From fantastic carrot cake to durian chendol, these 14 best stalls at Bukit Timah Food Centre will provide the goods.
Built in 1976 to re-home street hawkers along Bukit Timah Canal, the hawker centre boasts over 80 stalls, some still around since its opening like Sin Chew Satay Bee Hoon. More contemporary offerings like pasta have opened up in recent years.
Other perennial favourites include carrot cake, Hokkien mee, mutton soup and kway chap. Leave space for Nyonya Chendol‘s alluring renditions, as well as Soylicious’s beancurd with taro balls. Read on for more.
Address: 51 Upper Bukit Timah Rd, Singapore 588215.
(Hero image credit: @full.of.yum)
Hawker guide: 14 best stalls to visit at Bukit Timah Food Centre
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1 /14
For a lighter, gently herbal kway chap, visit 138. They offer the usual ingredients of tofu, offal and egg braised in a dark, savoury sauce, and pair them with salted vegetables. Soak up the broth either with noodles or porridge.
S$5 to S$5.50
Fridays to Mondays, 7.30am to 2pm
(Image credit: @josephjeromepatrick / Instagram)
2 /14
Adventurous eaters make a beeline for Chin Hock’s mutton soup, which serves a variety of offcuts in a herbal broth. The signature includes tendon, stomach and rib, which are sweetened by the use of traditional Chinese medicinal ingredients in the broth. Rib- or meatball-only options are also available.
S$4 to S$8
Mondays to Saturdays, 12pm to 7.30pm
(Image credit: @wongkamloong / Instagram)
3 /14
Curry On is one of the food centre’s newer stalls. Operated by a former hotel chef, he specialises in turmeric curry rice that comes with either barbecued spare ribs, beef rendang or chicken. Alternatively, he does it laksa-style with noodles.
S$5 to S$9
Wednesdays and Sundays, 11am to 2pm
Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays to Saturdays, 11am to 7pm
(Image credit: @normdanyael / Instagram)
4 /14
Go Pasta breaks down their sauces into four different varieties: aglio olio, cream, tomato, or pink (a combo of tomato and cream), which you can have either with spaghetti, penne or fusilli. From there, choose your topping from a list of mushroom, seafood, bacon or chicken chop. Some sauces also offer exclusive ingredients like prawn or chicken bolognese.
S$5.90 to S$7.90
Thursdays to Mondays, 11.30am to 8.30pm
(Image credit: @an.qilaa / Instagram)
5 /14
He Zhong is a second-generation hawker stall specialising in white carrot cake. They are generous with the eggs, and fry it up in a way that keeps the middle creamy while maintaining a nice char around the edges. A dose of chilli brings zest and structure to the dish.
S$2.50 to S$5
Mondays, 6am to 1pm
Tuesdays to Sundays, 6am to 8.30pm
(Image credit: @zn_jingaojiak / Instagram)
6 /14
A common refrain (read: mine) is that duck has too many bones to eat easily, but Jie Ji takes the work away by deboning it. The bird is meaty and tender, and the set meal makes it more fulfilling with tofu, peanuts and egg, all marinated in the same luscious sauce.
S$3 to S$3.50
Saturdays to Thursdays, 11am to 2pm, 5pm to 7pm
7 /14
Leng Kee opened at the food centre in 1997 and is now run by the son of the original owner. Their comforting soup comes with generous slices of fish, tofu and vegetables, or get the meaty pork trotter for a heartier meal.
S$4 to S$8
Thursdays to Tuesdays, 8am to 8pm
(Image credit: @smoque.sg / Instagram)
8 /14
Living Wholesome shows that healthy food can be delicious too with their vegan rendition of Hakka thunder tea rice. The signature packs brown rice with tofu, peanuts and vegetables together, and they also offer a bee hoon version and low-carb version dubbed ‘Kosong.’
S$3.30 to S$8.30
Tuesdays and Sundays, 10.30am to 2pm
Wednesdays to Saturdays, 10.30am to 2pm, 5.30pm to 7pm
(Image credit: @jas_raine / Instagram)
9 /14
Dessert comes in the form of chendol at this food centre, and the long lines will attest to that. The succinct menu offers only four variations of the dish, either the original with or without red beans, with corn and red beans, or with a scoop of heady D24 durian.
S$1.80 to S$3.50
Daily, 10.30am to 8.30pm
(Image credit: @hautegrub / Instagram)
10 /14
Sin Chew is one of the pioneering stalls when the food centre opened in 1976. Run by a husband-and-wife team, they make their popular dish from fresh ingredients daily. Rice vermicelli is tossed with seafood, pork, fried beancurd puffs and vegetables, then covered in a fragrant peanut sauce.
S$4 to S$6
Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, 11am to 2.30pm, 5pm to 8.30pm
(Image credit: @mr.weiwei / Instagram)
11 /14
Silky bowls of beancurd are the draw of Soylicious, which makes them from imported Canadian soybeans. Go traditional with toppings of rice balls or gingko nut, or deck it out with peanuts, taro, and grass jelly.
S$1.50 to S$3.50
Mondays, 9am to 1pm
Wednesdays to Fridays, 9am to 7pm
Saturdays and Sundays, 8.30am to 7pm
(Image credit: @soylicious.sg / Instagram)
12 /14
Terry Katong Laksa’s dish has no MSG, no sugar, no evaporated creamer, no pork and no lard – as they boldly state on their signboard – but what it has is a broth that is lighter than the competition. It is, however, still satisfyingly rich, with springy noodles, prawns, fishcake slices, and plump cockles.
S$4 to S$5
Fridays to Wednesdays, 9.30am to 5pm
(Image credit: @epicurebook / Instagram)
13 /14
The line is long and the portions are rather small, but Xie Kee’s take on hokkien mee is glorious. It’s wet, with thick gravy clinging to the flat yellow noodles full of wok hei. They’re a little skimpy on the ingredients, so upsize if you’re hungry.
S$4 to S$5
Daily, 11.30am to 11pm
(Image credit: @coolheart / Instagram)
14 /14
Located at the far end of the food centre, Yong Seng grills up smoky sticks of beef, pork chicken and mutton. The meat is well marinated and tender, and the peanut sauce is thick and smooth. Get your order in first before moving on to other things, the long queue usually means a patient wait.
S$0.70 per stick
Thursdays to Mondays, 11.30am to 9pm
(Image credit: @michelle_y_e_o / Instagram)