Plan the trip around the food.

The formats worth knowing

Hawker centres. The city's defining meal: a hundred stalls under one roof, each doing one or two dishes to a standard the world's food guides chase. Maxwell, Amoy Street, Tiong Bahru and Old Airport Road are the famous floors; the etiquette is simple: queue at the stall with the longest line, chope a table with a tissue packet, and bring cash as well as the phone.

Chicken rice. Hainanese chicken rice is the national dish in everything but law: poached chicken, rice cooked in the broth, ginger, chilli and dark soy. Every hawker centre has its champion and every local has a verdict. Try two and form your own.

Satay and the grill. Skewers over charcoal, fanned by hand, with peanut sauce, cucumber and ketupat rice cakes: Satay by the Bay and the East Coast Lagoon stalls do the classic version, best after dark when the smoke hangs over the tables.

Kopitiams and kaya toast. The coffee shop breakfast: kaya toast with a slab of butter, two soft eggs broken into soy and pepper, and kopi pulled strong and sweet. It costs a few dollars and it is the right start to any event day.

The districts worth the trip

Maxwell and Amoy Street, Tanjong Pagar: the CBD hawker floors, chicken rice and fish soup at lunch, quieter at night. Tiong Bahru: the art deco market and the cafes around it. Old Airport Road, Geylang: the east side's hawker institution, rojak, char kway teow and prawn noodles. East Coast Lagoon: satay, barbecued seafood and sugar cane juice by the sea. Joo Chiat and Katong: laksa country, Peranakan restaurants and the shophouses to wander between courses. Little India: banana leaf rice, roti prata flipped to order, and the Tekka Centre stalls.