Lau Pa Sat is an inextricable part of Singapore’s heritage, and these stalls offer both a glimpse of the country’s evolving culinary landscape and the best food at the historic hawker centre.
Located in the Central Business District, Lau Pa Sat, which means “old market” in Hokkien, was Singapore’s first wet market. The Victorian-style building was completed in 1894 but its origins can be traced back to 1823 when it was a timber and attap structure known as Telok Ayer Market.
In 1972, Lau Pa Sat was transformed into a hawker centre and was gazetted as a national monument the following year. Since its last renovation in 2014, the building now houses around 80 food stalls selling iconic local dishes like Hokkien noodles, bak kut teh, and thunder tea rice. In the evening, Lau Pa Sat’s adjoining Boon Tat Street closes to traffic and transforms into Satay Street, where multiple vendors grill meat skewers over a charcoal fire, and dining happens under the sky.
At the same time, Lau Pa Sat is also home to hawkers who reflect the changing palates of Singapore. At Munchi Pancakes, the traditional min jiang kueh gets turned into an enclosed pancake with modern flavours, while Butter & Cream Bakery transforms the humble egg tart with salted egg. Rokus combines Korean flavours into a burger while Project Açai serves the refreshing superfood dessert with nuts and fruits.
Whether you’re a first-time visitor looking for the best of Singaporean cuisine, or a local who simply wants a satisfying, fuss-free meal, check out all of the best local food offerings below.
Lau Pa Sat is located at 18 Raffles Quay, Singapore 048582.
(Hero and featured images credits: Feng Xiang Bak Kut Teh 豐香肉骨茶 / Facebook; Lau Pa Sat / Facebook)
The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publishing.
16 hawker stalls at Lau Pa Sat for the best food
Jump To / Table of Contents
- Feng Xiang Bak Kut Teh
- Fragrance Garden Chicken Rice
- Golden Shoe Hokkien Mee
- Hook Coffee
- Lao Fu Zi Fried Kway Teow
- Munchi Pancakes
- Nasi Lemak Ayam Taliwang
- Project Açaí
- Qiu Lian Ban Mian
- Rokus a.g.b.
- Seng Kee Local Delights
- Warong Pak Sapari
1 /16
Best Satay 7 & 8
Plenty of options exist along Satay Street, and one of the most popular is Best Satay 7 & 8. Operating here since 2002, the stall sells chicken, mutton, and beef skewers marinated according to a family recipe from the late 1960s, and cooks them over charcoal flame. They also developed a peanut sauce that is rich, nutty, and defiantly clings on to the smoky meats.
What to order
All three types of meat, plus a side of sweetly caramelised shrimp.
(Image credit: @best.satay / Instagram)
2 /16
Butter & Cream Bakery
Butter & Cream takes on the classic egg tart and transforms it with flavours like salted egg and burnt cheese. Their muffins are also highly popular, featuring a moist centre, light crumb, and flavours such as blueberry, double chocolate, marshmallow, and volcano cheese. If you feel like sharing, the airy Hokkaido cheesecake will feed two.
What to order
The classic egg tart, which has a soft and custardy centre.
(Image credit: Lau Pa Sat / Facebook)
Address
Stalls 5 & 6
3 /16
Feng Xiang Bak Kut Teh
Feng Xiang specialises in herbal bak kut teh, a style more commonly found across the causeway. The broth is made with over 15 different herbs and spices and cooked for at least four hours without MSG. The stall also serves other dishes originating from the Malaysian city of Klang, from fried porridge to dry bak kut teh.
What to order
The signature herbal bak kut teh, which comes with various cuts of pork from rib to offal braised in a sweet and earthy soup.
(Image credit: Feng Xiang Bak Kut Teh 豐香肉骨茶 / Facebook)
Address
Stall 27
Website
4 /16
Fragrance Garden Chicken Rice
Every hawker centre worth its salt should have a chicken rice stall, and at Lau Pa Sat, it is Fragrance Garden. The iconic Singapore dish can be ordered either with roast or poached chicken, which joins other items like lemon chicken cutlet rice, shredded chicken hor fun soup, and chicken laksa.
What to order
The steamed chicken rice value meal sees braised egg and choy sum paired with chicken and rice for S$6.
(Image credit: Lau Pa Sat / Facebook)
Address
Stall 19
5 /16
Golden Shoe Hokkien Mee
This stall hails from the former Golden Shoe Hawker Centre and has over 40 years of experience in cooking Hokkien noodles. The same smokiness also finds its way into the stall’s two other dishes, carrot cake, and oyster omelette.
What to order
The Hokkien noodles brimming with wok hei, pork lard, prawns, and sambal.
(Image credit: Lau Pa Sat / Facebook)
6 /16
Hook Coffee
Artisanal coffee in the CBD does not have to be expensive thanks to Hook. Located inside retail store Food Folks, the homegrown brand sources ethically produced and sustainably grown Arabica beans from around the world, roasts them in-house, and serves them in brews from a cappuccino to a drip coffee at prices between S$3 to S$7. Hook also sells locally-made beer, and is currently doing a free-flow promotion for S$68.
What to order
The Singablend is Hook’s take on the local kopi, which is subtly sweet with low acidity and a creamy texture.
(Image credit: Hook Coffee / Facebook)
Address
Stall TK4
Website
7 /16
Lao Fu Zi Fried Kway Teow
Lao Fu Zi has won plaudits for its char kway teow, and the Old Airport Road hawker stall is now more accessible at Lau Pa Sat. The Bib Gourmand winner makes a drier version that is finely crunchy, wispy with egg, and laden with wok hei and sweet dark soy sauce.
