Lau Pa Sat is a hawker centre in Singapore's CBD where skyscrapers meet the smoky aroma of satay street and a bustling indoor hawker centre. It is one of the most popular hawker centres in Singapore thanks to its location and historical Victorian era building. Find out more about satay street and how to navigate this very popular hawker centre.
When Lau Pa Sat was originally constructed it was a simple timber structure located on the waterfront where it served as a fish market. In 1838 it was rebuilt into an octagonal shaped market using prefabricated iron from Scotland. It then transitioned from a wet market to a food centre in 1973.
It's a busy Friday night when Mr NQN and I arrive at Lau Pa Sat Hawker centre. Lau Pa Sat means "old market" in Hokkien and this market is incredibly popular with tourists for its inexpensive and tasty meals. Lau Pa Sat also boasts a huge draw at night with satay street, the outdoor section on the street where satay vendors cook satay sticks on the outdoor charcoal grills until late in the morning. In fact the Lau Pa Sat markets are open 24 hours 7 days a week.
I've rounded up all of the vendors that we tried with stall numbers so you can do your own little tasting. Look for the stall numbers on the bottom left or right of their name signs. The service at some of the stalls at Lau Pa Sat isn't what you would call friendly. It isn't even indifferent and sometimes it is just rude no matter how polite or friendly you are. Don't take it personally, you're here for the food.
Satay Street Stalls 7 & 8 (outside the main building on Boon Tat street)
They always say that the key to knowing where to eat is from the length of the queue. If queues for Satay Street's stands 7 and 8 are anything to go by, this is definitely the best satay. I get in line while Mr NQN grabs a table. The line moves quickly and splits into people paying cash or credit card.
Someone passes me a menu and it's basically the same thing: a set of chicken satay sticks, beef/mutton sticks and prawn satay sticks; the only difference is between the quantity. We go for the smallest set A that comprises 10 chicken satay, 10 beef/mutton satay and 6 prawn satay. I pay and they tell me that it will be a 30 minute wait and hand me a buzzer.
So what is the satay like? The chicken satay are charcoal kissed caramelised sticks of chicken thigh with a pot of satay sauce to dip it in (you get two pots of satay sauce with set A). The prawn satay is also pretty good with huge prawns that are perfectly cooked, not overcooked.
The third satay is called beef/mutton which is interesting because the two are not interchangeable. It's actually beef and it is a little drier. The clear favourite out of all of them is the chicken satay and I wish they had a set that just served chicken satay. It reminds me a lot of my mother's chicken satay and is my favourite thing at the market.
Butter and Cream Stalls 5 & 6
We head to Butter and Cream where they have items like salted egg custard tarts and taro custard tarts. They're all around $2.90 each. I had read on a blog that the cheesy muffin was good so we order one. It's called a volcano muffin and is like a steamed muffin with cheese in it and liquid cheese in the centre. It's a little bit sweet and savoury at the same time. It's nice enough and quite unique.
Swatow Bai Le Braised Duck Stall 9
The bai le braised duck is sliced to order and comes with half a soy braised egg, cucumber and a couple of sauces as well as a broth. I'm not a huge fan of the broth, but the duck is very tender and not particularly gamey. And considering how touristy this market is, $5.80 is a steal for dinner.
Ipoh Chicken Rice Stall 14
Some of the best things in life are cheap and that includes the chicken rice here at Lau Pa Sat. The rice has a fantastic amount of flavour to it as well as a fish sauce with sliced chilli that is perfect for dipping the chicken in as well as a ginger garlic chilli sauce which is great with the rice. This is everyone's favourite dish.
Qui Lian Ban Mian - Stall 16
At Qui Lian Ban Mian they will serve up a giant bowl of Tom Yum soup with a side of attitude from perhaps the grumpiest woman at the market (this gets mentioned a lot in reviews!).
If you're looking for value and you want something huge and filling with Tom Yum soup then head here. There was no way we could finish it and if you like sour soups this is for you. This is another stall I had read about on a blog and I'm again not quite sure why it gets the raves but I will say that it does represent value.
Thunder Tea Rice - Stall 25
What is thunder tea rice? It's based on a traditional Hakka dish called Hakka Lai Cha Fan which is a rice bowl with brown rice (or white if you want it) mixed with herbs, peanuts, radish and small cubes of tofu. At Thunder Tea Rice they offer it without protein or meat or with it. We go with the version with fried fish which they recommend. On the side is a bowl of herby green soup with a strong flavour of Thai basil. It's nice and quite healthy tasting. The fried fish is nice and generously portioned but I think next time I'd go for the chicken karaage.
Tips for Lau Pa Sat
Bring a packet of wet wipes. While stallholders will provide cutlery and there are toilets and sinks available, it's helpful to use wet wipes to wipe the tables down.
Head there early for a table at satay street. They say that it starts at 7pm until 3am but it was in full swing when we arrived there at 7pm. On weekends satay street starts at 3pm and goes until 3am.
Around 7:30pm the tables inside were all taken but there were a whole bunch of tables on the north side outside that were free and it was nice and breezy there.
There is also an outpost of the famous Lao Fu Zi Fried Kway Teow stand (#74-75).
Make sure to bus your trays yourselves (there's a fine if you don't) and observe which tray returns are halal vs non-halal.
While a lot of stalls at Maxwell Food Centre were closed for Chinese New Year, most were open at Lau Pa Sat with only a tiny handful closed for Chinese New Year.
Lau Pa Sat
18 Raffles Quay, Singapore 048582
Phone: +65 6220 2138
Open 24 hours
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