Talk about the best hawker centre in town, and Amoy Street Food Centre should be a shoo-in. Located in the CBD of Singapore, many stalls offer quality hawker fare at very affordable prices.
Just a few minutes’ walk away from Telok Ayer and Tanjong Pagar MRT stations, the centre is very crowded during lunchtime when office workers head down in droves for lunch, although that is also the only time most of the stalls are open.
(Click PLAY for highlights of Amoy Street Food Centre.)
The hawker centre was opened in 1983, and has been constantly undergoing changes and renovations.
It also boasts a wide range of stalls with both foods from older generations to newer, more modern stalls selling all kinds of food items from age old favourites like Char Kway Teow to more ‘modern’ foods like Singapore ramen, donburi bowls and handmade burgers.
There are many, many worthy stalls there. Here are 20 to check out: (I have categorised them by Level 1 followed by 2. Sorry that I haven’t included every stall.)
A Noodle Story
Amoy Street Food Centre #01-39
Opening Hours: 11:15am – 2:30pm, 5:30pm – 7:30pm (Mon – Fri), 10:30am – 1:30pm (Sat) , Closed Sun, PH
Singapore-style Ramen with Michelin Bib Gourmand
A Noodle Story is a Michelin Bib Gourmand listed-stall located at Amoy Street Food Centre selling Singapore-style ramen noodles.
Consider a good form of recognition for young Singaporeans who take the harder way to become hawkers.
While the signature here is called “ramen”, I like to think it is a local take of the Hong Kong style wonton noodles.
A Noodle Story’s signature is inspired by modern European techniques and Asian flavours, sold at $8, $11, $15.
Tender cha-su, Hong Kong-style wontons, soy-flavoured hot spring egg, crispy potato-wrapped prawn, freshly sliced scallions and red pepper sit neatly on top of the thin, springy noodles.
The specially ordered thin-noodles had a delectable, lovely bite, without any strong alkaline taste.
Hong Kee Beef Noodle
Amoy Street Food Centre #01-42
Opening Hours: 11am – 7:30pm (Mon – Fri), 9am – 2:30pm (Sat – Sun), Closed PH
Michelin Bib Gourmand Beef Noodles
This stall is said to be around for more than 50 years, which moved from Tanglin Koek Road, to Cuppage Centre to its current location at Amoy.
The Hainanese style Beef Noodles cooked by this ‘uncle-auntie’ couple were available in both dry and soup versions, priced at $4, $5, and $6.
Gooey gravy, tender beef slices, slippery kway teow and a sprinkling of salted vegetables made a satisfying bowl.
The winning part was the starch gravy that was appetising yet not overly salty, coating the smooth rice noodles which could just slip down your throat.
Ah Ter Teochew Fish Ball Noodles
Amoy Street Food Centre #01-14
Opening Hours: 7am – 4pm (Mon – Thurs), 7am – 3pm (Fri – Sat), Closed Sun
Popular Fish Ball Noodles with Handsome Hawker
The genesis of Ah Ter Teochew Fishball Noodles was a Chinese immigrant who came to Singapore in the 1950s.
He made a living making fishballs by hand, then opened a stall at Maxwell Food Centre in 1958 called 亚猪鱼圆肉脞面 (literally, “Asian Boar Fish Ball and Minced Meat Noodles”).
Now run by Ah Ter’s son Gilbert at Amoy Food Centre, the stall specialises in the same handmade fishballs that have become popular through the years.
An order consists of a bowl of soup, with your preferred noodle in a separate bowl – tossed in the signature chili sauce.
What’s special in this sauce is that it’s a blend of 7 ingredients stir-fried continuously for 6 hours.
Made-fresh-daily pork lard and fried shallots are thrown in for added flavour, plus a splash of black vinegar to add sour notes and some tomato sauce.
The medium-sized fishballs are made from fresh saury fish, bought fresh daily from the market at 3am, and have a soft, bouncy texture. Ah Ter Teochew Fishball Noodles (Amoy Street Food Centre)
Mazni’s Family
Amoy Street Food Centre #01-71
Opening Hours: 6:30am – 2:00pm (Mon – Fri), Closed Sat, Sun
Appetizing Mee Siam and Other Scrumptious Malay Dishes
This stall is dedicated to Malay dishes. It was initially known for its Ayam Penyet and was previously located at Changi Airport Terminal 1, but they have shifted all their focus to the classic Malay treats like Mee Siam, Mee Soto, Lontong and Mee rebus.
All the dishes are prepared with wholesome flavors and authentic taste, and reasonably priced to make them an instant favorite of the crowd.
Mazni’s Family’s Mee Siam ($3) is one of my most favorite dishes at the stall.
You can’t help but devour every spoonful even if you are not that hungry. I loved that sweet and tangy gravy that coated every strand of the vermicelli noodles.
