Singapore is a melting pot of cuisines from around the world, and many Singaporeans are obsessive gourmands who love to makan ("eat" in Malay). You will find quality Chinese, Malay, Indian, Japanese, Thai, Italian, French, American and other food in this city-state.

Eating habits run the gamut, but most foods can be eaten by fork and spoon: push and cut with the fork in the left hand, and eat with the spoon in the right. Noodles and Chinese dishes typically come with chopsticks, while Malay and Indian food can be eaten by hand, but nobody will blink an eye if you ask for a fork and spoon instead. If eating by hand, always use your right hand to pick your food as Malays and Indians traditionally use their left hand for dirty things like washing up after using the restroom. If eating in a group, serving dishes are always shared, but you will get your own bowl of rice and sometimes, soup. It is acceptable to dip your personal chopsticks or spoon back into main serving dish to take more food – even for soup.

Keep an eye out for the Singapore Food Festival, held every year in July. During the last three festivals, all visitors to Singapore smart enough to ask for them at any tourist information desk received coupons for free chilli crab, no strings attached!

Local delicacies

Singapore is justly famous for its food, a unique mix of Malay, Chinese and Indian elements.

Peranakan/Nonya cuisine

Many regional terms and the odd euphemism tend to crop up in notionally English menus. A few of the more common ones:

Assam

tamarind (Malay) – gives a sour flavour to the food

Bee hoon

thin rice noodles or vermicelli (Hokkien) – can be eaten fried, or with soup

Garoupa

grouper, a type of fish (Portuguese) the entire fish (with head and tail) can be steamed or fried

Gonggong

a type of conch (Hokkien) / shellfish

Hor fun

very wide and flat rice noodles (Cantonese) – eaten typically in a starchy sauce

Kangkung

water spinach, an aquatic vegetable (Malay)

Kway teow

flat rice noodles (Hokkien) – can be eaten fried (famous fried kway teow), or with soup

Lengkuas

blue ginger (Malay) – used as a spice in many Malay and Indian dishes

Mee

thick egg noodles – a general term used to describe yellow egg noodles.

Serai

lemon grass (Malay) – another spice used in Malay and Thai cooking

Sotong

squid/cuttlefish (Malay)

Spare parts

offal such as liver, heart, gizzard

Tang hoon

thin, transparent noodles, usually made from mung beans (Hokkien)

The most identifiable cuisine in the region is Peranakan or Nonya cuisine, born from the mixed Malay and Chinese communities of what were once the British colonies of the Straits Settlements (modern-day Singapore, Penang and Malacca).

Chilli crab is a whole crab ladled with oodles of sticky, tangy chilli sauce. Notoriously difficult to eat but irresistibly delicious: don't wear a white shirt! The seafood restaurants of the East Coast are famous for this, but most 'live seafood' restaurants (restaurants with fish tanks of live seafood displayed) can whip up a decent chilli crab. For a less messy but equally tasty alternative, ask for black pepper crab.

Kaya is a very sweet spread made from copious use of eggs and coconut, an odd-sounding but tasty combination. Served on toast for breakfast, canonically accompanied by runny eggs (soft-boiled) and strong, sweet coffee (kopi).

Laksa, in particular the Katong or lemak style, is probably the best known Singaporean dish: a fragrant soup of noodles in a coconut-based curry broth, topped with cockles or shrimp and fresh herbs. Note that Singapore laksa is very different from Penang laksa that is made with a tamarind-infused broth instead of coconut, and has a spicy sourish taste.

Mee siam is rice flour noodles (vermicelli) served with sour gravy made from tamarind, dried shrimp and fermented beans. Usually served with tau pok (bean curd) cubes and hard boiled eggs. Though the Chinese, Malays and Indians all have their own versions, it is the Peranakan version that is most popular with Singaporeans.

Popiah or spring rolls come fresh or fried. They consist of boiled turnips, fried tofu, fried shallots and garlic, chopped omelette, chopped stir fried long beans and (optional) chilli sauce, wrapped in a thin rice skin covering and eaten like a fajita. The Peranakan version replaces boiled turnips with bamboo shoots.

Rojak means a mixture of everything in Malay, and there are two very different types. Chinese rojak is a salad of pineapple, white turnip, cucumber, tau pok (fried bean curd) with thin tiny slices of bunga kantan (torch ginger flower buds), tossed in a dark-colored shrimp paste sauce and sugar, then sprinkled with crushed peanuts. Some add slices of green apple. Indian rojak consists of mainly fried fritters made from flour and various pulses with cucumber and tofu, with a thick, sweet and spicy red/orange-colored dip.

