Hawker Centres

In the past, the term "hawker" actually meant food vendors who moved their wares around in mobile carts. There were no such thing as hawker centres in the past. These mobile carts offer a variety of food. Ice-creams, nougat-like candy, malt candy and many other various snacks often sent children and their parents screaming with delight as they ran out onto the streets to buy their favourite snacks. These hawkers were familiar figures in the neighbourhood.

There were also roadside hawkers, that would set up their stalls when night falls. They often parked at empty parking lots, and would set up wooden tables and stools, and their pushcarts would double up as a kitchen. Food like wonton noodle, buns, and breads were common sights.

Today, only hawker centres remain. The last of roadside stalls were seen in 1987. Hawker centres are open-air complexes in Singapore that house many stalls selling a wide range of cheap and tasty food. They are typically located near public housing estates or transport hubs. Hawker centres offer multi-ethnic Singapore cooking at its best. Dining at hawker centres or buying the food home is part and parcel of Singapore's lifestyle now. The food there is inexpensive, and the experience of eating it is unique.

One thing that all tourists must do is to eat at Singapore's hawker centres as many of our delicacies can be found there! Some examples are the famous Hainanese Chicken Rice, Hokkien Mee and Fried Carrot cake.

Fried Carrot Cake

Fried Kway Teow

Recently, we made a trip to 2 of the best hawker centres in Singapore, Maxwell Food Centre and Lau Pa Sat Festival Market. Maxwell Food Centre is located near Chinatown MRT Station, and it is just a stone's throw away from the MRT station. It is at 335 Smith Street, Chinatown Complex. Lau Pa Sat is located near Raffles Place MRT Station. The walk there is about 5 minutes away.

Overall Reviews






Maxwell Food Centre offers food at very reasonable prices. There is a store called Tian Tian Chicken Rice that serves mouth-watering chicken rice. There is often a long queue at the stall. To avoid the long queues, it is best to go there before/after the lunch crowd, which comes between 12pm to 2pm.

He Ji Zhou and Zen Zen porridge serves the best congee in Maxwell! Their porridge is soft and tasty. The congees are usually cooked with fish slices, century eggs, lean pork and shredded chicken meat.

He Ji Porridge

Another stall that is famous at the Maxwell Food Centre is a stall owned by a father and daughter. At the stall, you get to fry your own hum chim peng (fried dough) prepared by the father and daughter. You can choose the salty or sweet version. They sell 6 hum chim peng at only $1. If you have yet to try it, you should head down to Maxwell to get it.

Hum Chim Peng

Sugar cane juice, a favourite drink to quench our thirst.

Lau Pa Sat is yet another hawker centre that tourists should head to. The satay (barbecued diced meat) offered there is superb! It is soft and tender, unlike the usual hard satays that stick to your satay stick (bamboo sticks) and you will have a difficult time yanking the meat out of the satay stick. Just one dip into the satay sauce and you will experience satay like never before.


The street is closed in the night specially for the stores, and you get to enjoy food in an open space with many huts offering a wide range of food.


Satay from the first stall is a must-try! We ordered 50 sticks of satay from the stall and had a wonderful time savouring it. The market there is extremely clean as well, as compared to other hawker centres. And fret not if you have forgotten to bring tissues, there are people selling wet wipes and tissues there at reasonable rates. For more information, you can visit http://www.laupasat.biz/.

For the ultimate Singapore food experience, we highly recommend you to eat at these 2 hawker centres! It is after all, the best in town!

How to get there
To get to Maxwell Food Centre:
Buses nearby - 2, 12, 61, 80, 143, 145, 166, 197, 608, 851, 961

Nearest MRT Station - Tanjong Pagar MRT Station/Chinatown MRT Station (10 mins walk)

To get to Lau Pa Sat:

Buses nearby - 10, 10E, 57, 70, 97, 97E, 100, 107, 130, 131, 162, 186, 196, 196E, 75, 167, 700, 970, NR1, NR6, 541, 547

Nearest MRT Station - Raffles Place (5 mins walk)