You can also get a begedil ($0.60) to add a rich texture and a perfect balance of savouriness to the dish.
Good Day
Amoy Street Food Centre #01-25
Opening Hours: 10:30am – 7pm (Mon – Sun)
Specialise in Wok-Fried Rice & Noodle Dishes
There are other dishes such as Sin Chow Bee Hoon, Yang Zhou Fried Rice, and Beef Fried Rice, but people are really here for the Beef Horfun ($4.50, $6.00).
I read that this is opened by siblings of the owners of Bee Kia at Thomson Road.
For $4.50, I really cannot complain about the portion, especially when you see how much beef is given.
The beef was thinly sliced, very tender and tasty, cooked in a thick dark sauce. Even the rice noodles were imparted with a wonderful savoury flavour (though they were pre-fried).
I could totally have this dish again and again. However, as the stall is trying to gather to a huge lunch crowd and long line of customers, the wok-hei could be lacking in this one.
Quan Ji
Amoy Street Food Centre #01-56/57
Opening Hours: 12pm – 10:15pm (Wed – Fri), 4pm – 10:15pm (Sat – Sun), Closed Mon, Tues
Beef Hor Fun and San Lao with Wok-Hei
Quan Ji has been around since 1955, and currently operated by third-generation hawker Tony Liew at the Amoy Street Food Centre.
Highlight dishes include San Lao Hor Fun, Crispy Noodles, Fried Bee Hoon, Beef Horfun, Fried Fish Bee Hoon, Fish Head with Bitter Gourd, Kailan with Sliced Fish, Braised Bean Curd, Prawns Paste Chicken, Sweet & Sour Pork Ribs and Prawn Roll.
For solo diners, go for the Beef Hor Fun ($5.50) for your zi char fix. Tender beef slices are drenched with a thick brown peppered gravy, combined with veggies and wok-fried kway teow.
The winner here was indeed the black bean sauce. Once I added some of the red chilli sauce, and turned out to be a delicious combination.
Hoo Kee Bak Zhang
Amoy Street Food Centre #01-18
Opening Hours: 11am – 5pm, Closed on Sun
Handmade Michelin Bib Gourmand Rice Dumplings
Hoo Kee serves Hokkien style Bak Zhang or traditional Chinese dumplings. All their dumplings are made by hand and are thus of a quality that cannot be reproduced by machines. (However, the dumplings sold here are made somewhere else, not at this stall).
These come in a number of flavours including Original, Salted Egg Yolk as well as mushrooms ($3 for original, $4 – $5 for salted egg yolk or mushrooms).
Note: Prices are typically higher during the May to June period nearing the Dragon Boat Festival.
Made in a traditional Hokkien-style, the dumplings are more robust in flavour than its Nyonya or Cantonese counterparts, with prominent use of salted egg.
The glutinous rice is also stickier than the usual.
J2 Famous Crispy Curry Puff
Amoy Street Food Centre #01-21
Opening Hours: 8am – 4pm (Mon – Sat), Closed Sun, PH
Michelin Bib Gourmand Curry Puffs
The first (and other) curry puff in Singapore listed in the Singapore Michelin Bib Gourmand Guide.
Also known as J2 Crispy Curry Puff, this comes with layered flaky pastry and spicy potato, black pepper chicken, sardine and yam paste fillings.
The J2 puffs are freshly hand-made in the stall, deep-fried in a big wok of oil, and the aroma and sound of cracking oil made it all more tempting.
My advice: EAT IT while it is still hot.
Though when I brought some home and consumed after an hour or two, they still remained quite crisp. J2 Famous Crispy Curry Puff (Amoy Street Food Centre)
Grandma Ban Mee 老妈子板面
Amoy Street Food Centre #01-07
Opening Hours: 10.30am – 2pm (Mon – Fri), Closed Sat, Sun
Dry Ban Mian with Power Chilli
This relatively popular stall at Amoy Street Food Centre serves up both soup and dry versions of Ban Mian ($4, $5), but it is the Ban Mee Dry that most customers seem to be ordering.
It reminded me of a dry bowl of La Mian, with thin long you mian, topped with minced pork, braised mushrooms, black fungus, deep fried anchovies, runny egg and the highlight of it all… the chilli.
Toss your noodles well, and the relatively fiery-spiciness of the chilli is quite shiok, enticing enough to make you want to finish the bowl; while the mushrooms were soft and flavoursome.
There is an accompanying bowl of spinach soup, which was to the plainer side.
Han Kee Fish Soup
Amoy Street Food Centre #02-129
Opening Hours: 11:00am – 3:00pm, Closed on Sat
Fresh Fish Soup With Super Long Queue
You can’t miss it because of the long queue of diners it attracts for a mid-day meal – though sometimes the line would accidentally intertwine with its neighbour’s Wah Kee Noodles.
