Singapore guide · Where to eat
Places to eat in Singapore, with what to order and how comfortable each is for families and older travellers.
Updated
Singapore's food is built around hawker centres, where stalls sell Chinese, Malay and Indian dishes at low prices. Most stalls cook meat or seafood and share woks and oil, so strict vegetarians and Jains should not rely on asking for no meat at a general hawker stall. The safer choices are dedicated vegetarian restaurants and the South Indian vegetarian restaurants of Little India, where the menu is familiar to Indian travellers.
In Little India, Komala Vilas on Serangoon Road has served South Indian vegetarian meals since 1947, including banana-leaf meals, dosai and idli; Jaggi's on Race Course Road serves North Indian food, though its menu includes chicken. Nalan at Capitol Singapore has a separate vegan menu, and ThatPutuMayamStall at Bukit Merah sells vegan putu mayam. We could not find an outlet that states a fully Jain kitchen, so Jains should phone ahead and ask whether onion, garlic and root vegetables can be left out. The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple reports a vegetarian dining hall in its basement. Details here come from the venues' own sites or a vegetarian directory and can change, so confirm before travelling. Tap water is safe to drink in Singapore, but bottled water is available everywhere.
Menus and kitchens change. If you follow a strict diet or have an allergy, confirm with the restaurant before you order.
2 Adam Road, Bukit Timah
A 1974 hawker centre beside Bukit Timah Canal, best known for Selera Rasa nasi lemak and three Michelin Bib Gourmand stalls from 2023.
95 Syed Alwi Road, Little India
A vegetarian Indian restaurant that Singapore's National Heritage Board dates to 1924, with a branch at 95 Syed Alwi Road in Little India. Dosa, chaat and a short North Indian list.
Downtown Gallery, 6A Shenton Way
Annalakshmi runs a vegetarian restaurant with lunch and dinner buffets and a separate cafe at Downtown Gallery on Shenton Way, near the financial district.
333 Orchard Road, fifth floor, Hilton Singapore Orchard
A hotel restaurant on the fifth floor of Hilton Singapore Orchard, open since 1971 and known for Hainanese chicken rice.
335 Smith Street, Chinatown (second floor)
A large second-floor hawker centre above a wet market in Chinatown, with more than 200 stalls, known for Smith Street stalls such as Ah Balling Peanut Soup.
People's Park Centre, 101 Upper Cross Street, basement 1 (B1-06, Stall 10)
A fully vegan Hakka stall, formerly called Thunder Tree, in the basement food court of People's Park Centre, known for lei cha rice and kolo mee.
466 Crawford Lane, Tai Hwa Eating House, Kallang, east of the Kampong Glam area
A bak chor mee (minced pork noodle) stall on Crawford Lane that Wikipedia says earned a Michelin star in 2016, among the first street food stalls anywhere to do so.
72 Race Course Road, Little India; also 2 Mistri Road
A North Indian restaurant with outlets on Race Course Road and Mistri Road, serving Punjabi dishes. A mixed menu, so vegetarians should order from the vegetarian items.
20 Upper Circular Road, #B1-48, The Riverwalk, Boat Quay
A Singapore seafood restaurant chain founded in 1987, known for chilli crab, with a riverside outlet at The Riverwalk.
3 Belilios Road, at Hilton Garden Inn
An Indian vegetarian restaurant whose site says it has served food since 1952, known for chaat and Chole Bhature, with a Belilios Road branch near Little India.
67 Killiney Road, near Somerset MRT
A kopitiam traced to a 1919 Hainanese coffeeshop on Killiney Road, serving kaya toast, soft-boiled eggs and coffee; the Killiney Road outlet is open late.
76-78 Serangoon Road, Little India
A family-run South Indian vegetarian restaurant on Serangoon Road, established in 1947 known for banana-leaf meals; it was reported closed from January 2026, so check it has reopened. A reliable meal for Indian vegetarians in Little India.
18 Raffles Quay, Downtown Core
A Victorian cast-iron market building from 1894 that is now a hawker centre in the financial district. By night, the street outside is closed for satay stalls.
