Pro Tips on What to Eat @ Hong Lim Hawker Food Centre Singapore

There are over 60 food stalls over 2 storeys at the popular Hong Lim Market & Food Centre in Chinatown. Eating here for decades, these are the stalls I took the most calories from. Tell us what are your favourites too 😋

Teo Heng Teochew Porridge stall #01-56 is good for braised duck, pork belly, skin, intestine, fish cakes etc, but it is their boiled fish that is exceptional. The fresh fish is boiled in a large tub of stock made with preserved mustard and has all the sweet goodness from all the fresh fish that had gone through it throughout the day. Teo Heng also serves tau kwa pao (dried tofu stuffed with braised pork etc) which is rarely seen in Singapore nowadays.

Outram Park Fried Kway Teow Mee stall #02-18 is Singapore's best char kway teow (according to its fans, which is a lot of Singaporeans 😄 ). At its best, this char kway teow has the coveted toasty-smokey wok hei and nice savoury-sweet flavours enveloping the steamy noodles.They are generous with blood cockles (see hum) which is a definitive ingredient of this dish.

Tai Wah Pork Noodle stall #02-16 is one of Singapore's best known bak chor mee. Nice tender al dente noodles smothered in a savoury sourish spicy sauce after a good toss in the bowl. Lots of ingredients in the noodles - pork slices, liver and tee poh (dried sole fish). The noodle set comes with a bowl of tasty savoury pork soup with wanton, pork ball and dried seaweed. This stall is run by relatives of Tai Hwa Pork Noodle @ Crawford Lane.

Dong Fang Hong Sotong Ball Seafood Soup stall #01-47 serves a unique dish of soup with fish ball, squid ball, pork ball, her kiao (fish dumpling), seaweed and tee poh (dried sole fish). The soup is rich with flavours from chicken, crab and fish. Eat with rice or rice noodles, you won't find this dish anywhere else.

Heng Kee Curry Chicken Bee Hoon Mee stall #01-58 is one of the stalwarts of this dish - curry mee with poached chicken, potato, fish cake and tau pok (dried tofu). Heng Kee's curry is sweet, savoury, spicy and moderately heavy on coconut milk. Their tender juicy chicken is poached so well, it is better than at some famous chicken rice stalls.

Ah Heng Curry Chicken Bee Hoon Mee stall #02-57 is another stall serving curry chicken noodles at this hawker centre. Truth be told, the difference between Heng Kee (above stall) and Ah Heng is slight and it is down to personal preference. Ah Heng's flavours are very slightly milder than Heng Kee's and their fans like it that way. Otherwise, everything - chicken, curry, potato, tau pok and noodles are all excellent 👍 It doesn't mean much to me but yeah..., Ah Heng is the one mentioned in the Singapore Michelin guide.

Cantonese Delights stall #02-03 serves a homely sweet mildly spicy curry chicken thick with coconut milk. The poached chicken is tender, juicy and smooth with nice natural chicky sweetness. It compares well even with the curry chicken noodle stalwarts in the same hawker centre.

Hong Lim hawker centre is actually the curry chicken noodle central of Singapore, so I did a comparo here 👈 click

Hwee Kee 辉记 Kway Chap stall #02-33 serves braised pork belly, trotter and intestines with rice sheets. This is also one of the last stalls in Singapore to serve pork aspic 猪脚冻 which is pork trotter and skin boiled till the collagen is dissolved. The viscous liquid is then chilled to form a jelly with chopped meat suspended inside. The savoury pork jelly melts in the mouth and is eaten with a special sweet nutty sauce.

If I missed your favourite stall don't get mad at me, shout out in the comments. I promise to go check it out ✌

Hong Lim Market & Food Centre

Address: 531A Upper Cross Street, Singapore 051531

In case you are interested, here's the list of excellent Hong Lim hawkers who have retired without successors. Hope I don't have to add to this list 😢

Ah Kow Bak Chor Mee 👈 click

Ping Ping Curry Chicken Mee 👈 click

First edition: 11 Dec 2020