of barbecued seafood, chicken wings, satay and fried oyster omelette to fill the table.

Xing Ji Rou Cuo Mian serves its bak chor mee in a light pork broth with minced meat, meatballs, fried garlic and pork lard. Next door, Seng Hiang Bak Chor Mee offers a more garlicky soup as well as a dry version tossed with sambal. For a seafood dish to share, order the sambal stingray from Chan BBQ, which arrives sizzling on a banana leaf with a generous layer of spicy, savoury sambal.

Changi Village Hawker Centre

2 and 3 Changi Village Road, Singapore 500002 and 500003

Nasi lemak may be the headline attraction at Changi Village Hawker Centre, but there is much more to explore. The stalls here cover everything from hor fun and satay bee hoon to fried snacks and cold desserts.

Mizzy Corner is a familiar nasi lemak name, serving basmati coconut rice with sweet sambal and accompaniments such as fried chicken wings and fish. Weng Kee Original Taste Ipoh Hor Fun is known for its smooth rice noodles and chicken chop hor fun, which comes with crispy fried chicken on a bed of smooth noodles, served with a savoury, dark gravy. Another longstanding favourite is Ho Guan Satay Bee Hoon, where rice vermicelli, cuttlefish, pork and vegetables are covered in a rich and satisfying peanut sauce.

East Coast Lagoon Food Village

1220 East Coast Parkway, Singapore 468960

East Coast Lagoon Food Village is known for barbecued dishes and wok-fried favourites, with satay smoke and seafood aromas filling the open-air dining area. Its stalls cover everything from Hokkien mee and fried oysters to carrot cake, chicken wings and sambal stingray.

Carrot cake fans swear by Lagoon Famous Carrot Cake, which serves both black and white versions, with the latter fried as a crisp slab and topped with prawns. Geylang 29 Charcoal Fried Hokkien Mee cooks its noodles over charcoal, giving the prawn-and-squid stock a smoky depth. For something straight from the grill, Haron Satay 55 offers chicken, beef and mutton satay served with ketupat, cucumber and a thick peanut sauce.


Best Hawker Centres in West Singapore

Ghim Moh Market and Food Centre

20 Ghim Moh Road, Singapore 270020

Ghim Moh Market and Food Centre has a particularly varied selection of traditional hawker dishes. You can start with chwee kueh, follow it with braised duck or wok-fried hor fun and still find plenty of snacks and desserts to take away.

One featured stall is Ghim Moh Chwee Kueh, which has been operating since 1959 and continues to make its steamed rice cakes by hand, serving them with preserved radish and sambal. Chuan Kee Boneless Braised Duck is another well-known stall, offering tender braised duck with rice, noodles, kway teow or porridge. If you prefer something wok-fried, Hin Fried Hor Fun serves smoky rice noodles with choices such as beef, prawns and sliced fish in a silky gravy.

Boon Lay Place Food Village

221A and 221B Boon Lay Place, Singapore 641221 and 642221

Boon Lay Place Food Village brings together many of the hearty dishes that make a trip to the far West worthwhile. Nasi lemak, duck noodles, Hokkien mee and barbecued seafood are among the centre’s most popular choices.

Boon Lay Power Nasi Lemak is the name most closely associated with the food village. Its chicken set combines coconut rice with a fried chicken wing, egg, ikan bilis, peanuts and sambal. Heng Huat Boon Lay Boneless Duck Noodles is another local favourite, serving sliced braised duck over noodles with the option of adding braised pork or duck innards. Alternatively, go for Ho Huat Fried Hokkien Mee, whose wet-style Hokkien mee is braised in a rich prawn and pork stock, and served with sambal and lime.

Clementi 448 Market and Food Centre

448 Clementi Avenue 3, Singapore 120448

Clementi 448 Market and Food Centre is packed with wallet-friendly favourites that have earned loyal followings among residents and island-trotting foodies alike. Its featured selection ranges from wanton noodles and Hainanese porridge to local curry rice, fried carrot cake and freshly grilled satay.

