Newton Food Centre – Eat Like a Crazy Rich Asian at These 9 Stalls

It was Gordon Ramsay’s battleground during the SingTel Hawker Heroes Challenge in 2013. Its name is also commonly brought up by adventurous tourists looking to savour true blue Singaporean grub. And yes, it was also one of the signature filming locations of ‘Crazy Rich Asians’. That’s right, I am talking about the legendary Newton Food Centre!

I know Newton Food Centre gets a bad rep for being a tourist trap and that hawker centre with higher-than-normal prices. However, look beyond the prices and you will find yourself surrounded by an eclectic mix of cultures and fuss-free hawker food. It’s time to grab a couple of close buddies, order a few pints of ice-cold beer, and dine like a few crazy rich asians at Newton Food Centre!

1. Soon Wah Fishball Kway Teow Mee
2. Hajah Monah Kitchen
3. XO Minced Meat Noodles
4. Newton Authentic Song Kee Teochew Fish Porridge
5. Guan Kee Grilled Seafood
6. Hup Kee Oyster Omelette
7. TKR Honey Chicken Wing (大家乐烧烤鸡翼)
8. Bee Heng Popiah
9. 88 San Ren Cold and Hot Dessert

1. Soon Wah Fishball Kway Teow Mee

When I say the fishballs and her giao from Soon Wah Fishball Kway Teo are the best, I mean it. That’s because it is all painstakingly made by hand daily. Really, just how often do we come across hawkers who still make fishballs by hand?

Order a bowl of fishball noodles (we went for meepok) for $4 and welcome a serving portion that’s a bang for your buck! For $4, you get a sizeable bowl of meepok and 7 plump fishballs that tick all the criteria of a good fishball — firm, springy, fresh, and tasty. Seriously, this is something you need to try to believe!

Of course, the key to a good bowl of fishball noodles lies not only in the fishballs but in the noodles as well. Soon Wah’s meepok is really one of the best around. The meepok had a great bite, and each strand was coated in the well-balanced chilli-vinegar sauce. Slurp-worthy indeed!

Don’t forget to order a bowl of her giao ($4 / bowl of 10 pieces). Just like the fishballs, the her giao (fish dumpling) served here is made fresh daily. Each piece of the dumpling has the perfect skin-to-filling ratio. The filling is made of fresh meat and graced with dried sole fish for added fragrance and flavour.

2. Hajah Monah Kitchen

Let me tell you, Hajah Monah Kitchen serves some seriously delectable nasi padang! Nasi padang is essentially the equivalent of cai fan. Here, just point to what dishes you want to go along with your plate of rice and you are all set!

My recommendation? Go for the beef rendang/assam fish/sambal goreng/bergedil combination! Each dish was impeccably superb. The beef rendang was rich, creamy and spicy and oh my, fork-tender!

Hajah Monah Kitchen also managed to achieve the perfect balance of sweetness, spiciness and sourness in their assam fish. Throw the tangy sambal goreng; a mix of tempeh and tau kwa, into this combination to cut through the richness of the meats and round it off with a bergedil. For $7.60, this certainly makes for a filling meal!

3. XO Minced Meat Noodles

You know what’s good? Bak chor mee. You know what’s even better? A 24-hour bak chor mee stall!

XO Minced Meat Noodles has a number of outlets islandwide, but the outlet at Newton Food Centre is particularly outstanding. If you are here, I highly recommend the Handmade Meatball Noodle ($5) and the XO Minced Pork Noodle ($4.50)!

We ordered the Handmade Meatball Noodle with kway teow and it came sporting a few slices of fish cake, lettuce and five deep-fried meatballs! While the kway teow drenched in the sweet-vinegary sauce was nothing to rave about, the handmade meatballs definitely were!

If there’s one way to describe the taste of these handmade meatballs, it would be that they taste like a well-seasoned ngoh hiang. Sinking my teeth into the meatball revealed a slightly crunchy exterior and a soft, mouthwatering interior. Each globe of meatball had that familiar savouriness reminiscent of a ngoh hiang with a nuanced saltiness. I also loved the meat-to-fat ratio. My only gripe was that the meatballs lacked texture.

The XO Minced Meat Noodles is a pretty solid contender for “Most Filling Bak Chor Mee”. Think a bowl of al dente meepok, loaded with fried beancurd skin, minced pork, sliced pork, a juicy Fuzhou fishball & fishballs. Quite a number of ingredients for a $4.50 bowl of noodles!