190 Middle Road, #04-10, Fortune Centre, Bugis
A small Peranakan cafe on the fourth floor of Fortune Centre, Middle Road, selling kueh, curry puffs and rice sets, with some vegan dishes noted by Spinach.
Serangoon Road, Little India
The Singapore restaurant of Mavalli Tiffin Rooms, the Bangalore name dating to 1924, serving South Indian vegetarian food on Serangoon Road in Little India.
14 Upper Dickson Road, Little India
A vegetarian Indian restaurant at 14 Upper Dickson Road in Little India, known to guides for its VIP thali and Madras thali, plus appam and dosa.
1 Kadayanallur Street (Wikipedia) at Maxwell Road and South Bridge Road, Tanjong Pagar
A hawker centre beside Chinatown on the site of a 1928 market, home to Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice, which holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand.
Race Course Road, Little India
A Little India restaurant on Race Course Road whose own site says its founder brought a Chettinad fish head curry recipe to Singapore in 1969; it also lists tandoori dishes.
13 Stamford Road, #B2-54, Capitol Singapore, near City Hall MRT
An Indian restaurant in the basement of Capitol Singapore near City Hall, described by a vegetarian directory as a vegetarian Indian restaurant with a separate vegan menu. Useful if you are staying in the civic district.
500 Clemenceau Avenue North, at Newton Circus
A 1971 hawker centre at Newton Circus, promoted to tourists by the Singapore Tourism Board, with a record of overcharging complaints worth knowing about.
1 St Andrew's Road, #01-04, Supreme Court wing, National Gallery Singapore, Civic District
A modern French fine-dining restaurant in the Supreme Court wing of National Gallery Singapore, holding three Michelin stars per Wikipedia and a past Asia's 50 Best number one.
486 Serangoon Road, Little India
A vegetarian South Indian restaurant at 486 Serangoon Road that cooks classics in a contemporary way, from mini idlis to pulaos, with homemade podi and pickles.
87 Syed Alwi Road, near Mustafa Centre
A restaurant in Little India that calls itself pure vegetarian, serving Gujarati thali, North Indian and Indo-Chinese dishes, and says it prepares Jain food without onion or garlic.
697-699 North Bridge Road, opposite Sultan Mosque, Kampong Glam
A heritage Indian Muslim restaurant on North Bridge Road, opposite Sultan Mosque, reported to have traded since 1908 and known for stuffed murtabak.
11 New Bridge Road, opposite Central
A pork rib soup restaurant on New Bridge Road serving Teochew-style bak kut teh with rice and you tiao.
665 Buffalo Road, Little India, next to Little India MRT
A multi-use complex in Little India with a wet market and a ground-floor hawker centre that includes Indian vegetarian stalls.
163 Bukit Merah Central, #02-20
A small hawker stall at Bukit Merah Central selling putu mayam, steamed rice-flour string cakes with coconut and palm sugar. A directory describes everything on the menu as vegan.
Stall 01-10/11, Maxwell Food Centre, 1 Kadayanallur Street, Tanjong Pagar
A Hainanese chicken rice stall inside Maxwell Food Centre that Wikipedia says was the first stall there to win a Michelin Bib Gourmand, in 2016.
Corner of Lim Liak Street and Seng Poh Road, Tiong Bahru
A two-storey market in Tiong Bahru with a wet market below and a hawker area above, in one of Singapore's oldest public housing estates.
121 Telok Ayer Street, stall 5, coffeeshop near Chinatown
A fully vegan Chinese hawker stall at 121 Telok Ayer Street, in a coffeeshop near Chinatown, serving bee hoon, noodles and tofu dishes on weekdays.
76 Peck Seah Street, Tanjong Pagar
A plant-based Peranakan-Thai restaurant at 76 Peck Seah Street in Tanjong Pagar, founded in 2003, whose own site says it has held a Michelin Bib Gourmand since 2016.
Far East Square, Chinatown, and other outlets across Singapore
A Singapore kaya toast chain that began as a 1944 coffee stall at Telok Ayer Basin, known for toast, soft-boiled eggs and coffee.
43 Temple Street, Chinatown
A small, fully vegan Chinese-style eatery at 43 Temple Street in Chinatown, listed by Spinach with laksa, mee goreng and fried rice at modest prices.