Boon Kee Wanton Noodle serves springy noodles with char siew, vegetables and both fried and boiled wantons. Its menu also includes dumpling noodles, soya sauce chicken noodles and Ipoh hor fun. Soon Lee Porridge is known for its thick Hainanese-style porridge, available with pork, chicken or fish and finished with fried shallots and spring onions. Chai Ho Satay completes the line-up with smoky chicken and pork skewers accompanied by a sweet, nutty peanut sauce.


Best Hawker Centres in North Singapore

Chong Pang Market and Food Centre

104 and 105 Yishun Ring Road, Singapore 760104 and 760105

Chong Pang Market and Food Centre is packed with old-school favourites, making it a good place to rediscover dishes that have become harder to find elsewhere. Its selection includes fried noodles, chicken rice, kway chap, fishball noodles and wu xiang xia bing.

A specialist in wok-friend dishes, Hai Nan Zai cooks each order individually, with fried kway teow, Hokkien prawn mee and carrot cake among its specialities. Ji De Lai Hainanese Chicken Rice is another popular hawker name, known for tender chicken served with fragrant rice and chilli. For a selection of fried snacks, visit Old Chong Pang Wu Xiang Xia Bing and choose from items such as prawn crackers, ngoh hiang, liver rolls and egg chestnut pancakes.

Yishun Park Hawker Centre

51 Yishun Avenue 11, Singapore 768867

Yishun Park Hawker Centre offers a broader mix than the usual hawker staples, with modern Hakka rice bowls, Indonesian-style nasi lemak and charcoal-grilled Western dishes sitting alongside familiar local favourites.

Smokin’ Joe uses a Josper charcoal grill to give its meats a smoky finish, with the Iberico Secreto pork steak drawing queues among grilled meat lovers. Ah Lock Hakka Tofu Bowl puts a contemporary spin on traditional Hakka flavours, combining rice, vegetables, stuffed tofu and meatballs in its signature bowl. For something with more heat, order the signature dish from Nasi Lemak Ayam Taliwang, which pairs coconut rice with chicken coated in a fiery sauce made with chillies, shallots and belacan.

Marsiling Mall Hawker Centre

4 Woodlands Street 12, Singapore 738623

Marsiling Mall may seem like an unlikely choice – until you realise that the hawker centre counts among its 70 stalls many hawkers from the vibrant Old Woodlands Town Centre. This food centre in the north brings many favourites together under one roof, from laksa and seafood soup to handmade noodles, porridge and Cantonese snacks – handily preserving familiar dishes for a new generation of diners.

Ye Lai Xiang Laksa serves a classic bowl filled with noodles, tau pok, fishcake, cockles and egg in a rich, coconut-based broth. Yan Ji Seafood Soup is known for its naturally sweet seafood broth, with options containing prawns, fish, minced meat, crayfish or grouper. For an old-school snack, make your way over to Freshly Made Hong Kong Style Zhu Chang Fen for its silky rice rolls – prepared to order, with fillings such as prawns or char siew and a topping of light soy sauce and fried shallots.


Common payment methods at Singapore Hawker Centres

Perhaps due to old habits, cash remains a widely used payment at many Hawker Centres. So if you happen to have sufficient cash on hand, feel free to pay for your meals, snacks and drinks that way.

However, increasingly, hawker stalls are coming round to modern methods of payments, such as QR payments. Many hawkers now accept cashless payments – just look out for relevant QR codes displayed at the storefront, then scan with your MariBank app, enter your payment amount, and tap “send”. Done!

MariBank Scan & Pay for hawker centre trips

QR payments are ideal for hawker centre trips. Your payment will be credited instantly to the hawker stall’s account, without the need for cash to change hands. It’s fast, secure and hygienic.

Now, you can use the Scan & Pay feature on your MariBank app for QR payments at your favorite Hawker Centres! Simply look for the NETS, PayNow or MariBank logo on the stall's printed SGQR label, or for a PayNow QR code.

• Speedy and convenient. Pay for your meal with Scan & Pay in just a few taps, no need to dig for notes, no need to collect change.
• No fees. No extra fees, no service charge – just fast and seamless payments.

Hungry for a hawker meal? Sign up for MariBank before you go. Scan & Pay will be ready for use by the time you’re queuing for your char kuay teow. It’s that easy!

Try MariBank Scan & Pay