This blog post is for my IG friend who is visiting Singapore for 10 days in mid-August, and anyone else who might be interested in tips of trying the best local food in Singapore as a pescatarian! It is challenging but not difficult because Singapore has a lot of seafood. So here goes! Read on to the end of other tips as well. By the way, full disclosure, I used Gemini to draft the list but I went in to vet the list and also add my own comments!
🚨 CRITICAL PESCATARIAN INFO FIRST:
Traditional Chinese-style street food (like fishball noodles, fried carrot cake, or Hokkien mee) is almost ALWAYS cooked in pork lard oil or topped with crispy lard bits, even if the protein is fish. To eat these safely, look for Halal-certified stalls in hawker centres/food courts! They use vegetable or fish oil instead of pork lard.
Here is an area-by-area guide on where to eat, what to order, and what to avoid. For all the spots, check on Google Maps first to check if they are open, especially hawker stalls. Also bring cash unless you can do Grab Pay for hawker stalls as CC payment is less common at hawker centres. Everywhere else accepts CC!
• Breakfast: Tong Ah Eating House on Keong Saik Road. It's a historic coffee shop perfect for the ultimate Singaporean breakfast - ultra-crispy Kaya Toast with cold butter, dipped into soft-boiled eggs with dark soy sauce and white pepper. The ‘kopi’, or local coffee, is also great to pair with, or have the teh (breakfast tea with condensed milk). Ask for less sweet if you want less sugar!
By the way, if you see “Yakun” or “Toastbox” or “Fun Toast” shops in or outside mall entrances, they also serve up kaya toast and kopi, as locals love it! Some of these outlets also sell dishes like mee siam (noodles with sour gravy, pescatarian friendly).
| Image credit: DanielFoodDiary's post on top kaya toast spots in Singapore |
• For lunch, try Maxwell Food Centre. Pro tip – go early like 11am or late like 1pm to avoid the office lunch crowd on weekdays. During weekends most stalls are closed.
• Get the fish porridge at Zhen Zhen Porridge if the stall is open, or Cantonese-style sliced fish soup in a rich milky broth at Jin Hua Fish Head Bee Hoon.
• For a snack you can try popiah from any stall if you see it available – they are braised radish with other items like egg bits and prawn wrapped in a super thin roll. Pescatarian friendly and light.
• AVOID: Tian Tian Chicken Rice (huge lines, no good for pescatarians) and any dumpling stalls (mostly pork).
Check out the nearby Buddha Tooth Temple first or after if you are going to Maxwell for lunch.
📍 BONUS DURIAN STOP (Chinatown)
If you guys want to brave trying fresh Durian while exploring Chinatown, skip the random street carts and check out Grandpa Durian (19 Smith Street). It’s a cozy, air-conditioned durian café right on the famous Chinatown food street. They source freshly opened durians directly from orchards and serve durian platters, desserts, and drinks. It's a much less intimidating way for a first-timer to try it!
📍 THE URBAN "ZI CHAR" FIX (Home-style Seafood)
If you want to experience "Zi Char" (classic Chinese comfort food/seafood sharing plates) without long tasting-menu waits:
• Option 1 (Casual Heritage): Kok Sen Restaurant on Keong Saik Road near Chinatown. Order their legendary Big Prawn Crispy Noodles (the thick gravy has an amazing wok-hei smoky flavor) and Claypot Yong Tau Foo (stuffed with fish paste). You can also order white rice and vegetable dishes to share – just be sure to tell them no meat/pork/lard.
• Option 2 (Elevated comfort): New Ubin Seafood at CHIJMES near Raffles City (City Hall MRT). They do great garlic baked crab, sambal squid, and elevated seafood in a beautiful historic courtyard setting. Highly recommended to reserve online first.
Photo credit: www.newubinseafood.com
📍 THE NIGHT ATTRACTION: GARDENS BY THE BAY
This is an absolute must-visit attraction for first-timers to Singapore, though using a car to get there is highly recommended. The outdoor gardens and the iconic massive Supertrees are completely free to walk around.
• The Light Show (Garden Rhapsody): Every single night, they run a spectacular, choreographed light and music show at the Supertree Grove. It happens twice a night - strictly at 7:45 PM and 8:45 PM. It lasts about 15 minutes, is completely free, and makes for amazing video content. Go early if you want to catch it lying down!
📍 THE SECOND LIGHT SHOW: MARINA BAY SANDS (SPECTRA)
Where: Event Plaza (The outdoor waterfront promenade right outside the Marina Bay Sands shopping mall).
The Experience: This is "Spectra", a massive 15-minute outdoor laser, light, and water fountain show set to an orchestral soundtrack. It is completely free, requires no tickets, and looks incredible on camera. You can go for dinner after the show nearby, such as or treat it as a post-dinner show!
Show Timings:
• Sunday to Thursday: 8:00 PM and 9:00 PM
• Friday and Saturday: 8:00 PM, 9:00 PM, and 10:00 PM
🌌 POST-MARINA BAY LIGHT SHOW FOOD GUIDE
If you guys are hungry after watching "Spectra" (the Marina Bay Sands light show), I would recommend you to check out Makansutra Gluttons Bay. It’s a beautiful, highly photogenic 12-to-15 minute stroll from the MBS Event Plaza across the Helix Bridge.
• Timings: It closes at 11:00 PM from Sunday to Thursday, and 11:30 PM on Friday and Saturday. If you catch the 8:00 PM or 9:00 PM show, you’ll have plenty of time.
• What to order: Snag an outdoor waterfront table facing the skyline. Go straight for the Chilli Crab or BBQ Sambal Stingray served on banana leaf, cereal prawns, and a plate of fried carrot cake. Look for and try the fried banana with kaya cream from the dessert stall for a post-dinner treat!
