Chinese restaurants in Singapore City
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Chatterbox
Chatterbox has ditched its old dull lobby digs for floor-to-ceiling 38th-floor views of the city. Its chicken rice is still legendary (both for its taste and high cost). Boiled chicken is plunged into ice then served cold with warm broth, fragrant rice, rich soy, chilli and freshly ground ginger. Singaporeans still flock here to pay 10 times what they’d pay at a hawker centre.
reviewed
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Din Tai Fung
The queues at this Taiwanese restaurant are a testament to its excellent food. While waiting, watch chefs at work through ‘fishbowl’ windows; they painstakingly make 18 folds in the dough used for the xiao long pao (steamed pork dumplings). Delicate dumplings are served steaming fresh in bamboo baskets and explode with flavour in your mouth.
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Si Chuan Dou Hua Restaurant
Order with haste so you can start enjoying 60th-floor views. Standout dishes like braised abalone with mushrooms and smooth beancurd with wolfberries will temporarily tear your eyes away from the windows. Ask for a tea performance: tea masters assume martial-arts stances while pouring the drink out of a long-spouted teapot. There’s a branch at Parkroyal Beach Rd.
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East Coast Seafood Centre
Overlooking the Straits of Singapore in the salty breeze, this renowned seafood centre boasts several excellent Chinese and Thai restaurants, all with outdoor seating. Don’t miss the chilli crabs and the intoxicating ‘drunken’ prawns. Standout places include Jumbo, Long Beach, No Signboard and Red House.
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Blue Ginger
Blue Ginger serves traditional Peranakan cuisine in a homely shophouse, enlivened by local artist Martin Loh’s striking contemporary paintings. Its claim to fame is the ayam panggang (grilled chicken in coconut milk and spices).
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Five Star Hainanese Chicken Rice & Porridge
'You want chicken rice?' is the stock greeting here. Say 'Yes, indeed I do!'. Two minutes later you'll be tucking into fast food that's actually worth waiting for. The mee goreng (fried noodles) is a steal at around S$4.
reviewed
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Singapura Seafood Restaurant
This old-school, family-run restaurant at the base of an apartment tower has carved itself a culinary niche preparing Foochow-style food from southern China. Try the excellent cold crab, fragrant crispy duck and prawn rolls.
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Wing Seong Fatty's (Albert) Restaurant
Standing the test of time, Fatty's has been knocking around various Albert St locations since 1926. Today's incarnation fills with flight crews tucking into the signature chicken clay-pot (with special spicy sauce!).
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Lei Garden
Firm favourite for fancy Chinese dinners, the seafood at Lei is particularly well done (try the cod), but the roast pork also attracts a loyal following. Service can be patchy, so avoid when extremely crowded.
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Ya Hua Rou Gu Cha
There's no such thing as 'location, location, location' when it comes to hawker food. Singaporeans would crawl through a sewage pipe if there's a good meal at the end of it, so the positioning of this famous bak kut teh (pork-rib soup) joint next to the port and beside an expressway doesn't stop the multitude coming from far and wide to sip peppery broth and gnaw on bones.
reviewed
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Ocean Curry Fish Head
Specialising in a Chinese version of the infamous South Indian dish, this street-corner eatery spills out onto the pavement at lunchtimes, when the plastic tables are full of office workers crowding around claypots and mopping their foreheads. If the fish head doesn't appeal, try the prawn-paste chicken, fried squid or chilli kang kong (water spinach).
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Sunflower Vegetarian
Sunflower is deservedly popular for its 'Green Lunch' special - so called because the rice or bee hoon (rice noodles) are cooked in a homemade spinach oil. This special offers a choice of up to 14 dishes, from 11:00 until everything's sold out. After that it's a la carte - and the wonton laksa and sesame beancurd are particularly tasty.
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Jia Wei
Top spot in the East Coast area for dim sum, popular with business lunchers. Don’t be put off by the remarkable ugliness of the hotel building – the service and the food here is excellent and there are some splendid views over the sea. If you’ve acquired a taste for durian, try the fried ice-cream for dessert.
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Sungei Rd Laksa
Selected by the Makansutra street-food guru as Singapore's best laksa - and who's to argue? Apparently this laksa master uses only charcoal to keep his precious gravy warm and, unlike other successful hawkers, refuses to open other branches. Get there around 11:30 or after 14:00 to avoid the lunchtime rush.
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Chef Chan’s Restaurant
Eponymous chef gets sick of cooking for over 200 people in his large restaurant, closes shop and opens tiny restaurant with seven tables, serving from a daily changing set menu. The restaurant is decked out with Chef Chan’s exquisite antique furnishings, which still pale in comparison to the food. Book ahead.
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Shang Palace
Definitely on the A-list of Singapore’s Chinese restaurants, Shang’s Cantonese seafood and classics such as Peking Duck are well known – and the interior more than matches the food. To sample the ambience without distressing your bank manager, order from the dim sum menu. Book in advance.
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Hai Tien Lo
In preparation for a superb meal, savour the spectacular views while riding the external lift up to the 37th floor. A large range of nearly 30 set menus tailored to different tastes and requirements takes the headache out of ordering and allows you to concentrate on the scene outside.
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Imperial Treasure Nan Bei Kitchen
Superb midrange Cantonese and Shanghainese food. The xiao long bao (soup dumplings) here rival anywhere for best in town, while its roast meats (goose and pork) are also excellent and its soups (which change daily) extremely tasty. Perfect way to end a shopping trip.
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Peramakan
Run by a genial couple of cooking enthusiasts, this paragon of homestyle Baba-Nonya cuisine has migrated from its spiritual Joo Chiat home, but the classics such as sambal (spicy shrimp paste) squid and rendang (spicy coconut curry) remain as good as ever.
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Crystal Jade Steamboat Kitchen
Crystal Jade is the king of delicious, reliable and affordable Chinese food in Singapore, which is why it’s nearly always packed. On offer here are excellent dim sum and rice porridges. As always, the best plan of attack is to get a group together and order up big.
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Chuan Jiang Hao Zi
Look around. You’re not the only one choking on the fiery broth at this Sichuan steamboat restaurant. Still, locals flock here for what is arguably the best hot pot in town. Two tips: don’t put veggies into the chilli stock; and do order lots of beer.
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Royal China
Raffles does most things superbly, and its signature Chinese restaurant is no exception. Dress in your best summer casuals and pop in for afternoon dim sum. The scallop dumplings are magnificent, as is the crispy duck. Worth skipping breakfast for.
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Superbowl - The Art of Eating Congee
There aren't many American gridiron players here, but we did find dozens of MSG-free varieties of congee (Chinese porridge). Try it with 'drunken' chicken, pigs' kidneys, preserved eggs, or a more appetising-sounding combo of your own.
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Colours by the Bay
Colours by the Bay comprises seven different Thai, Chinese and Japanese restaurants, where you can sit at one and order from any of the others. The Garlic Restaurant creatively uses the pungent bulb in many of its dishes, including ice cream!
reviewed
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Soup Restaurant
One of 11 'Soups' around town celebrating dishes enjoyed by Samsui women, tough Chinese construction-worker gals. House specialities are the double-boiled medicinal soups which (amongst other things) prevent coldness and cure 'windiness'.
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