Tiong Bahru Market Food Hawker Centre in Singapore Guide + Photos
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Singapore is never short on hawker centers and Tiong Bahru Market is one of the best places to eat in the city!
Located in a historic (now hipster) Singapore neighborhood, Tiong Bahru Market is a famous foodie place and hawker haven, packed with hungry locals and Singaporean workers on a daily basis.
Opened in 1951 and still one of Singapore’s best food markets, many of the stalls are still run by the same families as when it first opened decades ago.
Visited by the likes of Anthony Bourdain and also Phil Rosenthal (part of his ‘Somebody Feed Phil Netflix series), Tiong Bahru Market is one of the top food destinations in Singapore – very tasty too!
From the best food stalls to 2024 prices, here is our guide to visiting Singapore’s Tiong Bahru Market.
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Table of Contents
How to get to Tiong Bahru Market + Hawker Center
There are lots of Tiong Bahru hotels in the immediate area of the market if you want to base yourself in this super cool Singapore neighborhood.
We’ve stayed at Nostalgia Hotel Tiong Bahru a couple of times and it is literally across the road from the hawker center, less than 30 seconds walk to away.
It is easy to reach Tiong Bahru food market by public transport – take the MRT to ‘Tiong Bahru’ MRT station on the green East West Line (EWL). Take exit B and the market is less than 10 minutes walk away; many local Singapore buses also visit Tiong Bahru.
CK Travels Tip – using public transport in Singapore is very easy. You can now use your debit card on the MRT system or grab a NETS Prepaid card which is accepted on the MRT, LRT, buses and in most shops.
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Tiong Bahru Market opening hours
Tiong Bahru Market opening times vary depending on the stall but many stalls open for breakfast around 6am until 2pm – some (but not all) stalls then reopen from 5pm until early evening.
To be sure of visiting when most stalls are open, the best time to visit Tiong Bahru Market is Wednesday to Sunday between 6am and 2pm.
Please note many Tiong Bahru market stalls close on Mondays and Tuesdays – opening times correct as of October 2024.
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History of Tiong Bahru
The popular Tiong Bahru Market opened in 1951 and was originally called Seng Poh Market, named after the street outside commemorating a Chinese commissioner (it changed its name to Tiong Bahru Market in the early 1990s).
The market was built to house the huge number of hawker stalls that had sprung up in the area to sell food to the rapidly expanding Tiong Bahru estate, many of whom had relocated from Singapore’s bustling Chinatown area.
The market also served as a community center and was renovated with Art Deco elements in 2006 as well as growing in size with more stalls and selling space added.
It is now one of Singapore’s busiest food markets and hawker centers, with hawker stalls upstairs and a wet market / miscellaneous goods sold downstairs.
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Arriving at Tiong Bahru
If you are walking towards Tiong Bahru Market from the nearby MRT station, you’ll see the huge Art Deco building on your right hand side as you walk along Tiong Bahru Road.
Unless you are looking to buy Singapore souvenirs, fresh fruit, flowers or fish / meat, you can go straight up to the second floor for the hawker stalls. There wasn’t much interest on the ground floor apart from the wet market.
As soon as we walked into the food market upstairs, the hustle of the hawker market hit us – there must be over 100 different food stalls at Tiong Bahru Market, selling everything from Hainanese chicken to pig’s blood or shark fin soup.
We’ve been to this market probably half a dozen times over the years and our most recent Tiong Bahru Market visit was October 2024, mid morning on a week-day.
Before 11.30am, other than three or four queues at famous stalls (more on these later), most hawker stalls weren’t that busy – but this changes during the lunchtime rush. So try to get here earlier if you don’t like long lines.
There are lots of seating spaces and tables to enjoy your food plus a small outdoor area where you can eat alfresco.
Live music often occurs and we were treated to singing and guitar playing by a young performer as we ate our delicious food – the atmosphere is great and more importantly, there are so many food, drink and dining options at Tiong Bahru Market.
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Foods available at Tiong Bahru Market
There is so much good food to try at Tiong Bahru Market (plus in the Tiong Bahru neighborhood generally, like the famous and original branch of Tiong Bahru bakery).
If you have time and are in Singapore for a few days, do try and visit this hawker heaven on at least a couple of occasions at least so you can try more dishes.
