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this post was submitted on 06 Jun 2026
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Singapore has some of the best food for sure. Absolutely world class across nearly any cuisine. Say what you will about their economy/politics, but that kind of variety is really hard to find.
I dunno, London has that sort of variety ... but is also a capitalist hellhole :-/
I'd throw San Francisco in there as well, but I don't think either really match Singapore in that regard. I think it's a combination of having been a gigantic financial and trade hub for centuries (I see London and San Francisco more as endpoints, honestly) and the pressure/post colonial culture from the island state's government to curate their image/culinary scene.
It's a very unique crossroads and set of circumstances which I have not seen anywhere else in the world.
Edit: "an" to "a"
London was, in some ways, a hub thanks to the Empire. Less so now, but it does have variety, much more than any other European city IME
You can get stuff like jellyfish salad, jerk chicken, Lebanese food, etc, with little effort.
Also, it's legal to take durians on the London underground, so that's one up on Singapore :-P
Lol the durian debate continues! Yeah, the variety is definitely true of London. It has more of an organic sort of variety that I would compare with San Francisco, New York, or Hong Kong.
I think what really hit me was the overt curating I saw in Singapore (which also has a chilling/freezing effect on the small restauranteur) All the restaurants I went to were completely amazing and, like anything in that city, way more costly than in any other country I'd visited that trip. Singapore, at times, felt a bit gauche and decadent with how great/polished everything was.
I also think it's interesting to see what permeates these trade hubs in terms of food. I will say that I did not catch any Caribbean fare in Singapore, although I wouldn't be surprised given its imperial past. International hubs for technology, finance, and pretty much anything else miss out on varied cuisines if they're sufficiently culturally or geographically insulated (looking at Paris and Shanghai from my experience lol).
Yeah, the careful curation of everything put me off, over all ... I'd rather stick with provincial but real, personally (she says while getting a tattoo in a Vietnamese alley)
I've only passed through Shanghai - what's it like?
Agreed. Singapore felt like Disneyland. There's a place for that experience and I can only take it in doses lol.
I loved Shanghai. During that trip, we stuck mostly to the historical bits, which I was suuuuper fascinated by. We had a few days there and a few more in and around Beijing with some traveling in between.
Foodwise, it was awesome, but all very traditional fare (which I never grew tired of and would definitely go back). We were on our own, though, so we didn't have the luxury of local friends and their preferences. Definitely got gawked at a bit more than in Hong Kong, but everyone was super kind. A bit more businessy, I'd say.
Hmm, if the opportunity passes I'll check it out ... I'm used to people gawking, lol
Thanks :-)