📍 LITTLE INDIA
• Eat here: Mustard Singapore (Race Course Road, Little India MRT)
• Order: Bengali cuisine is famous for seafood. Get the "Chingri Maacher Malai Curry" (prawns cooked in a rich coconut cream served inside a coconut shell) and the mustard-infused "Maacher Jhol" fish curry. The coconut prawn dish is incredibly good!
📍 KAMPONG GLAM & BUGIS
• Eat here: Zam Zam Singapore or Hajah Maimunah
• Order: At Zam Zam, order a Sardine Murtabak (a massive, crispy stuffed pan-fried flatbread). Hajah Maimunah is a legendary Malay "Nasi Padang" (rice with various dishes) spot—perfect for picking spicy sambal prawns, squid ink squid, and signature vegetable dishes like Sayur Lodeh. Everything here is 100% Halal, so zero pork lard worries. However, the second spot is a bit pricier.
• AVOID: Walking into random touristy cafes along Haji Lane just for the aesthetics—the food is usually overpriced and mediocre. Stick to the heritage spots! You can also walk around to do some shopping after or before at the shophouses. Bugis Junction nearby is a huge mall (and connected to another mall Bugis + if you need air con!). Check out Bugis Street as well for souvenirs and quirky fashion though it can get a bit warm in the day time. Go in the late afternoon or evening when it is cooler.
📍 TIONG BAHRU MARKET (Old-School neighbourhood great for breakfast and lunch)
• Have breakfast, lunch or a snack at Tiong Bahru Market. It's a clean, gorgeous art-deco style hawker center that has an unusual concentration of good quality food stalls.
• Order the steamed rice cakes from Jian Bo Shui Kueh—these are smooth, steamed rice cakes topped generously with a savoury, deeply umami diced preserved radish (chye poh) cooked strictly in vegetable oil. 100% vegetarian and an iconic local bite.
| Photo credit: DanielFoodDiary |
📍 DEMPSEY HILL
• Eat here: Samy's Curry Restaurant (reserve online here)
• Order: The legendary South Indian Fish Head Curry. It's fiercely spicy, tangy with tamarind, and served on a fresh banana leaf at your table. Pair it with biryani rice and fried cauliflower. It’s highly visual and an incredible experience for visitors.
📍 ORCHARD ROAD (Shopping Pitstops)
• Eat here: Food Republic at Wisma Atria (top floor) or Tang Tang Ji at TANGS Basement. These are food courts where there are many stalls like a hawker centre but it is in air con, which is very important!
• Order: At Wisma Atria, find the Thye Hong Fried Prawn Noodles stall for Hokkien Mee (braised seafood noodles), but explicitly request "NO pork lard bits". At TANGS, look for premium sliced fish soup stalls.
At food courts and hawker centers, there is usually one drink stall to get your drinks. You can also get local kopi or teh there, or soft drinks. At some food court drink stalls they also sell local desserts like shaved ice red bean (ice kachang) or a sweet bean ‘soup’ called tau suan.
• AVOID: Standard fishball noodles from the same stall that sells minced meat pork noodles (ba chor mee) as the gravy is made with pork oil.
📍 THE NIGHTTIME SEAFOOD FIX: NEWTON
• Eat here: Newton Food Centre (Famous from Crazy Rich Asians the movie, 1 MRT stop from Orchard Road – use Google Maps to navigate to it by walking)
• Order: Head to a seafood stall like "Alliance Seafood". Get the iconic Singapore Chilli Crab or Black Pepper Crab. Order a side of deep-fried mantou (sweet buns) to dip into the chili egg sauce to get the full experience. Also get a plate of BBQ Sambal Stingray served on a banana leaf. Goes really well with white rice, which you can also order! You can also get a sugar cane juice from one of the stalls to quench the spice.
• AVOID: Skip Lau Pa Sat completely (too commercialized/touristy). Also, avoid hawkers who aggressively tout or try to pull you into their stalls at Newton - stick to the ones with natural queues. Pay by cash or QR code. Some places will accept credit cards, but cash is still best for hawker food.
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Other tips
MRT and buses are incredibly convenient and you can use your credit card to pay. However, note that there is a flat administrative fee of S$0.60 per day charged by Singapore's transit system (SimplyGo) for using a foreign-issued Mastercard or Visa. Fares are bundled together and posted to their statement every few days rather than per ride. (Tip: Use a multi-currency travel card like Revolut or Wise to avoid extra bank foreign transaction fees and ensure the card must be enabled for overseas transactions.)
To travel by car, you can use apps like Grab or Gojek to find a ride (like Uber). Street hail is very difficult but if you go to taxi stands at malls, sometimes there are “regular” metered taxis waiting. In Singapore it is very regulated so taxis cannot overcharge. You can also pay with credit card after the ride if you use street hail. If you book by the app, try to select a CC payment method so you can jump out after.
Singapore is hot, humid and has unpredictable weather so it can storm as well, so dress light but make sure to wear SPF sunscreen and hats/coverup because the sun is mad but our malls are air-conditioned.
Wear comfy shoes and bring water and a foldable umbrella when out. Also bring some tissues and wet wipes for the food. Tap water in Singapore everywhere is drinkable. If you are going to nature places like Dempsey or the zoo, try to get/bring some mozzie repellent.
For attractions I highly recommend our Singapore Zoo and River Safari, part of the Mandai Wildlife Reserve, which you can buy tickets to on platforms like www.klook.com but do note it is quite far from everything else!
I hope this helps!
Thank you Alexis. Will make sure to try most (if not all) these recommendations during our 10 day trip.
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