Heartland Hawker Centres Worth the Ride

If you make only one trip out of town for hawker food, make it Kaki Bukit 511 Market & Food Centre in Bedok North, in the evening. Two stalls that the Michelin Guide lists as street food share the hall: Tian Nan Xing for minced pork noodles and Seng Kee for black chicken herbal soup. The cost is the ride out and the timing, since Tian Nan Xing is typically open from 5pm and Seng Kee typically rests on Wednesdays. For a morning trip, Toa Payoh has a Michelin-listed carrot cake stall that is typically done by 1pm.

Bedok North and Kaki Bukit

Kaki Bukit 511 was built in 1979 and has 42 cooked-food stalls, and the hall is crowded at dinner and supper hours. Tian Nan Xing at #01-10 is a century-old brand, now run by the third and fourth generations, serving bouncy noodles, pork dumplings and meatballs in a broth of pork bones, garlic and plenty of minced pork. Seng Kee at #01-31/32 has sold black chicken soup for more than 60 years, double-boiled for at least two hours, and one order is enough for two. The pork offal noodles are worth trying too.

Also in Bedok North, at Blk 416 Bedok North Avenue 2, Boon Keng Road Fish Head Bee Hoon serves fish head noodle soup made with Spanish mackerel, red grouper or regular grouper, and sliced fish that's poached or fried. It's typically open from 10am to 10pm every day, which makes it the fallback when the others are shut.

Toa Payoh before lunch

Chey Sua Carrot Cake is upstairs at 127 Toa Payoh West Market & Food Centre, #02-30. The radish cake is fried on one side until golden and cooked to order, so you get the crisp caramelised edge and the soft middle, and you wait for it. It's typically open Wednesday to Sunday from 6.30am to 1pm. The two-storey centre was built in 1969.

Chey Sua is the Toa Payoh stop until mid-December, because Kim Keat Palm Market & Food Centre is closed for repairs and redecoration until then. When it reopens, Lixin Teochew Fishball Noodles is the reason to go: the owner makes the fish balls by hand, so they're springy, and the order is noodles tossed in chilli sauce with crispy cracklings and a bowl of fish ball soup. It's typically open Thursday to Sunday from 7am to 1pm.

Tampines and the thosai stall

Rajarani Thosai is on the ground floor of Tampines Round Market & Food Centre, at #01-33. The stall makes thosai, the South Indian crepe, and appam from scratch, with nearly 20 thosai fillings that run from crispy cereal to cheese, egg and butter, and everything comes with sambar and chutney dips. It's typically open from 7am to 1.30pm on Monday and Thursday to Sunday. Tampines Round Market and Eco Green has the rest of the morning.

Duck at Ghim Moh

Chuan Kee Boneless Braised Duck is at #01-04 in Ghim Moh Road Market & Food Centre. The braised duck comes with rice, congee, kway teow (flat rice noodles) or noodles, with duck gizzard, liver or a marinated egg on the side, and the set adds a bowl of bak kut teh. It's typically open Monday to Saturday from 9.30am to 8pm. The hall has 72 cooked-food stalls, with char kway teow, chicken rice and soya bean drinks among the offerings, so anyone who doesn't want duck still has lunch.

Teochew kueh and old bakeries

Kueh are small steamed or baked cakes. At #01-218 in Yuhua Market & Hawker Centre, Lai Heng makes the Teochew kind by hand, in various flavours, steamed or pan-fried. It's a breakfast and early-lunch stop, typically open from 6.30am to 3pm Tuesday to Friday and to 4pm at weekends, closed on Mondays.

In Sims Vista, Hung Huat at 49 Sims Place #01-48 began as a pancake push cart on Geylang's Lorong 17 to 19 and moved into the Sim's Place hawker centre in 1976. It's now in its third generation, with tau sar piah, the bean-paste pastry, as the first pastry on its menu, and Teochew mooncakes too. The shop's page sends you to Google for its hours, so check them before you go. Lim Lam Hong at Blk 146 Jalan Bukit Merah has made ang ku kueh, the red tortoise cakes, by hand since 1985, in 11 flavours from peanut and bean to durian and green tea, and it opens at 7am every day.

Coffee powder and pau

On Balestier Road, Lam Yeo Coffee Powder Factory opened in 1959 and still roasts its beans with sugar and margarine, which gives them a glossy black exterior. It also sells imported beans roasted plain and ground when you buy, and it's closed on Sundays, with hours that can change, so check before you go. Balestier: Bak Kut Teh, Rojak and a Villa has lunch nearby.

For pau, the steamed buns, Tanjong Rhu Pau at 389 Guillemard Road has been a family shop since 1988 and takes pickup orders online from Tuesday to Sunday.

Six more centres to try

NEA's list runs to 123 markets and hawker centres, and six more are worth the ride. Pek Kio Market & Food Centre at Blk 41A Cambridge Road serves the estate around it, with a market alongside the food stalls, and Farrer Park MRT is within a 10-minute walk. Berseh Food Centre at 166 Jalan Besar is ringed by restored pre-war shophouses, which Jalan Besar: Hardware and Late Dim Sum walks you through.

In the west, Teban Gardens Market and Food Centre at Blk 37A Teban Gardens Road sits near Pandan Reservoir, so the two make one outing. Pasir Panjang Food Centre at 121 Pasir Panjang Road is the one for barbecued seafood and zi char, a kitchen that cooks to order for the whole table, with Pasir Panjang Park next door and Pasir Panjang MRT the nearby station.

In the north, Bukit Canberra Hawker Centre at 21 Canberra Link sits inside a sports and community hub, within walking distance of both Sembawang and Canberra MRT stations. Punggol Coast Hawker Centre at 84 Punggol Way is on level 2 of Tower 84 in Punggol Digital District, with Punggol Coast the nearest MRT and doors typically open from 6am to 10pm. The hawker centre directory lists the rest.

Most of the stalls above close one to three days a week, so check the day before a long ride.