Singapore - Food & Drink

Eat local delicacies in street-side hawker centres, fresh seafood on the coast or award-winning international cuisine in luxury locations.

For a cheap, filling feed on Chinese favourites, the hawker stalls on Smith Street (known as Food Street) offer the best in alfresco dining. Locals pull up a chair on the cobbles and feast on char kway teow (fried noodles with fresh cockles) and savoury carrot cake.

Busy tables buzz alongside the river at Clarke Quay and Boat Quay. The trendier venues think nothing of dishing up Thai, Cantonese or Indian with a little bit of Spanish tapas bar culture thrown in.

Follow enticing aromas for good-value vegetarian food, south Indian snacks and north Indian biryanis on Race Course Road and Serangoon Road, popular with local Indians.

Choose from a string of informal seafood restaurants along the coastal road, chock-full of locals getting their hands stuck in to chilli crab or fish head curry. This a popular option for large, lively groups, especially at weekends.

Many hawker centres are open 24 hours and are the best places to try a range of little local delights. Strict vegetarians beware of some dishes being cooked in fish paste or tiny dried prawns. Dishes such as laksa (a noodle-based soup with coconut) can be cooked with tofu instead of seafood. Service charge is usually added.