Check the signs as there is another fish soup stall with a semi-long line (comparatively) Piao Ji Fish Porridge, also in the same food centre.
I would suggest going slightly before 11:00am if you do not want to wait too long in line.
The menu basically revolves on 2 types of fish: sliced fish and fish head. Each can be served as plain soup, with bee hoon, or as a porridge.
Bowls come in three sizes ($5, $7, $9) for the Sliced Fish Soup, Sliced Fish Bee Hoon, and Sliced Fish Porridge.
The versions with fish head, i.e Fish Head Soup, Fish Head Bee Hoon, Fish Head Porridge, are more expensive by a dollar ($6, $8, $10).
Their Sliced Fish Soup complemented with generous servings of fresh chunky pieces of fish, has a clean and flavourful soup base.
I am fan of its cooked-to-order fish soup as only the freshest ingredients are used, and the portion is substantial for its price.
Piao Ji Fish Porridge 標记
Amoy Street Food Centre #02-100
Opening Hours: 11am – 3:30pm (Tues, Wed, Fri – Sun), Closed Mon, Thurs
Reasonably priced fish soup loaded with chunks of fresh fish
The other popular fresh fish soup stall, though the queue is shorter than Han Kee’s if both are opened together. (This stall is closed for a number of times, suka-suka open kind.)
Piao Ji’s signature dish is the Pomfret with fresh Prawns Soup ($10, 12, $15). Both the fish and prawns used were very fresh, with sizable portion for its price.
They also offer other fish soups which use batang or mackerel.
The stall also uses a unique chili that goes very well with their fish soups, made with chilli padi, fermented beans and pickled ginger that goes very well with their fish soups.
Extra serving of the chili sauce is chargeable at $0.50.
Wah Kee Noodle
Amoy Street Food Centre #02-125
Opening Hours: 9.30am – 2.30pm (Mon- Sat), Closed Sun
Char Siew Wanton Noodles with Springy Texture
The stall manned by a Cantonese speaking couple has a number of signature dishes including Wanton Noodles ($3.50, $4.50), Dumpling Noodle ($3.50, $4.50), Mushroom Noodles ($3.50, $4.50), and Shredded Chicken Hor Fun ($3.50, $4.50).
I would usually add the braised mushrooms to my usual order of Wanton Mee.
The noodles served are light, QQ-springy with a good bite while not overcooked.
Their char siew while sliced quite thinly, were still sweet with a nice fat to lean meat ratio.
SanDai Fishball 三代鱼圆
Amoy Street Food Centre #02-128
Tel: +65 9633 8231
Opening Hours: 8am – 3pm (Mon – Fri), Closed Sat, Sun
Handmade Fishball Noodle Stall By 3rd Generation Hawker
Delonix is a 3rd generation hawker selling Fishball Noodles, and thus the name of SanDai Fishball 三代鱼圆 which means “three generations”.
On SanDai’s menu are Fishball Noodles ($4), Yong Tau Foo Noodles ($4.50), Fishball Soup ($3.50), Yong Tau Foo Soup ($4) and Specialty Tao Kee ($4).
Customers can add on vegetables, noodles, and tao kee from $0.50 to $1.00.
I enjoyed that the meepok had a pleasant bite that is neither too hard nor soft, well-tossed with the sauce and didn’t clump up even after dabao.
The chilli sauce after mixing was quite ‘power’, slightly on the spicier side, and I wished for just a notch more of the vinegary spike. Just minor tweaks on the balance, and the noodles should be a crowd-pleaser.
Zipp Burger And Pasta
Amoy Street Food Centre #02-120
Tel: +65 9656 6865
Opening Hours: 11am – 1:30pm, 5pm – 7pm (Tues – Sun), Closed Mon
For Hamburger and Pork Burger
Of all the hawker burgers I tried, Zipp Burger actually tasted the most ‘home-made’ – you can see this in a good way.
Signature items include the Hamburger ($5.70, $8.70), Pork Burger ($5.70, $8.70), along with Beef Balls ($4 for 6 pieces), Pork Balls ($4 for 6 pieces) and Truffle Fries ($5.20).
While beef burgers are common, what is more unusual is their Signature Pork Burger – a juicy breaded handmade pork patty served with secret homemade sauce.
The pork patty was deep-fried with a crisp layer, and quite sizable (look at the thickness) without being too greasy.
Perhaps the weak link would be the Pork Balls. Interestingly, this felt lacking in flavours and I found the need to dip in some chilli sauce.
Pepper Bowl
Amoy Street Food Centre #02-102
Opening Hours: 11:00am – 3:00pm, Closed Sat – Sun
Beef Horfun and Beef Rice with wok-hei
The Pepper Bowl stall is helmed by a self-taught couple, and recently got quite popular after being featured in a number of food blogs.