4. Newton Authentic Song Kee Teochew Fish Porridge

Look, I get it: porridge probably doesn’t belong in an article that’s introducing food for crazy rich Asians. But hey, it’s some serious comfort food! Hear me out on this one.

Maybe I’m just biased towards Teochew-style porridge, but there is something alluring about the simplicity of the Sliced Fish Porridge ($6) served here. Think slices of fresh batang fish swimming above a sea of firm rice grains steeped in mild, fishy broth. The freshness of the sliced batang fish also played a huge role in imparting sweetness to the broth. While the serving portion may be somewhat small, this, to me, is as close as it gets to the epitome of comfort food!

5. Guan Kee Grilled Seafood

What’s a Newton Food Centre listicle without Guan Kee Grilled Seafood? Trust me on this one: Guan Kee Grilled Seafood makes one of the best sambal stingray in Newton!

The glistening sambal that is slathered atop the stingray had a spicy kick with a subtle lingering smokiness, which I thought was simply sublime. The chilli coated and clung onto each piece of stingray so perfectly. Remember to squeeze some lime onto the sambal stingray ($20 for largest portion)!

You might have had lala dishes with shrivelled up lalas that look so unappetising, but that won’t be the case for Guan Kee’s Lala ($15)! Not only is the lala cooked just right, the viscous chilli crab sauce also pairs superbly with the lala.

6. Hup Kee Oyster Omelette

If the waiting time to get a plate of food is indicative of how good the food is, then many must find Hup Kee Oyster Omelette to be brilliantly delicious. Mind you, I had to wait close to 40 minutes for a plate of their Oyster Omelette ($6)! So was it worth the 40 minute wait? Yes. Every. Single. Minute.

Hup Kee’s oyster omelette is eggier than most oyster omelette, and they cook it for slightly longer! This results in a soft, starchy interior which juxtaposes with a satisfying crunchy exterior. The oysters touch the sizzling hot skillet for just a few seconds to ensure that they are creamy and plump, and not cooked to death.

7. TKR Honey Chicken Wing (大家乐烧烤鸡翼)

Ask any Singaporean which is the best food to accompany some beer and most will say that its satay!

On top of the usual types of satay such as chicken, mutton and beef, TKR also offers pork. The satays go for $0.70/stick and you can mix and match. I especially loved how each stick of satay has been slightly caramelised, adding another depth of flavour to the well-marinated meats. While the satay sticks were great, I can’t say the same about the ketupat. Avoid the ketupat if you can and savour the satay with the thick and savoury peanut sauce that it comes with!

8. Bee Heng Popiah

You can’t say that you are a fervent lover of popiah if you hadn’t tried Bee Heng Popiah.

The popiah here is on the pricier side — each roll is $2.20 and there is a minimum order of at least 2 rolls. That is $4.40 for popiah! The price caught me by surprise, as did the taste of the popiah!

Think well-stewed turnip, crunchy beansprouts, diced boiled eggs encased within skin thin popiah skin! It’s sauced up with some bean paste and a very potent chilli sauce (optional, but I highly recommend it) that elevates the flavours in this roll of wholesome goodness. There are many stalls which make good popiah, but only few can make popiah so delicious that you will come back/think of coming back for more. Bee Heng Popiah is one of these stalls.

9. 88 San Ren Cold and Hot Dessert

After gorging yourself with a ton of greasy food, how about wrapping up your satisfying meal with some cheng tng?

The Cheng Tng ($2.50) from 88 San Ren Cold and Hot Dessert is full of ingredients, even barley! I ordered the hot version and oh my, the natural sweetness of the red dates and dried longans really shone through. A lightly sweetened soup chock full of ingredients at only $2.50? What a deal, what a steal! Be sure to try out their other desserts such as Strawberry Snow Ice, Red Ruby and Mango Ice Kachang.

With so much good food and stamp of approval from Crazy Rich Asians, how to say no to Newton Food Centre? Look beyond its flaws (ahem, it’s kind of harsh on the wallet), call your buddies, and spend the evening laughing over good food at Newton Food Centre!

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visits and paid its own meals at the stalls featured here.

Let’s build a food community that helps to update the food news in Singapore! Simply comment below if there’s any changes or additional info to the cafes/stalls listed above. We will verify and update from our side. Thanks in advance!

For more food videos, check out and subscribe to our official YouTube channel!

Stay up to date with our recommendations by joining us on our Telegram channel!