10 Best Mee Siam in Singapore

Mee siam is one of Singapore's great hawker breakfasts: fine rice vermicelli in a sweet, sour and spicy gravy built on tamarind (assam), fermented soybean paste and dried shrimp, then garnished with hard-boiled egg, fried beancurd puffs, chives and a squeeze of calamansi. Renditions run from Malay and Peranakan to Chinese and Indian-Muslim hands. This guide rounds up ten real, currently-operating stalls for mee siam in Singapore, spread across hawker centres island-wide.

Jia Xiang is a long-running, family-run stall at Redhill Food Centre often counted among the old guard of Singapore mee siam, with the family saying it has served the dish for around half a century. Its bowl is the wet, gravy style: soft rice vermicelli soaked in a tangy, spicy and slightly sweet tamarind gravy, topped with a hard-boiled egg, fried beancurd puffs and a spoon of sambal. It also sells lontong, and tends to sell out before the day is done.

Redhill Food Centre
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Run by an elderly couple at Chong Boon Market in Ang Mo Kio, 96 Kwai Luck sells mee siam and little else, and the family says the father took up the dish in 1979 after learning the recipe from an Indian cook. The draw is a thick, coconut-rich gravy layered with tamarind, fermented soybean paste (tau cheo), dried shrimp and belacan, ladled over vermicelli and finished with a whole hard-boiled egg, a dollop of sambal and a calamansi lime to squeeze over. It is a Chinese-run take on the dish, built on that long-simmered, savoury-sweet kuah.

Chong Boon Market (Ang Mo Kio)
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Shi Xian is a mee siam specialist in the Ang Mo Kio heartland that the stall says has been going for more than forty years. Its gravy leans heavily on assam (tamarind) for a bright, sour-tangy edge, rounded out by a house-made chilli, and it is served over fine rice vermicelli in the classic wet style. It is a morning-to-midday stall that regularly draws a queue, so it pays to go early.

Ang Mo Kio
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Grandma Mee Siam is a one-woman stall at Tekka Centre in Little India, where the hawker keeps to a family recipe she says dates back to 1963. Compared with the sweeter versions around town, her gravy is more savoury and tart, letting the tamarind sourness lead rather than sugar. Expect the usual dressing of vermicelli, egg and sambal, cooked and served single-handedly, so patience helps at busy times.

Tekka Centre (Little India)
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Robert Mee Siam is a heartland fixture at the Whampoa food centre, known for a sweeter, paler gravy that goes lighter on the tamarind than many stalls while leaning on chilli for its kick. It comes as fine bee hoon in that wet gravy, with a hard-boiled egg available as an add-on, and the stall also does lontong. Long-standing regulars mean there is often a queue through the morning.

Whampoa
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Hup Hup is a second-generation mee siam stall at the Circuit Road food centre, where the hawker has taken over and kept to his mother's recipe. The plate arrives generously flooded with a tangy-sweet, mildly spicy gravy over rice vermicelli, finished with the customary egg and sambal. It is a neighbourhood specialist that sticks to the wet, gravy-soaked style.

Circuit Road (MacPherson)
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Despite the name, Maxwell Haha operates out of Chinatown Complex Market & Food Centre, serving both mee siam and mee rebus. Its mee siam gravy is on the lighter, more delicate side, so regulars squeeze in the calamansi lime and ask for extra chilli to sharpen it. Expect a classic plate of rice vermicelli with the usual hard-boiled egg and beancurd puffs beneath a thin, sour-savoury gravy.

Chinatown Complex
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Nurul Delight is a Muslim family-run stall in Bukit Batok, named after the owners' daughter and better known to some for its nasi lemak, though its mee siam has a following of its own. The gravy is tamarind-rich and backed by a sweet sambal, spooned over rice vermicelli in the wet Malay style. It is a small heartland operation that tends to draw a queue at mealtimes.

Bukit Batok
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This long-established stall at Geylang Serai Market is, as its name suggests, split between Indian rojak and mee siam. The mee siam is done in a Mamak, Indian-Muslim style, with a slightly sweet gravy built on coconut and chilli paste rather than a sharp tamarind sourness. Served over vermicelli, it makes a change of pace from the more assam-forward Chinese and Malay renditions elsewhere on this list.

Geylang Serai Market
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Tucked at the back of Tanjong Pagar Plaza Market & Food Centre, Delicious keeps to just three dishes: mee siam, mee rebus and lontong. Its mee siam is a tidy, generous plate of springy rice vermicelli with spongy tofu puffs, crisp bean sprouts, a hard-boiled egg and fresh garlic chives, dressed in a thin, light gravy that runs sour, tangy and gently sweet. Some items sell out early, so it is best caught before midday.

Tanjong Pagar
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