Singapore is a city full of fascinating foodie and cultural adventures. Beyond the tourist hubs of Marina Bay Sands, Gardens by the Bay and Sentosa lie a breadth of food markets, artisan producers and unique neighbourhoods. One way to explore all of these is on a private tour of the city, and Tribe Tours Singapore offer one of the best tours in Singapore. Their tours are led by locals allowing you to fully immerse yourself in the city of Singapore and understand some of the challenges it faces. As the tours are private they can be tailored to your interests, whether these be local food, cultural traditions or photography – we chose a mix of all three!
After being picked up by Jason or one of his friendly staff at Tribe Tours Singapore, your first stop will be to Waterloo Street, home to a number of the city’s most fascinating temples. Singapore is the definition of a cultural melting pot, with temples from multiple religions sat next to each other on the same road.
Being the tail end of Chinese New Year when we visited, the Chinese temple was awash with colours and decorations as celebrations continued. The Tribe Tours Singapore guides are exceptionally knowledgable on the customs undertaken in these religious observances, including the fascinating process for fortune telling (Kau Cim), using two stones and a jar of fortune sticks. Religion in Singapore is open to all therefore you are very welcome to try your hand at the fortune telling process, it isn’t as easy as it looks to only ‘shake’ out one fortune stick. Each stick corresponds to an oracle and you’ll often spot people trying a few times to get the outcome they desire!
As the first street food stall in the world to receive a Michelin star originated in Singapore you won’t want to miss out on Singapore’s street food scene, your next spot, and one not to miss, has to be the city’s wonderful hawker centres. Hawker Centres were formed as a government initiative to end the ongoing disputes between traders who would were previously based on street corners, fighting over who had the best spot. One of the best hawker centres in Singapore, and also one of the oldest, is Maxwell Hawker Centre and that’s where you’re headed.
Alongside the classic dishes of laksa, chill crab and, of course, the famous chicken and rice, there are an array of fascinating dishes to tuck into. As it was still relatively early in the morning when we arrived at Maxwell Hawker Centre, we started with a peanut soup, a slightly sweet broth made from sesame seeds, peanut paste and crunchy peanuts. More yummy sweet treats followed including sweet doughnut sticks perfectly for dipping in freshly brewed coffee (You Tiao), and bite-sized ondeh ondeh made from potato and panda juice, filled with liquid palm sugar, be careful they pop in your mouth!
Onto the savoury dishes, Tribe Tours Singapore will help you seek out a rare oyster cake, or a UFO as their known locally, a delicious fried pastry filled with oyster, meat, prawns and delicious spices. If you’ve still room left, you can’t go wrong with the classic chicken and rice, although it sounds like a simple meal its the perfectly balanced flavours that set the best stalls apart from the others.
The Hawker Centres have an awesome atmosphere, with residents, locals and visitors alike choosing them as the place to meet up for weekend brunch or midweek lunch. Whilst you may find some of the fare on offer slightly intimidating for Western stomachs, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the delights Tribe Tours Singapore uncover for you. Take note of where the locals eat and head to the stalls with the longest queues to find the best food!
Did you know?
If you've ever booked a restaurant online in South East Asia, it’s highly likely you’ve done it via Chope, a restaurant reservations app. The name for this app derives from the tradition of ‘choping’; using tissues to mark a seat reservation in Hawker Centres.
Enroute to your next stop there’s an opportunity to stop at Singapore’s famous shop houses, a colourful delight allowing you to peek back in time to the old world of Singapore that existed before the days of reclaimed land and high rise towers. The houses themselves are now protected, but still occupied, and in demand as some of the most expensive and beautiful housing in the city. The colours and intricate designs mean they’re a must see for anyone visiting Singapore, and they’re amazingly photogenic!
Another side to the city which Jason and his Tribe Tours Singapore team are keen to showcase are the small artisan producers who still reside here. We visited Nanyang Sauce, a family owned producer of soy sauce, founded in 1959 and located in the Katong area, east of Marina Bay. Producing hand brewed soy sauce, with a minimum fermentation period of 12 months (much longer than your supermarket grade sauce), you will enjoy a tasting of a variety of their products. Apart from their range of exquisite soy sauces, you’ll also enjoy another of Singaporean cuisine’s key ingredients – chilli sauce, and even a slightly bizarre but delicious combo of soy sauce and ice cream. I doubt you’ll manage to escape without purchasing a bottle, or two, of their delicious soy sauce; and having had your mind blown!
Your final stop with Tribe Tours Singapore is to delve into one of the city’s biggest social issues – housing for 5.8 million people. 80% of Singapore’s population live in government built HDB housing dotted around this small nation.
You will be hosted by one of the Tribe Tours Singapore family, who put on a great spread of other Singaporean delights and open up to explain what life living in the city is really like. This is the time to ask any questions about life in Singapore, any of the places you’ve visited or any tips for the rest of your stay. We felt really welcomed in Yoke’s home, meeting her family and spending a lovely few hours learning more about their life here.
How much does it cost to go on one of Tribe's tours of Singapore?
Tribe Tours Singapore offer a range of different tours of varying lengths, some by foot, others by car affecting the price of the tour. You can expect to pay SGD $50 to SGD $100 per person dependent on the size of your group and the tour you opt for.
How long do Tribe Tours of Singapore take?
Most of Tribe Tours Singapore’s itineraries are designed to take around 3-5 hours. If you were looking to undertake a longer full or multi day tour, the team can design bespoke itineraries as required. Be aware that traffic in Singapore can be particularly bad therefore if travelling by car this may mean your Tribe Tour takes longer than originally planned.
What is special about a Tribe Tour?
Tribe Tours Singapore prides itself on offering a local perspective of Singapore and opening a visitor’s eyes to unique local experiences. They work hard to find partners, such as Nanyang Sauce, to work with who epitomise Singaporean traditions and who have a passion for sharing this with others. The places you’ll go and the things you’ll experience on a Tribe tour will be unlike any you will find during the rest of your stay in Singapore.
Find out more…
Tribe Tours Singapore – http://www.tribe-tours.com/tours
Explore more from Singapore and check out my Singapore Travel Guide.
Many thanks to Tribe for hosting our tour of a local’s perspective of Singapore. As always, all thoughts and opinions expressed here are entirely our own, we wouldn’t recommend something if we didn’t love it!
