Singapore is an absolute gem of a city when it come to dining and Amoy Food Centre is one that i always go back to. There are so many amazing food options in this city that anyone visiting will not know how to spend their time. If you’re planning to visit Singapore for three days, you won’t even begin to scratch the surface of all the food options available.
One of my favorite things to eat in Singapore are the hawker markets. This is Singapore street food at its finest and is one of the most special dining styles in the world. Now only are they cheap which helps keep the cost of living in Singapore down, but you also get some of the best food in the city. There are dozens of hawker markets in Singapore but as a tourist, you’ll likely only have time to visit a few. Amoy hawker market, along with Maxwell Hawker Center are among my favorites and I live down the street from this spot. It’s also one of the favorites of the white collar working crowd that descend upon this hawker market during the lunchtime hours.
I’ve been here countless times already in the short time I’ve lived in Singapore.
This guide will go through my favorite stalls so if you’re planning to eat at Amoy, these options will more than suffice for your meal!
Note that Amoy Food Centre is mostly only open on the weekdays for lunch. This hawker center is located in the heart of the CBD nearby to all of the office buildings. Therefore, this food center caters to the corporate lunch crowd. Much of the dishes here are portioned for one person having lunch. It’s not as sharing friendly as most of the other hawker centers in Singapore. Do not let this deter you though because some of my favorite meals in Singapore are here.
Read my other Singapore expat posts
Pexels.com<\/a>”,”created_timestamp”:”0″,”copyright”:””,”focal_length”:”0″,”iso”:”0″,”shutter_speed”:”0″,”title”:”southern ridges route in singapore”,”orientation”:”0″}” data-image-title=pexels-photo-15480521 data-image-description data-image-caption=’
Photo by Cyrill Bambilla on Pexels.com
‘ data-medium-file=https://johnnyafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/pexels-photo-15480521-300×200.jpeg data-large-file=https://johnnyafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/pexels-photo-15480521.jpeg ezimgfmt=”rs rscb7 src ng ngcb7″ data-ezsrc=https://cdn-0.johnnyafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/pexels-photo-15480521.jpeg>
Pexels.com<\/a>”,”created_timestamp”:”0″,”copyright”:””,”focal_length”:”0″,”iso”:”0″,”shutter_speed”:”0″,”title”:”view of street in singapore”,”orientation”:”0″}” data-image-title=”driving a car in singapore” data-image-description data-image-caption data-medium-file=https://johnnyafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/pexels-photo-18340299-300×200.jpeg data-large-file=https://johnnyafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/pexels-photo-18340299.jpeg ezimgfmt=”rs rscb7 src ng ngcb7″ data-ezsrc=https://cdn-0.johnnyafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/pexels-photo-18340299.jpeg>
History of Hawker centers in Singapore
Hawker centers in Singapore have a rich history that dates back to the early 1800s. During that time, street vendors known as hawkers operated their food stalls along the streets, selling a variety of local dishes to the public. These hawkers typically carried their wares in baskets and traveled from place to place, setting up makeshift stalls wherever they could find customers.
Over time, as the population increased and urbanization took hold, the government recognized the need for a more organized and hygienic dining environment. The first purpose-built hawker center, the Tiong Bahru Market, was established in 1951. This marked the beginning of a systematic approach to hawker food centers in Singapore.
The concept of hawker centers gained popularity, and more centers were built across the country in the following decades. They provided a convenient and affordable option for Singaporeans to enjoy a wide variety of local cuisines in a clean and regulated setting. The hawker centers became an integral part of Singapore’s culinary landscape, reflecting the multicultural diversity of the country through the range of food options available.
In recent years, hawker culture has gained global recognition, with Singapore’s hawker centers receiving UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity designation in 2020. The government has also introduced initiatives to preserve and promote hawker culture, such as the Hawker Centers 3.0 initiative, aimed at enhancing the hawker experience, sustainability, and food heritage.
Where is the Amoy Food Centre?
Amoy Food Centre is in the middle of the CBD surrounded by all the high rises and corporations. It is a lunch time week day type of place that serves the corporate crowd. However, don’t let that deter you as there are many places worth eating here.
Amoy Street Food Centre: 7 Maxwell Rd, Amoy Street Food Centre, Singapore 069111
Han Kee Fish Soup – #02-129
Without a doubt, if there is one thing you need to eat at Amoy hawker center, it is Han Kee Fish soup. In fact, if there’s one thing you need to eat in all of Singapore, Han Kee is the spot. This place is the best fish soup in Singapore bar none. It’s honestly in its own stratosphere of greatness with all other fish soup spots firmly on Earth.
What else needs to be said that hasn’t already been said about Han Kee? It’s the reason for my existence and the single reason that you must visit Amoy Street Food Court.