What to order
The dark char kway teow with an added layer of sweetness from dark soy sauce.
(Image credit: @patrickyong / Instagram)
Address
Stalls 74-75
8 /16
Mr Rice Pao Fan & Fried Rice
Mr Rice presents the staple grain in two beloved forms. There is pao fan, or poached crispy rice, which is resplendent with vegetables, backed by seafood or pork chop, and comes in a thick, savoury broth. Fried rice is the other, which is topped with crispy rice for a fantastic crunch.
What to order
Pan-fried pork chop fried rice with tender pork and crunchy rice.
(Image credit: Lau Pa Sat / Facebook)
Address
Stall 18
9 /16
Munchi Pancakes
Munchi Pancakes takes on the traditional min jiang kueh by turning it into a small, enclosed pancake with ingredients from the classic peanut to Thai milk tea, matcha, and Belgian chocolate. The larger-sized originals are also available with the option of having the fluffy skin flavoured with charcoal or green tea, sandwiched over their homemade Biscoff spread.
What to order
Charcoal min jiang kueh with Biscoff filling encapsulates how a traditional snack can be updated.
(Image credit: Munchi Pancakes / Facebook)
10 /16
Nasi Lemak Ayam Taliwang
Nasi Lemak Ayam Taliwang started in 2017 at Yishun Park Hawker Centre, where it picked up a Michelin Plate for its Indonesian-style nasi lemak served with a spicy grilled chicken. Besides its namesake, the stall also sells other Indonesian dishes from ayam cabe ijo (chicken with green chilli) to curry rice.
What to order
Definitely the titular nasi lemak ayam taliwang (S$7.80). The rice is cooked with fresh coconut cream, which offsets the heat from the fiery taliwang sauce, and a sambal spotting gula melaka and belachan. Fresh cucumber, peanuts, and a sunny-side-up egg complete the meal.
(Image credit: Isaac Fung / Facebook)
Address
Stall 71
Website
11 /16
Project Açaí
Project Açaí represents a growing segment of local diners who are looking for healthier options at their hawker centres. This stall caters to them by offering bowls of açaí, a berry native to the Amazon and thought of as a superfood. Over here, the fruit is blended until it becomes a thick and smooth paste, then used as a vehicle for other equally healthy ingredients such as nuts and fruits. If you are too time-starved to sit down for a bowl, Project Açaí also sells their signature in a smoothie.
What to order
The açaí bowl, which the kiosk crowns with generous amounts of toppings.
(Image credit: Project Açaí / Facebook)
Address
Stall TK2
Website
12 /16
Qiu Lian Ban Mian
Qiu Lian’s story began in 1988 when homemaker Ong Qiu Lian decided to come up with her version of ban mian and mee hoon kuay. She started with a manual noodle-making machine and came up with a recipe for a soup base and chilli sauce, which drew hordes of diners to a nondescript corner in the east of Singapore. In recent years, Qiu Lian has created a tom yum version of her signature, which has also become a crowd favourite.
What to order
The namesake brings together minced pork, ikan bilis, and a runny egg in a clear, delicate broth. It comes with a choice of ban mian or mee hoon kuay; get the former if you enjoy slurping, while the latter has a nice chew.
(Image credit: Lau Pa Sat / Facebook)
Address
Stall 16
Website
13 /16
Rokus a.g.b.
Rokus levels up the burger with typical Korean flavours. There are choices like tteokbokki, kimchi, and gochujang, which come with a juicy, medium-well patty and hand-cut fries. Rokus also turns to Korea for their ramyeon noodles, which sees cheese over grass-fed ribeye, egg, and noodles. Their rice bowls show off mentaiko sauce and Japanese short-grain rice.
What to order
The tteokbokki burger with Australian grass-fed beef, rice cake, cheese, tomato, lettuce, and sauce between two brioche buns.
(Image credit: ROKUS & freedomism / Facebook)
Address
Stall 22
Website
Phone
8448 0707
14 /16
Seng Kee Local Delights
Rivalling Golden Shoe for the best Hokkien noodles in Lau Pa Sat is Seng Kee. Their version is wetter thanks to the generous amounts of sweet and briny gravy to slurp with the noodles. The stall also whips up plates of carrot cake, char kway teow, and oyster omelette, all imbued with the scent of smoke.
What to order
The white and black carrot cake combo lets you try the dish with and without dark soy sauce.
(Image credit: Lau Pa Sat / Facebook)
Address
Stall 10
15 /16
Thunder Tea Rice & Thunder Spize
Thunder Tea Rice lives up to its name by specialising in lei cha. Packed with vegetables and carried by a tea-based broth, white rice can be substituted with brown rice or brown rice vermicelli, while additions of chickpea, basil chicken, or fish fillet make the Hakka dish even heartier.
What to order
The thunder tea rice with a side of crispy cai poh omelette.
menu: (Image credit: Thunder Tea Rice 擂茶 / Facebook)
16 /16
Warong Pak Sapari
Warong Pak Sapari was founded in 1974 by Bapak Temon at Adam Road Food Centre, who built a strong following of diners thanks to his rendition of mee soto and mee rebus. Now run by his third generation, they still adhere to Bapak’s recipe of making the soup base with chicken cuts and 21 different herbs and spices, which is slow-cooked for hours since the early morning.
What to order
The signature mee soto brings together yellow noodles, shredded chicken, crispy chicken cutlet, and egg in a rich aromatic soup.
(Image credit: Nasi Lemak Ayam Taliwang Signature / Facebook)
Address
Stall 58
Website
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