Budget
Akbar Restaurant
Open 24 hours. At the southernmost tip of Tanjong Pagar, this busy but friendly 24-hour coffeeshop don't be fooled by the name serves up a wide variety of Malay and Muslim Indian food, with the roti prata being the star of the menu.
Zhen Zhen Porridge
Famous not so much for their rice porridge from $2.20 as for their raw fish salad from $2, served up with spring onion, sesame, ginger, garlic and a drizzle of lime. Prepare to queue.
Da Dong
The dim sum in the restaurant inside are only mediocre, but the best eats here are the steamed buns bao from the stall outside. Most bao are 60-80 cents, but the aptly named Big Bao $2.50 stuffed with chicken, mushrooms, sausage and more is a meal in itself.
Day & Night Herbal Soup
This is the place to try out the Chinese herbs sold by medicine shops nearby. If pig brain soup $5 is too Fear Factor-y, try the milder six flavour chicken $6, good for whatever ails you.
Mei Hong Yuen
Specializes in Chinese desserts, notable for a whole range of soups and puddings. Try the mango pudding $3, which comes with chunks of fresh mango plus sprinkles of pomelo, tapioca and ice.
Tong Heng
Chinese bakery famed for its freshly-baked egg tarts $1, best washed down with a bottle of water chestnut juice. Tong Heng now has many other outlets, including one at Changi Airport, but this is the original.
Two good hunting grounds for cheap eats are Smith Street, a single row of fancy stalls with the nicest ambiance of the lot and quite decent food too, and Maxwell Centre at 2 Murray St, just across road and a few minutes walk from Tanjong Pagar MRT. Most dishes in either location are less than $5, although seafood can get considerably more expensive. Note that most of Smith Street's stalls are open for dinner only, while Maxwell Centre is open 24 hours. Connoisseurs may also wish to check out the 2nd floor of the newly renovated Chinatown Complex, which hosts one of Singapore's largest hawker centres with over 200 stalls, but this labyrinthine warren of concrete and flourescent lighting is both hard to navigate and not exactly a treat to the eyes.
Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice
Described by the New York Times as a "chicken rice shrine", this humble stall is considered by many as the best in Singapore and is easily distinguished from its many imitators by the long queue snaking in front. The chicken is meltingly smooth, and don't forget to try their trademark chili sauce.
Ah Balling Peanut Soup
Top off your meal with a bowl of Chinese peanut soup and rice balls, filled with your choice of peanut, sesame, yam or red bean paste.
Midrange
Hometown Restaurant
Serves up authentic Sichuanese Szechwan food, meaning fearsome quantities of dried chili, tingly Sichuan pepper, salt and oil. The tea-smoked duck $10 and mapo doufu $6 are both excellent, while bowls of dan dan noodles go for just $5. Open for lunch and dinner daily.
Fatty Ox Hong Kong Roast Duck
Aside from the obvious roast duck half/whole $16/32, or dishes with duck $8-10, this restaurant is also known for its claypot dishes and its daily-changing Chinese soups. The $5 lunches are good value, but even at dinner $20 for two is plenty. [Fatty Ox moved when Murray Terrace was renovated, and has subsequently closed down. Unsure if they have set up in a third location.]
Hankookgwan
Swish-looking two-floor Korean eatery that offers both expensive bulgogi barbeques and more reasonably priced rice and noodle dishes. Try the dolsot bibimbap rice with toppings in a sizzling stone bowl, $9/14 lunch/dinner.
Tian Jin Fong Kee
Originally a dumpling shop from northern China, this low-key eatery at the corner of the massive People's Park hawker center has mutated, in a very Singaporean way, into the favorite hangout of sailors and their Filipina/Thai girlfriends from the nearby KTV lounges, drinking San Miguel until early morning and ordering off their extensive second menu of Filipino food. Chinese eats are cheap $5-10, Filipino dishes far more expensive $25+, but they're huge and meant to be shared. Fun people-watching.
Qun Zhong Eating House
Well-known for its dumplings, above all the Beijing-style jiaozi, but the Shanghai-style xiao long bao aren't bad either. Large servings around $9, closed Wednesdays.
Tiong Shian Porridge Centre
Always-packed eatery in the heart of Chinatown, specializing in rice porridge and claypots, with a sideline in seafood dishes. Try their famous frog claypot from $8, but the squeamish may want to avoid the hoon chang — large intestine — dishes. Note your table number, then order and pay at cashier; there's more seating on the 2nd floor if the street level is full.
Top end
Da Paolo
An authentic and popular Italian restaurant known for its home-made pasta. Open daily for lunch and dinner, reservations recommended on weekends.
The Universal
A quaint fine dining restaurant with a modern take on European cuisine. Attached wine bar.
Korea Garden
The decor is grungy, staff are harried and prices are steep, but the place is often packed with Korean expats hankering for authentic home cooking.
Blue Ginger
Possibly Singapore's best-known and most expensive restaurant for very authentic Peranakan food. One of the most popular dishes is ayam buah keluak, a chicken curry dish made with candlenuts.
Uluru
This is an Aussie Steakhouse with charm aplenty. Good prices for a hearty meal. Look out for the cow uniforms on the staff.
In Chinatown there is, needless to say, plenty of Chinese food to go around! But if you hanker for something different, Tanjong Pagar is also Singapore's unofficial Korean district and there are a large number of very good Korean restaurants too, plus a sprinkling of European fine dining establishments around Club St and Duxton Hill.