Satay bee hoon is rice vermicelli (bee hoon) served with the same peanut and chilli sauce used for satay, hence the name. Usually see hum (cockles), dried squid and pork slices are added in.

Besides these dishes, the Peranakans are also known or their kueh or snacks which are somewhat different from the Malay versions due to stronger Chinese influences. One particular snack is bak-chang, pyramid-sized glutinous rice with ingredients such as seasoned meat wrapped in leaves and cooked. Different versions of bak-chang use different types of ingredients. In one version, dried oysters are used.

Malay cuisine

Malay food originates largely from the migrants from present-day Malaysia and Indonesia. Characterized by heavy use of spices, most Malay dishes are curries, stews or dips of one kind or another and nasi padang restaurants, offering a wide variety of these to ladle onto your rice, are very popular.

Nasi lemak (lit. "fat rice") is the definitive Malay breakfast, consisting at its simplest of rice cooked in light coconut milk, some ikan bilis (anchovies), peanuts, a slice of cucumber and a dab of chilli on the side. A larger fried fish or chicken wing are common accompaniments. More often than not, also combined with a variety of curries and/or sambal (see below).

Rendang, occasionally dubbed "dry curry", is meat stewed for hours on end in a spicy (but rarely fiery) curry paste until almost all water is absorbed. Beef rendang is the most common, although chicken and mutton are spotted sometimes.

Sambal is the generic term for chilli sauces of many kinds. Sambal belacan is a common condiment made by mixing chilli with the shrimp paste belacan, while the popular dish sambal sotong consists of squid (sotong) cooked in red chilli sauce.

Satay are barbecued skewers of meat, typically chicken or beef. What separates satay from your ordinary kebab is the slightly spicy peanut-based dipping sauce. The Satay Club at Lau Pa Sat near Raffles Place is one popular location for this delicacy.

Mee rebus is egg noodles served in some sweet chilli-based broth, usually with a slice of hardboiled egg and topped with lime and sliced green chillies and fried shallots.

Malay desserts, especially the sweet pastries and jellies (kuih), are made largely from coconut and palm sugar (gula melaka), and thus bear a distinct resemblance to those of Thailand. But in the sweltering tropical heat, try one of many concoctions made with ice instead:

Bubur cha-cha consists of cubed yam, sweet potato and sago added into coconut milk soup. This can be served warm or cold.

Chendol is made with green pea noodles, kidney beans, palm sugar and coconut milk.

Durian is not exactly a dish, but a local fruit with distinctive odor you can smell a mile away. It is green, and has a sharp thorny husk. Both smell and taste defy description, but eating garlic ice cream next to an open sewer comes to mind. If you are game enough you should try it, but be warned beforehand — you will either love it or hate it. The rich creamy yellow flesh is often sold in places like Geylang and Bugis and elsewhere conveniently in pre-packaged packs, for anywhere from $1 for a small fruit all the way up to $24/kg depending on the season and type of durian. This 'king of fruits' is also made into ice cream, cakes, sweets and other decadent desserts. Note: You're not allowed to carry durians on the MRT and buses and they're banned from many hotels.

Ice kachang literally means "ice bean" in Malay, a good clue to the two major ingredients: shaved ice and sweet red beans. However, more often than not you'll also get gula melaka (palm sugar), grass jelly, sweet corn, attap palm seeds and anything else on hand thrown in, and the whole thing is then drizzled with canned condensed milk or coconut cream and colored syrups. The end result tastes very interesting — and refreshing.

Kuih (or kueh) refer to a plethora of steamed cake-like, mostly made with coconut milk, grated coconut flesh, glutinous rice or tapioca. They are often very colorful and cut into fanciful shapes, but despite their wildly varying appearance tend to taste rather similar.

Chinese cuisine

Chinese food as eaten in Singapore commonly originates from southern China, particularly Fujian. While "authentic" fare is certainly available, especially in fancier restaurants, the daily fare served in hawker centres has absorbed a number of tropical touches, most notably the fairly heavy use of chilli and the Malay fermented shrimp paste belachan as condiments. Noodles can also be served not just in soup ("tang"), but also "dry" ("kan"), meaning that your noodles will be served tossed with chilli and spices (or tomato sauce, if you ask nicely) in one bowl, and the soup will come in a separate bowl.

