Bino

Chinatown Complex Food Centre is one of the largest hawker centers in Singapore, boasting over 260 stalls. Chinatown Complex is well-known among Singaporeans and residents from all over the island would make the long trip here to shop at the wet market in the basement and to purchase their meals from the plethora of stalls upstairs. You can practically find the entire gamut of Singapore hawker food here and more – from Michelin-starred joints to increasingly rare traditional snacks. 

Chinatown Complex Food Centre is personally one of my most frequently visited hawker centers. I just love the wide choices of good food here and getting to try some rare dishes adds an exotic factor to one’s foodie exploration. 

Without further ado, here are the things you must eat (and drink!) the next time you find yourself at Chinatown Complex Food Centre. The stalls listed here are not arranged in particular order and you’d probably need to make multiple visits to try all of them.

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Maxwell Food Centre is one of those rare hawker centers in Singapore that is highly popular with tourists and at the same time, is held in high esteem by locals for its authentic and traditional hawker dishes. The main reason for this is that Maxwell Food Centre is the current home of a myriad of age-old street stalls that originally plied the area around China Square (now part of the CBD). Many of these establishments have been around for 80 years or more and continue to be managed by the same family, albeit the 2nd or 3rd generation. 

Other than that, patrons can find quite a number of relatively rare hawker dishes here such as Fuzhou-style oyster cake, peanut pancake and more and at any given day, one can find Singaporeans from near and far descending upon this humble-looking hawker center queueing for various specialties.

Personally, Maxwell Food Centre is one of my most frequently-visited hawker centers in Singapore as I enjoy walking to this place during my lunch hour whenever I am looking to clock in more steps. My favorites here are a mix of some of the original China Square hawker stalls as well as newer ones started by enterprising youngsters.

However, it remains to be one of the more challenging hawker centres for me to write about due to their relatively high turnover. This is one of Singapore’s OG hawker centres and a number of the original stalls have closed permanently due to the retirement of the owners. New concepts have sprouted to replace them, with varying degrees of success.

Without further ado, here are some of the food you should try the next time you find yourself at Maxwell Food Centre.

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Yu sheng (鱼生) is an especially popular dish to have in Singapore during Chinese New Year. While the raw fish salad was thought to have originated somewhere in China, the yu sheng that we know today is a primarily Singaporean / Malaysian innovation.

Yu sheng is an especially symbolic dish with each ingredient representing something auspicious for the coming lunar new year. Highly competitive yu sheng offerings by hotels and Chinese restaurants have led to somewhat innovative ingredients, but at its heart, yu sheng traditionally includes the following: raw fish (usually salmon), pomelo, pepper, oil, carrots, green and white radish, peanut crumbs, sesame seeds, dressing (usually plum sauce) and finally, deep fried golden pillows.

Auspicious phrases are supposed to be uttered while each ingredient is being sprinkled into the salad. Tossing of yu sheng is known as lo hei. I won’t go into the specifics of the phrases to be uttered as my main aim here is to show you the best selection of yu sheng for this year. Without further ado, here are the top yu sheng to have in 2026:

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