What you’ll do
Ask any Singaporean what their favourite past time is and they will say eating. Eat like a local on a food tour and discover why Singaporeans love their food so much!
If you book onto our small group food tour of Singapore you will join a mixed group of maximum 8 guests. Small group food tours run on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and start at 9 am in the East Coast/Katong area of Singapore. Full details on the meeting point are provided upon booking. Tours last 5.5 hours and finish at 2:30 pm in Little India.
Over the course of the food tour, we will undertake an in-depth exploration of Singapore’s food culture. You will learn about the history of food in Modern Singapore, from it’s founding in 1819 by Sir Stamford Raffles through to the present day. With a permanent resident population of 2.9 million Chinese, 500,000 Malays and 350,000 Indians Singapore is a melting pot of cultures. It is that melting pot that we will dive into and re-emerge from with full bellies!
We start our food tour in the East Coast Area of Singapore, a district also known as Katong. It is here that we learn about the early Chinese immigrants to Singapore. The focus will be on food but we will also talk about the types of jobs that they had, how they lived and who they married. It was through the marriage of Chinese immigrants to Malay ladies that the distinctive Peranakan culture was born. In this district, we will enjoy a selection of Singapore’s favourite foods with Chinese and Peranakan heritage including Kaya Toast or Curry Puff and Kopi, Bak Chang, Kuehs and Laksa.
From the East Coast, we travel by public bus to the Old Airport Road Hawker Centre. The Old Airport Road Hawker Centre is a firm favourite amongst Singaporeans. Why? Because it is home to so many ‘hawker legends’. It is here that we try one or two distinctly Singaporean dishes from a choice of Hokkien Mee, Rojak, Popiah and Carrot Cake.
Our next stop is the district of Kampong Glam, a short 10-minute bus ride away. Kampong Glam is the centre of the Malay community in Singapore and is where the stunning Sultan’s Mosque is located. We will discuss the history of the district, the Sultan’s role in the founding of Modern Singapore and we will try the most popular local foods from the Malay, Arabic and Indonesian communities. Teh Tarrik, Beef Rendang and Murtabak are options on our foodie menu.
Our fourth and final stop on our food tour of Singapore is Little India. We will discover why the Indian community choose to settle in this district of Singapore and learn about how it developed over time. We will be trying a popular savoury Indian dish called Dosa and then finishing with some Indian sweets and / or Masala Milk.
Throughout the tour, you will discover the histories and stories behind the foods that we eat, as well as the restaurants that you eat them in. This tour will give you a solid understanding of what it means to ‘eat like a local’ and how Singapore’s iconic dishes became embedded into Singapore’s culture.