What To Eat At The Old Airport Hawker Centre, Singapore

Singapore's Hawker centres are icons of Singapore cultural with inexpensive stalls selling delicious meals. Singapore has 12 Hawker Centres in total and the most well known is probably Maxwell Road which is a popular tourist attraction. But if you're looking for delicious food that's full of locals, the Block 51 Old Airport Road Hawker Centre is one the most popular local favourites. You won't see many tourists here, just locals queuing for their favourite stall. I'll also share tips on how to make the most of your visit.

"It's in the middle of nowhere," says my sister Blythe.

Block 51 Old Airport Road Hawker Centre is located alongside public housing apartments and has over 150 stalls and is open 7 days a week although not all stands are open every single day. Occasionally an airplane taking off or landing at Changi airport will fly above reminding you of its origins. Old Airport Road was the eastern boundary of the former Kallang Airport. The flat topped building was considered cutting edge when it was built in 1973.

1 - Lao Fu Zi Fried Kway Teow

Char Kway Teow or Kway Teow is a smoky, stir fried flat noodle dish. The line is longest at Lao Fu Zi, not just because the French prime minister Emmanuel Macron ate there in May 2025 (actually at Lau Pau Sat centre branch) but because the char kway teow has a strong wok hei or breath of wok so prized with an excellent char kway teow. Lao Fu Zi is one of the numerous stands here that is listed on the Michelin Bib gourmand. The Kway Teow comes in two varieties: white and black, the darker the richer and stronger flavour. Be prepared to wait - the queue here moves slowly and that's because there's one chef and one wok and each order of kway teow is made to order.

A small $6 serving of the kway teow can be boosted with extra cockles ($3 extra) and extra lup cheong pork sausage ($1 extra). It is an excellent char kway teow where the cockles are perfectly tender and not chewy at all. At $10, this is considered expensive as far as Hawker centre dishes are concerned but the wok hei cannot be denied.

2 - Mama Recipe Biryani

At Mama Recipe Biryani they serve a range of biryani and you can get meat and rice together or just the meat. This is a popular stand with a regular following and is my mother's favourite stall at this market. We try the Biryani mutton ($6.50) and chicken rendang biryani ($4.50) with some sauce and sweet cucumber pickles. The sauce is divine, the rice moist and spiced and this is one of my favourite dishes (a bit of extra sauce wouldn't go astray though). Tip: it is $1 cheaper if you don't have the biryani rice (but it's seriously tasty).

3 - Wong Wong Crispy Curry Puffs

Wong Wong Crispy curry puffs come in four different flavours: crispy original, crispy sardine, crispy black pepper and crispy yam for $1.80-$2 each. Alas the original is sold out and won't be ready for another 30 minutes but we watch them filling and baking them fresh. They come out hot from the oven with a crispy, layered pastry filled.

This is one of my favourite stalls here as the curry puffs come hot from the oven and they are not oily or greasy at all. The black pepper is divine, like a perfect layered pie pastry filled with aromatic spicy black pepper chicken. The sardine one is delicious with a tomato sardine filling similar to a tuna tomato filling. And we all love the one with the sweet ube paste filling.

Tip: buy extra curry puffs and heat them up in the airfryer at home! The dots also signify what is in the filling: no dot is curry, one dot is sardine, two dots is black pepper and three dots is sweet yam.

4 - Hougang Traditional Famous Wonton Noodles

This is another favourite stall of mine. The wonton noodles come as a small for $4 or a large for $5 and this is another Michelin bib gourmand stall. I rely on the kindness of a stranger to help me order as I can't speak Chinese and they recommend the #1 wanton noodles.

The wontons are delicious and simple in a chicken broth but its the noodles that I adore with slices of barbecue pork and a moderately spicy chilli sauce and moreish al dente texture.

Tip: A sign at Hougang traditional famous wonton noodle says that to let them know if you don't want chilli so chilli is the default here. If you can handle chilli then I recommend it.

5 - Ru Ji Kitchen Holland Drive

Ru Ji Kitchen Holland Drive sells house made fish cakes and balls. These soft springy fish balls are miles away from any chewy, tough fish balls. The soup is also particularly tasty. These fish balls also come with medium egg noodles but we prefer the noodles from the Hougang Wontons better.

6 - To-Ricos Kway Chap

One of the newest most popular stalls here is the Michelin Bib Gourmand recommended To-Ricos Kway Chap that sells offal and pork belly simmered in a herbal soy broth with a slight sweetness to it. There's a range of platters to cater for one person up to four that gives you an assortment of everything from the pork belly, large intestine, pig's stomach, pork bung (rectum and terminal end of a pig's large intestine) along with taupok (fried beancurd puffs), tau kwa (soft beancurd puffs) and a simmered eggs. $1 extra gets you the bowl of Kway chap, wide rice noodles served in a soup made with a base from the offal simmer sauce.

Tip: Each platter is sliced to order so the line moves quite slowly. When you get to the head of the queue, grab a tray and add your chopsticks, spoons and sauces. Make sure to avail yourself of the chilli vinegar sauce that balances the rich offal flavour and some crunchy fried shallots for the kway chap noodle soup.

7 - Xiang Ji Lor Mee

One of the longest lines is at Xiang Ji Lor Mee and it's one of the best value. Lor Mee is a Hokkien Chinese noodle dish with a starchy, thick, dark gravy. For just $4.50 you receive a generous sized bowl with plenty of chewy thick noodles in a gelatinous thick soy soupy gravy (aka "Lor") with hints of fresh celery. The soup itself was quite mild in flavour and I think we were hoping for a bit more flavour.

8 - Nyonya Chendol

Chendol and ice kaacang are popular shaved ice based desserts designed perfectly to cool you off in Singapore's humidity and heat. Nyonya Chendol sells ice kacang and four types of chendol each for $2.80 each. It's the quickest, fastest way to cool yourself down in a sweet way.

I particularly like the ice kacang as it ha a range of textures from sweetcorn to red bean. The cendol has a strong flavour or gula melaka caramel syrup more than anything else.

Tips for Old Airport Road Hawker Centre

1 - Go early. If you arrive around 11:30am the lines will be shorter. 12:20-1:30pm is peak time during the day. It can get very busy especially around mealtimes where queues can take 15 minutes. Some lines tend to move quite slowly so be prepared in popular queues like To-Ricos Kway Chap or Lao Fu Zi fried kway teow where they prepare each item to order.

2 - There are sinks with soap for you to wash your hands.

3 - Take your time to peruse the offerings before deciding what to order. I recommend doing a walk around first to see which stalls appeal to you.

4 - Bring tissues or napkins because while stalls provide cutlery, they do not provide napkins.

5 - Larger, popular stands take cards but bring cash just in case.

6 - Not all stallholders speak English but they are friendly and there are photo menus for pretty much everything.

7 - Bus your trays at the stations that are conveniently located. There are separate sections for halal and non halal crockery and utensils.

So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever been to a hawker centre and if so, which one?

Old Airport Road Food Centre

51 Old Airport Rd, Singapore 390051

Open 7 days 6 am–10:30 pm