Hailing from the Chinese province of Hainan, chicken rice is perhaps the most beloved dish in Singapore. As its name suggests, it is a rather simple combination of boiled chicken, rice cooked in chicken stock, and soy sauce. Yet no two restaurants in the country will serve you the same version of the dish. 

The tastes and textures of individual components vary and every chef uses a different combination of spices like salt, ginger, and garlic to give their chicken rice a more unique taste.  Some cooks also add pandan leaves to the rice to give it a more distinct fragrance.

If you’re staying at the Furama City Centre, you don’t have to go out of your way to taste one of the best chicken rice dishes in Singapore. The hotel is home to Tiffany Café & Restaurant, which has a delicious chicken rice dish on its rotating buffet lineup all year round.

Roti Prata

Few dishes illustrate the cross-cultural character of the Singaporean cuisine like roti prata. Its name is Malay for “flatbread”, though it originates from India, and is very popular in parts of China.

In its essence, roti prata is a fried flour-based pancake complete with tossing and flipping of the dough. However, different versions of the dish add different ingredients to the batter, including eggs, cheese, chocolate, and berries. The dough is spread very thin, with the edges folded inward.

Depending on the batter ingredients, there are two standard ways to serve roti prata. If the batter is savory, it is usually served with either chicken or fish curry. But if the batter is sweet, most people like to sprinkle some sugar on top and dive right in.

Another beloved local dish, Hokkien mee hails from the Chinese province of Fujian. Just after World War II, the workers at a local noodle factory developed the dish as a way to get rid of any excess noodles that were left at the end of the day.

Hokkien mee combines two types of noodles – yellow egg noodles and wok-fried rice noodles – with bean sprouts and pieces of seafood. Some of the most popular variants include fish cake, squid, as well as prawns. To deepen the flavor of the dish, local chefs also add fried pork fat and pork strips. Finally, they top it all off with chili sauce and a sprinkle of calamansi juice to cut through all the grease.

This is another Singaporean dish with an interesting history dating all the way back to the 1920s.

Back then, it was called fish head bee hoon and – as its name indicates – contained fried fish heads. You see, meat was very hard to come by at the time, so locals had to make do with eating fish. This dish came out of a need to find use for all parts of the fish and not just the meat.

Fried Carrot Cake

If you order fried carrot cake in Singapore expecting the popular orange dessert, you’re in for a big surprise. Not only is carrot cake in Singapore not orange, it isn’t sweet either. In fact, it doesn’t even contain carrots!

This savory snack is based on two main ingredients – eggs and radish cakes. The radish cakes are made from daikon radish, a root vegetable that looks like a white carrot, which is how the dish got its name. Some restaurants, stalls, and hawkers also serve the so-called “black version” of the dish that incorporates sweet dark soy sauce for added taste.

If you’re planning a trip to Singapore, consider staying at the Furama RiverFront or the Furama City Centre hotels. Both hotels offer numerous services that will make your stay there a truly memorable experience. More importantly, they are home to restaurants that offer a selection of the most beloved local and international dishes. 

Visit Furama’s website to learn more about the hotels and book a room at the best available rates.