Bak chor mee is essentially noodles with minced pork, tossed in a chilli-based sauce with lard, ikan bilis (fried anchovies), vegetables and mushrooms. In some versions, black vinegar is added for an extra kick.

Bak kut teh, literally means "pork bone tea", is a simple-sounding soup of pork ribs simmered for hours in broth until they're ready to fall off the bone. Singaporeans prefer the light and peppery Teochew style, but a few shops offer the original dark and aromatic Fujian kind. Bak kut teh is typically eaten with white rice, mui choy (pickled vegetables) and a pot of strong Chinese tea, hence the name — the broth itself doesn't contain any tea. To impress the locals, order some you tiao fritters from a nearby stall and cut them up into bite-sized chunks to dip into your soup.

Char kway teow is the quintessential Singapore-style fried noodle dish, consisting of several types of noodles in thick brown sauce with strips of fishcake, Chinese sausage, a token veggie or two and either cockles and shrimp. It's cheap ($2-3/serve), filling and has nothing to do with the dish known as "Singaporean fried noodles" elsewhere! (And which actually doesn't exist in Singapore.)

Chee cheong fun is a favorite breakfast consisting of lasagna-type rice noodles rolled up and steamed with various types of fillings – from barbercued pork ("char siew") to fresh prawns. The dish is usually topped with a generous amount of sweet or savoury sauce.

Chwee kway is a dish consisting of steamed rice cakes topped with chai po (salted fermented turnips), usually served with some chilli sauce.

Fish ball noodles come in many forms, but the type most often seen is mee pok, which consists of flat egg noodles tossed in chilli sauce, with the fishballs floating in a separate bowl of soup on the side. Many hawker vendors also toss in fish cakes and little bits of minced pork.

Hainanese chicken rice is steamed chicken served with special gently spiced rice and tasty ginger and chilli dipping sauces. The chicken taste is very simple, the enjoyment is in its texture – proud chicken rice stall owners spend many hours labouring over the hot stove over this. The 'tasty' aspect of chicken rice is in the rice and the sauces!

Hokkien mee is a style of soupy fried noodles in light, fragrant stock with prawns and other seafood. Oddly, it bears little resemblance to the Malaysian dish of the same name, which uses thick noodles in dark soy.

Kway chap is essentially sheets made of rice flour served in some brownish soup, accompanied by a plate of braised pork and pig organs (usually intestines). If you do not like pig innards, you can ask for the dish without them; other ingredients include tau kwa (bean curd) and egg.

Prawn noodles (hei mee in Hokkien) is a prawn-based dark brown soup served with noodles and a giant tiger prawn or two on top. Some stalls will serve it with boiled pork ribs as well.

Steamboat, also known as hot pot, is do-it-yourself soup meal Chinese style. You get a pot of broth bubbling on a tabletop burner, pick meat, fish and veggies to your liking from a menu or buffet table, then cook it to your liking. When finished, add in noodles or ask for rice to fill you up. This usually requires a minimum of two people, and the more the merrier.

Wanton mee is thin noodles topped with wanton dumplings of seasoned minced pork, and usually served with barbercued pork (char siew). Dumpling noodles is a variation of this dish. Dumplings are also made of seasoned minced pork, and in some cases, prawns or bamboo shoots or other ingredients are mixed with the filling. Dumplings are also much larger than wantons.

Yong tau foo literally means "boiled tofu", but it's more exciting than it sounds. The diner selects their favorites from a vast assortment of tofu, fish paste, seafood and vegetables and they are then sliced into bite-size pieces, cooked briefly in boiling water and then served either in broth as soup or "dry" with the broth in a separate bowl. The dish can be eaten by itself or with any choice of noodles. Essential accompaniments are spicy chilli sauce and a distinctive brown sweet sauce for dipping.

Indian cuisine

The smallest of the area's minorities, the Indians have had proportionally the smallest impact on the local culinary scene, but there is no shortage of Indian food even at many hawker centres. Delicious and authentic Indian food can be had at Little India, including south Indian typical meals such as dosai, idli, sambar, and others, as well as north Indian meals including various curries, naan bread, and more. In addition, however, a number of Indian dishes have been "Singaporeanized" and adopted by the entire population, including:

Fish head curry is, true to the name, a gigantic curried fish head cooked whole until it's ready to fall apart. The head itself is not eaten, as there's plenty of meat to be found inside and all around. Singapore's Little India is the place to sample this. Note that there are two distinct styles, the fiery Indian and the milder Chinese kind. In both cases, the curry is cooked with vegetables (usually tomatoes, ladyfingers/okra and/or brinjals/eggplants).