For the uninitiated, fish soup sounds a bit sketchy. It doesn’t sound appetizing and I actually stayed away from Fish Soup until I was introduced to this place. Fish soup is amazing and Han Kee is the best there is.
Fish soup is essentially slices of Batang fish (Spanish Mackerel) cooked in a delicious broth of fish and other spices. The soup broth at Han Kee is incredibly flavorful and packed with umami. It’s a clear soup which I love (and healthier) and I honestly don’t know what they put in the soup. Perhaps it’s loads of MSG, perhaps it’s just pure coca, I have no idea but it is amazing. Han Kee loads up the fish portions and offers more fish meat than anywhere else I’ve seen in Singapore. The fish is sliced thick with the skin on and cooked to perfection. It’s not too soft which I love as you get that subtle chew of the fish.
Han Kee like other fish soup stalls, offers multiple sizes (small, medium large) and you can add rice on the side or rice noodles within the broth. I always get the large size with rice noodle. They offer chopped chilies on the side which I dump into my soup to add that spicy kick.
Han Kee is famous all around Singapore which you can clearly see by the huge lines that queue up at lunch time. They open at 11am and you can always expect a line to form. During the peak lunch hours, you can expect to wait 40-60 minutes for this soup. It’s well worth it. While in line, the two aunties that work the front of the shop will come by and collect your oder. Make sure you know what to order before they come as they can be inpatient and unfriendly given they need to serve hundreds of people each day. They will somehow memorize your order even with 30 people in front of you but you will get your exact order when your turn comes. How they do this so perfectly remains a mystery and is as impressive as the fish soup itself.
Pro Tip: Come to this stall after 1:30pm and the lines will have died down. You can still expect to wait 10-20 minutes however.
Han Kee is the culmination of all that makes Fish Soup the ultimate Singaporean dish. I’ve tried at least a dozen other fish soup places in Singapore and every time I’m always comparing it to Han Kee and realizing that it falls short in some category (taste, portion size, price etc. )
If Han Kee is too busy for your likings, there are two other fish soup stalls on this floor that are also quite good (but cannot compare to Han Kee). One is Batang Fish Soup (#02-96) and
Spicy Wife Nasi Lemak
Nearby to Han Kee is another one of my favorite stalls. Spicy Wife Nasi Lemak serves up an amazing Singaporean style variation of the popular Malaysian dish. The fried chicken is perfectly fried with a crunchy texture and impossibly juicy meat. The chicken is also supremely flavorful when you mix it with the coconut rice, and spicy sambal sauce.
Spicy Wife stands out because they offer a half chicken (thigh and leg) for just $6.50 which is an insane deal given how much meat you get. There’s always a queue at Spicy wife which means other people also know about this insane value for money proposition. Although I still prefer my favorite Dickson Nasi Lemak, this place offers incredible value.
Wah Kee Noodle – #02 – 125
Wah Kee has some of the better wanton mee I’ve had in Singapore. Nothing screams more of a comfort food than a beautiful plate of egg noodles, juicy bits of char siew pork, crunchy veggies, and the most scrumptious wanton dumplings. Finish it off with homemade sambal and you have a beautiful plate of the wanton mee which is one of my favorite things to eat in Singapore.
Wah Kee does everything well and the combination of all their ingredients just work very well. It’s also affordable with a traditional bowl costing $5-6. I always upsize and get extra wanton and char siew but I still only pay about $8.
Pho Hanoi (#02-104)
Another one of my favorites is the Vietnamese food stall on the second floor of Amoy. This crowd favorite always attracts healthy lines of hungry office workers. Their pho is rich with beef bone flavor and the beef meat is juicy yet tender. This is definitely one of the better bowls of pho I’ve eaten in Singapore and is almost in contention with the bowls of pho I had while traveling in Vietnam.
The broth is light but flavorful, noodles soft but chewy, and the beef abundant. I’ve tried their bun bo as well which was a crowd pleaser but always come here for the pho.
Pepper Bowl (#02-102)
Another crowd favorite is the pepper bowl stall on the second floor of Amoy Food Court. This stall specializes in spicy black pepper beef/chicken bowls cooked to perfection. The beef is coated in fragrant black pepper providing an aroma and spice that that you can’t find elsewhere. I absolutely love black peppercorn flavors on anything, especially when you use enough of it to make it spicy and fragrant.
I’ve had their beef bowl on numerous occasions and always come back to it when I’m craving that black pepper flavor.
A Noodle Story (#01-39)
A Noodle Story is a MICHELIN Bib Gourmand stall in Amoy Street Food Centre selling its unique and famous Singapore-Style Ramen. I love their unique take on ramen which is one of my favorite foods of all time.
The Singaporean version that these stall owners have dreamed up is a very good alternative. I love the combination of the chewy noodles, pork broth, chashu slices, crispy dumplings, and scallions. Everything combined gave this a unique Singaporean twist on the Japanese dish that goes together really well.
