7 Best Dried Seafood & Provisions Shops in Singapore (2026)
Where to buy dried seafood and Chinese provisions in Singapore: abalone, fish maw, conpoy and bird's nest, from Chinatown to Serangoon specialists.
- Edited by
- Amir Wahab
- Published
- Reading time
- 6 min read
AI image by LocalRankDried seafood and provisions shops are where Singapore's Chinese households have long bought the ingredients behind tonic soups and festive dishes: conpoy, abalone, fish maw, sea cucumber, dried mushrooms and bird's nest. Demand peaks hardest around Chinese New Year, when these staples turn up in braised dishes and pen cai, but the trade runs year-round from old Chinatown shophouses and heartland provision stores alike. This guide gathers seven Singapore specialists, each checked against its own website or storefront listing rather than third-party reviews, spanning heritage traders on Hong Kong Street and in Chinatown to a Serangoon wholesaler. It leaves out supermarkets, keeping to shops built around dried goods and provisions specifically.
1. Dragon Brand Bird's Nest
Dragon Brand traces to 1957, when founder Tan Kim Pheow, who had migrated from Chaonan in southern China and worked as a marine foodstuffs trader, grew concerned at how unhygienically bird's nest was handled and began cleaning, weighing and packaging it with his wife themselves. Its site describes nests harvested by hand from sea caves off Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and says the dragon name was chosen for its associations with prosperity and longevity. Alongside raw and bottled bird's nest, concentrated drinks and bowls, it sells abalone, bird's-nest skincare and gift hampers pitched at Chinese New Year and other festive occasions. It runs several retail outlets, including a longstanding Chinatown store on South Bridge Road, making it one of the more recognisable heritage names in the trade.
Multiple outlets
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2. Teck Sang
Teck Sang dates to 1973, founded by Mr Seit Wing Yun, whose own account describes starting out young in the dried seafood trade before building an importing, exporting and wholesale business in Singapore. Its Hong Kong Street storefront sells nuts, beans, grains, spices, dried fruit and a wide range of dried seafood, and the shop is particularly known for canned and dried abalone. Its own site markets the stall as a one-stop option for Chinese New Year reunion-dinner shopping. Alongside the physical stall, Teck Sang runs an online store with islandwide delivery, extending its Hong Kong Street range to shoppers who would rather skip the pre-festive queues that build up there each year.
3. Lao Ban Niang
Lao Ban Niang grew out of a street stall Mdm Tan Guan Geck ran from 1977 selling pickles, before Singapore's redevelopment plans gave her a permanent shop at Albert Centre, registered as Geck Huat Trading. Regular customers already called her 'lao ban niang', or lady boss, so the family adopted it as the shop's brand name in 2009. It is now run by her son and grandsons, still from the same Albert Centre unit. Its own site describes shelves spanning confinement herbs, dried provisions such as beans and mushrooms, seafood including abalone and scallops, and tonics like ginseng, cordyceps and bird's nest. That mix of everyday provisions and festive dried seafood makes it a broader stop than a single-specialism shop.
Albert Centre
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4. Ah Yeow Provision Supply
Ah Yeow Provision Supply has traded since 1994, when it opened as a small shop in Serangoon before growing into a wholesale operation serving households and food businesses alike. Its own site describes stocking more than a thousand items, from rice sold in bulk sacks to dried seafood such as ikan bilis, dried shrimp, scallops and seaweed, plus dried mushrooms, spices, sauces, soup herbs and preserved vegetables. It positions itself less as a boutique specialist and more as a one-stop dried-goods supplier, the kind of shop a household might visit once for a full pantry restock rather than a single festive ingredient. The Serangoon shop keeps early hours geared to trade customers, though walk-in retail shoppers are welcome.
Serangoon
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5. Bee's Brand
Bee's Brand runs two Chinatown storefronts, on Smith Street and Sago Lane, alongside other outlets on the island. Its own description centres on 'herbal and tonic products', led by bird's nest and dried marine products alongside cordyceps, wild American ginseng and Chinese ginseng. Beyond those tonic staples, the shop stocks common Chinese herbs, dried foodstuffs, goji berries, lotus seeds and other festive dried goods, plus health supplements and confinement-related items. The Smith Street shop keeps long daily hours into the evening, suiting shoppers combining a Chinatown grocery run with a stop for dried seafood or a tonic soup base. It sits at the more tonic-focused end of the trade, prioritising bird's nest and herbal marine products over broader pantry staples.
6. Horse Brand
Horse Brand describes itself as a specialist in bird's nest, dried seafood and Chinese herbs, running two Singapore outlets: a main branch on North Canal Road, near the old riverside trading district, and a second inside Furama Hotel City Centre on Eu Tong Sen Street at the edge of Chinatown. Its range spans raw and bottled bird's nest, abalone and gift hampers built around both, positioned as much for festive giving as for home cooking. The brand leans on presentation, packaging tonic and marine products for gifting rather than as loose pantry ingredients, which suits shoppers buying for an elderly relative or a Chinese New Year visit. Confirm current stock and which branch carries a specific grade before making a special trip.
Boat Quay & Chinatown
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7. Tam Kah Seafood
Tam Kah Seafood runs two Singapore shops, on Smith Street in Chinatown and on Jalan Kelulut, as part of a wider business that its own site says also trades in Macau and Malaysia. Its dried-goods range is built around sea cucumber, abalone, fish maw, dried mushrooms and bird's nest, alongside herbs and tea leaves, positioning the Smith Street shop as a Chinatown stop for these festive staples. Beyond dried goods, it sells mooncakes and rice dumplings in season and prepared seafood dishes for takeaway, so the shop functions partly as a specialist grocer and partly as a ready-food counter. That dual role suits anyone wanting both a fish maw for a soup and something cooked to eat the same day.
Multiple outlets
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How to choose
- Match the shop to your need rather than defaulting to the biggest name. Bird's-nest specialists such as Dragon Brand and Horse Brand focus on marine tonics and abalone, while broader provisions shops like Lao Ban Niang and Ah Yeow stock a wider pantry of beans, mushrooms and grains, so decide whether you need one festive item or a full restock.
- Ask about grade and origin rather than trusting packaging alone. Abalone, fish maw and bird's nest are priced very differently depending on size, thickness and source, and shops vary in how clearly they label this, so ask staff directly what grade you are buying rather than assuming premium packaging means premium grade or freshness.
- Expect queues and thinning stock in the weeks before Chinese New Year. Chinatown's cluster of shops and the Hong Kong Street traders see their busiest trade in the run-up to the festival, when popular grades of abalone and fish maw can sell out early, so shop ahead or ask a store to set aside what you need.
- Weigh a Chinatown trip against a neighbourhood alternative. Smith Street, Sago Lane and South Bridge Road put several specialists within walking distance for comparing grades in one visit, while Ah Yeow in Serangoon or a chain's other outlets suit shoppers who would rather not travel into town for one purchase.
- Confirm anything unfamiliar or perishable before you commit. Dried seafood should look and smell fresh rather than musty, bird's nest grades vary enormously in price for reasons a first-time buyer won't spot, and stock, hours and specific items on the shelf change, so check with the shop directly rather than relying on an old listing.
. No changes recorded since.
Founder and Editor
Amir Wahab is the founder and editor of LocalRank, an independent Singapore rankings and local guides publication.
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