The stall has a few main signatures including Spring Onion Beef Rice ($5.50), Spring Onion Pork Rice ($5.00), and Black Pepper Beef Rice or Horfun ($5.50). You can request for “double meat” at an additional $3.50.
Additional ingredients such as onsen egg ($0.60) can be added on, and the stall actually has a highly customisable menu with a variety of combinations available.
I liked that the bowl was quite full-on and ‘powerful’ in the black pepper flavour, and no lack of wok-hei.
The wait can be slightly long as the chef is frying up bowl by bowl, but it is well-worth the queue.
Madam Leong Ban Mian
Amoy Street Food Centre #02-109
Tel: +65 9221 7303
Opening Hours: 10am – 3:30pm, 5:30pm – 8pm (Mon – Fri), Closed Sat, Sun
Hakka-style Ban Mian Made With Love
The business was set up when single-mum Vivian (Madam Leong) needed to find a means to support her teenage daughter. So this is a stall with both heart and soul.
Other than Mee Hoon Kway ($4, $5), Ban Mian ($4, $5) and Tom Yum Ban Mian ($5.50, $6.50), the dish that came highly recommended was the Dry Chilli Ban Mian ($4.50, $5.50).
The eggy Ban Mian came with an agreeable, almost al-dente-like bite that it reminded me of pasta.
The sauce tasted like the typical sweet-savoury type similar to many stalls, but it was when the dry chilli part was mixed in when it lifted the overall taste.
The mushrooms, cooked soft as though it was in a bowl of tasty Bak Chor Mee, were a worthy accompaniment.
Ah Seng (Hai Nam) Coffee
Amoy Street Food Centre #02-95
Tel: +65 9710 2907
Opening Hours: 5:30am – 3pm (Mon – Sat), Closed Sun
Old-School Hainanese Kopi & Toast
The other kopi stall I really like at Amoy Street Food Centre is Ah Seng (Hai Nam) Coffee.
How many hawker stalls you know still grill bread over charcoal?
Therefore you would find the kaya toasts ($1.80 for 2) here with a beautiful brown appearance and lightly crisp texture, complete with a rather eggy and aromatic kaya.
Not to be missed is their French Toast ($3.50).
Their Hainanese coffee kopi has slightly bitter notes – I guess this is a perk-me-up for the CBD people around, prepared using with Robusta beans that are ground in-house.
Li Xing Nasi Lemak
Amoy Street Food Centre #02-81
Opening Hours: 7am – 1:30pm (Mon – Fri), Closed Sat, Sun)
Affordable Nasi Lemak with Fragrant Rice
A popular Nasi Lemak stall, with ingredients of chicken wing, luncheon meat, ngoh hiang, fish cake, fillet, fish, otah or egg – each priced from $0.50 to $1.50.
You would usually find a line here, a huge reason is due to its affordably with a basic set starting from $3.
Its rice was also fluffy-fragrant, matched with simple but juicy chicken wings.
Yuan Chun Famous Lor Mee
Amoy Street Food Centre #02-79
Opening Hours: 7:30am – 2:30pm (Mon – Wed, Sat – Sun), Closed Thurs, Fri
Lor Mee with thick, gooey sauce and long history
Yuan Chun only serves Lor Mee ($4, $5, $6) and nothing else.
The $4 is the very basic bowl, but you can pay more if you want additional toppings such as the deep-fried meat balls.
I would usually go for a mixture of thin white bee hoon and yellow flat noodle, and it would be quickly assembled with ngoh hiang (meat roll), braised pork belly, bean sprouts, and fried crispy fritters.
Its differentiating factor is probably the lor, viscous but not starchy, and does not easily separate and turn watery over time unlike in other stalls.
The fish used is not the fried-type but steamed fish with the meat hauled out.
My take is, it used to taste much better, but if you are craving for a lighter version of Lor Mee that doesn’t feel too rich, this could be it.
Coffee Break
Amoy Street Food Centre #02-78
Opening Hours: 7:30am – 2:30pm (Mon – Fri), Closed Sat – Sun
Traditional Kopi & Teh with Modern Flavours
Not many (if not, no other) stalls serve flavoured kopi, from Black Sesame, Taro Milk, Mint, Melon Milk, Masala and Almond Ginger.
Coffee Break’s coffee is sock-brewed the traditional way. The beans are initially roasted with sugar and margarine, which brings out the natural, rich flavours of coffee.
For their latte, an additional shot of arabica is added.
I have yet to try all their Latte flavours, but the Sea Salt Caramel and Black Sesame Latte ($4.80) worked better, especially the former.
Beneath that layer of coffee-robustness, you get a tinge of sea-salt and caramel which to me, was more ‘fun’ to drink.
Amoy Street Food Centre
7 Maxwell Road Singapore 069111 (Tanjong Pagar MRT Exit G)
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