Based on the queues we witnessed, the four most popular Tiong Bahru Market food stalls were:
- Tiong Bahru Hainanese Curry Chicken Rice
- Tiong Bahru Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice
- Lor Mee / Shark Tale stall 158 – Shark fin soup
- Hong Heng Fried Sotong Prawn Mee (Michelin Bib Gourmand awarded)
All these hawker stalls above had big queues no matter what time of day we visited, frequented by both locals and tourists alike.
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Tiong Bahru Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice
On our most recent visit, we dined at several stalls including the Tiong Bahru Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice stall above – we queued for about 10 minutes before the peak lunch rush.
We had a large portion of lemon chicken and rice for $4.50 SGD (small portions are $3.50) plus a huge portion of steamed bok choy for $3.
The chicken was juicy and full of flavor and the veg portion was so generous. You’ll find all the hawker stalls at Tiong Bahru Market such good value for money.
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Other foods to try at Tiong Bahru Market
With over 100 food stalls at Tiong Bahru Market, you really are spoilt for choice – be sure to arrive hungry.
Other hawker stalls and Tiong Bahru market food stalls include:
- Koh Brother Pig’s Organ Soup
- Hwa Yuen Porridge
- Tiong Bahruu Fishball No 7
- Carrot cake / fried turnip cake stalls
- Tow Kwar Pop bean curd puffs
- Tiong Bahru Fried Kway Teow – not healthy but very delicious; this was also Anthony Bourdain’s favorite dish in Singapore
- Min Nan Pork Ribs Prawn Noodles – one of the original stalls serving since 1960
- Fei Di Fish Soup
- H&H Curry Chicken Noodles
- Hui Ji Fishball Noodle Soup
- Tiong Bahru Pau / dim sum stall
- Ali Food – nasi lemak heaven
- Kway Chap braised duck stall – also serving pig’s stomach soup
There are also several vegetarian stalls at Tiong Bahru Market including Bodhi Vegetarian Foods.
Please note all these Tiong Baru stalls and prices were open / correct as of October 2024.
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Desserts
As featured on Somebody Feed Phil, we visited the famous Jian Bo Tiong Bahru Shui Kueh stall which has been a part of the market since it opened in 1958.
We tried their traditional Singaporean dessert of Shui Kweh which is steamed rice cakes served with preserved radish (and optional chilli paste) – five pieces cost just $3.50 SGD. It was nice but possibly a little too dry for our tastes – the preserved radish was delicious.
Jian Bo Tiong Bahru Shui Kueh also do various combos like shui kweh served with siew mai dim sum for $5 or a signature four dessert bento set for $5.80.
Afterwards, we visited the famous Tiong Bahru Mian Jian Kueh pancake stall and enjoyed their crushed peanut pancakes – it was sooooooo good!
Another popular dessert stall was Liang Liang Garden selling cendol and sweet shaved ice.
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Tiong Bahru Market drinks
As well as food stalls, there are around a dozen or so drink stalls selling soft drinks, fresh fruit juices plus hot and cold kopi / tea.
Expect to pay between $1.20 to $1.50 SGD for a regular hot kopi / coffee with condensed milk.
And yes, some stalls also sell beer at Tiong Bahru market.
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Food Hygiene at Singapore Tiong Bahru Market
Hawker stalls at Tiong Bahru Market take their hygiene ratings and scores very seriously – based on what we could see, most stalls displayed an ‘A’ or ‘B’ grade hygiene rating (although some stalls didn’t seem to display them).
In Singapore, A grade means the hawker stall has a hygiene rating of over 85% whilst the B rating scores 70% to 84%. If you see a C rating (fairly rare), its mean the hygiene score is between 50% to 69%.
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Top tips for visiting
If you are looking to buy fresh produce or flowers from the downstairs market / wet market, it is best to arrive early when the market opens between 6am and 7am.
The food stalls and hawker joints are busiest during the lunch-time and breakfast rush so try to visit mid morning.
There are no napkins on the tables so it is best to bring your own wet-wipes or tissues
Please remember to return your trays and dirty plates and cutlery to the clearly designated Tray Return areas afterwards – please note there is a Halal and non-Halal Tray return section.
Be sure to also check out all the things to do in Tiong Bahru neighborhood like the beautiful bookshop Cat Socrates or the Tiong Bahru Bakery original branch. Tiong Bahru Plaza also has lots of shops and restaurants.
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Other things to know
- Free toilets are available onsite
- Entry is free admission – the main / front entrance has accessible escalators whilst the side entrances are stairs only
- No smoking, no pets and no bicycles are allowed inside.
Tiong Bahru Market Address
30 Seng Poh Road, Singapore 168898
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