When talking about eating spots in Singapore, Old Airport Road Food Centre is bound to come up sooner or later.
Since 1973, the ex-Kallang Airport has been home to a wide variety of good eats, and foodies still flock to the now-legendary eating spot to this day to get their munch on.
With more than 150 stalls we’re probably definitely going to have to come back for a second round, but until then here are five dishes that you can count on for a good meal:
Nam Sing Hokkien Mee
Let’s get the usual suspects out of the way first — Nam Sing Hokkien Mee might very well be Old Airport Road’s most well-known stall, and the seemingly endless queue at any given time suggests that this isn’t going to change anytime soon.
Similar to the one we had at Newton Circus, this iteration uses thinner noodles, and isn’t as wet as the ones you’d find in your average hawker centre. Each plate comes with a generous serving of seafood and eggs, and it’s well-rounded taste definitely lives up to the hype.
If you’re going to order food from multiple stalls (as most people do at Old Airport Road), make sure to make Nam Sing your first stop — the store is notorious for its 30-45 minute waiting times, so plan accordingly.
Nam Sing Hokkien Fried Mee
Unit: #01-32
Bedok Minced Mixed Noodle
If you’re a fan of Bedok 85’s minced meat noodles, you owe it to yourself to try Old Airport Road’s Bedok Minced Mixed Noodle (no prizes for guessing where they got their inspiration from).
Prepared by two of the nicest ladies you’ll ever meet in a hawker center, the dish looks deceivingly simple — minced meat, dumplings, and greens are pretty much the only ingredients here, but everything comes together to create an extremely flavourful bite (some might argue that it’s a little too salty, so people who prefer something less intense should take that into account).
Price-wise, a small and large bowl goes for an affordable $3 and $4 respectively. While the serving size of the former was enough to fill our stomachs, the dish is so tasty that we wished we had gone for the bigger option.
Bedok Minced Mixed Noodle
Unit: #01-125
Freshly Made Chee Cheong Fun
Chee cheong fun has always been a pretty unassuming dish, but the ones by Freshly Made Chee Cheong Fun might become the unexpected star of your meal for a number of reasons.
Like its name suggests, each order is made fresh (always a plus, but be ready to queue), and the amount of fillings to choose from is nothing short of staggering. There’s the usual prawn and char siew, but more peculiar choices like egg, otah, scallop and even pig liver are available as well.
Of course, all the choices in the world wouldn’t matter if the dish didn’t taste good, and thankfully it delivers on that front as well. The rice flour skin possesses an extremely silky texture that melts in your mouth, and the accompanying sauce adds a light, savoury taste that doesn’t go overboard.
And as if that wasn’t enough, there’s still the prawn chilli paste, which adds another dimension of sweetness to an already flavourful dish.
Freshly Made Chee Cheong Fun
Unit: #01-155
Toa Payoh Rojak
Full disclosure: we aren’t exactly the biggest fans of rojak, but the one we had from Toa Payoh Rojak might have turned us into converts.
While most rojaks are a little too heavy for our tastes and can get jelak after awhile, this one manages to strike the perfect balance of sweet and spicy. Despite being lathered in sauce, pretty much every piece remained crispy, and we couldn’t put our satay sticks down.
We received a very generous serving for $3, and you can bump that size up to $5 if you’re eating in a bigger group. As you might expect, the stall is popular among regulars (it has a clinic-esque numbering system, for crying out loud), so make sure to get in the queue early.
Toa Payoh Rojak
Unit: #01-108
Dong Ji Fried Kway Teow
The queue at Dong Ji Fried Kway Teow might not be as lengthy as some of the other stalls in this list, but you can count on waiting just as long to get your food.
This isn’t without good reason, though — instead of cooking an entire batch wholesale, the chef prepares each order individually, and that attention to detail definitely makes a difference.
The result is a personalised wok hei of sorts, coupled with an ever-so-slight seafood taste thanks to the addition of prawn, squid and cockles. The overall flavour still leans towards the lighter side, but that’s actually a good thing considering that it allows you to eat other dishes without feeling too bloated.
At just $3-$4 per plate, Dong Ji is definitely worth giving a shot. Just pray that the person in front of you doesn’t order ten packets.
Dong Ji Fried Kway Teow
Unit: #01-138
Old Airport Road Food Centre
Address: 51 Old Airport Rd, Singapore 390051
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(Header Image Credit: Discover SG)
