Last week, Serangoon Garden Market & Food Centre was crowned Singapore’s favourite hawker centre at the Singapore Hawkers’ Seminar and Awards. Securing 216 out of 500 votes from the public, the hawker centre beat more prominent names like Chinatown Complex & Food Centre and Alexandra Village Food Centre to snag the title.
“I’m not a resident around here, but the food here is very diverse,” an interviewee opines in CNA’s video, while a netizen calls it the “cleanest hawker centre in Singapore”.
In fact, the state of the hawker centre’s cleanliness seems to be one of its major selling points – patrons describe the toilets here as “first class”, and the Restroom Association of Singapore has even given it a five-star rating.
However, many other netizens deemed the hawker centre unworthy of its title. “Was the public vote conducted in Serangoon Garden?”, a TikTok user remarked, while another added: “as someone who always goes there, there’s absolutely no way this is true”.
Nonetheless, if you’re planning to head down to check out what all the fuss is about, here are four perpetually crowded stalls in the hawker centre worth visiting.
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1. Garden Street Kway Chap
With a history spanning back to the 1950s, Garden Street Kway Chap is now run by third-generation hawker Jason Koh, 51. He used to work as a commercial pilot in Australia before returning to Singapore to take over his family’s biz.
This stall with snaking queues is known for its well-cleaned pig intestines, which Jason says requires a laborious three-hour process involving washing and marinating it in salt and vinegar. The dish’s braising liquid is cooked with nine herbs and spices, including galangal, blue ginger and cinnamon. A serving of kway chap here starts from $5.10.
Since Serangoon Garden Market’s fave hawker centre win, Jason tells 8days.sg that there was a minor spike in queues last week. “The hype only lasted for a week, feedback from my customers was that the queue was 60 minutes long during peak hours,” he says. However, he adds that it has since gone back down to its usual 30 minute waiting time.
Does he think Serangoon Garden Market deserves Singapore’s ‘favourite hawker centre’ title? “Only its cleanliness and spacious seating is what I can boast about, nothing else,” he half-jokes.
2. Seng Kee Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle
With two outlets at Ang Mo Kio and Serangoon, Seng Kee’s flagship Serangoon stall is helmed by 34-year-old second-gen owners Justin and Kai Lin (the ex-flight attendant’s parents man the AMK stall), who’re married. While their bak chor mee starts from $5.50 for a basic bowl (which comes with minced and sliced pork, liver, mushrooms and veg), they’re most famous for their fancier Fish Maw Noodles ($12), laden with lots of fish maw. Their larger $15 fish maw bowl comes with iberico pork slices.
Justin and Kai Lin
Photo: Restroom Association Singapore
However, he shares that the queue situation hasn’t really changed for them – queue times still peak at the usual 15 to 20 minutes during lunch hour.
3. Ah Seng Braised Duck Rice
Ah Seng Braised Duck Rice has been operating in this hawker centre since 1994 and is one of the most popular stalls there. The family-run biz has history dating back to the ’60s, and specialises in thinly sliced Teochew-style braised duck. It’s currently run by second-generation hawker Ng Teck Siah, 50, and his wife Tan Li Swan, 46. A single portion of duck starts from $4.
Like Garden Street Kway Chap, Li Swan tells 8days.sg that there was only a short-lived spike in customers last week. “I’ll say the queue increased last week to around 45 minutes, but it went back to normal this week. Overall, business has remained consistent,” she says. On average, customers queue 30 minutes for their duck rice.
While she’s happy about the win, she adds that she doesn’t think it’ll necessarily improve the hawker centre’s business in the long run. “A lot of new hawker centres are opening up and curious people are going there. It was only very crowded [after the award’s announcement] last week, but this week it’s back to normal,” she shares.
4. Serangoon Garden Bakery & Confectionery
Serangoon Garden Bakery & Confectionery first opened in the 1970s and is well-loved for its affordable old-school buns and cakes. Lines at the stall occupying two units are common, especially during breakfast hours.
Photo: Google/Francis Ho
All the buns and cakes are handmade daily — Rey and his staff begin prepping ingredients at an ungodly 2am in order to open shop at 6am.
Serangoon Garden Bakery & Confectionery is at #01-45/46 Serangoon Garden Market and Food Centre, 49A Serangoon Garden Way, S555945. Open Tue – Sun 6am – 2pm. Closed on Mon.
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