Nasi briyani is rice cooked in turmeric, giving it an orange colour. Unlike the Hyderabadi original, it's usually rather bland, although specialist shops do turn out more flavorful versions. It is usually served with curry chicken and some Indian crackers.

Roti prata is the local version of paratha, flat bread tossed in the air like pizza, rapidly cooked in oil, and eaten dipped in curry. Modern-day variations can incorporate unorthodox ingredients like cheese, chocolate and even ice cream, but some canonical versions include roti kosong (plain), roti telur (with egg) and murtabak (layered with chicken, mutton or fish). Strict vegetarians beware: unlike Indian roti, roti prata batter is usually made with eggs.

Putu mayam is composed of some vermicelli-like noodles usually mixed with shredded coconut and some orange sugar.

Hawker centres

One thing notably absent from Singaporean cheap eateries is any form of napkins or tissues. The solution to the mystery is in Singapore's lack of government welfare: instead, every hawker centre has a resident invalid or two, who make a living by selling tissues ($1 for a few packets).

The cheapest and most popular places to eat in Singapore are hawker centres, essentially former pushcart vendors directed into giant complexes by government fiat. Prices are low ($2-5 for most dishes), hygiene standards are high (every stall is required to prominently display a health certificate grading it from A to D) and the food can be excellent — if you see a queue, join it! Ambience tends to be a little lacking though and there is no air-conditioning either, but a visit to a hawker centre is a must when in Singapore. However, be leery of overzealous pushers-cum-salesmen, especially at the Satay Club in Lau Pa Sat and Newton Food Centre at Newton Circus: the tastiest stalls don't need high-pressure tactics to find customers.

To order, first chope (reserve) a table by parking a friend by the table, note the table's number, then place your order at your stall of choice. They'll deliver to your table, and you pay when you get the food. Note that some stalls (particularly very popular ones) have signs stating "self-service", meaning that you're expected to get your food yourself — but if it's quiet or you're sitting nearby they'll usually deliver anyway. At almost every stall you can also opt to take away (called "packet" or da pao), in which case they'll pack up your order in a plastic box/bag and even throw in disposable utensils. Once finished, just get up and go, as tables are cleared by hired cleaners.

Every district in Singapore has its own hawker centres and prices decrease as you move out into the boonies. For tourists, centrally located Newton Circus (Newton MRT), Gluttons Bay and Lau Pa Sat (near the River), are the most popular options — but this does not make them the cheapest or the tastiest, and the demanding gourmand would do well to head to Chinatown instead. Old Airport Road is another place for good hawker food. Some of Singapore's favourite eating places (that are cheap and oh so good!) are located in the heartlands like Bedok, Toa Payoh or Geylang. And if you miss western food, Botak Jones in several hawker centers offer reasonably authentic and generously sized American-restaurant style meals at hawker prices.

Coffee shops

Coffee and tea in hawker centers and kopitiam goes for under a dollar a cup, a steep discount on Starbucks prices, but you'll need to learn the lingo to get what you want. If you order just kopi (the Malay word for "coffee") or teh (Hokkien for "tea") in Singapore, it will definitely be served with a heaped spoonful of sugar, and more often than not with a squirt of condensed milk. Kopi-C or teh-C guarantees the milk dose, while kopi-O/teh-O makes sure it's served without. To get rid of the sugar, you need to ask for it kosong ("plain"), but if you want a plain black cup of joe, you need to ask for kopi-O kosong! If you want your drink cold, just add a 'peng' to the end of the drink name, eg. kopi-O-peng, teh-peng, teh-C-peng, Milo-peng etc, and it will be served with ice.

Despite the name, coffee shops or kopitiam sell much more than coffee — they are effectively mini-hawker centres with perhaps only half a dozen stalls (one of which will, however, sell coffee and other drinks). The Singaporean equivalent of pubs, this is where folks come for the canonical Singaporean breakfast of kopi (strong, sugary coffee), some kaya (egg-coconut jam) toast and runny eggs, and this is also where they come to down a beer or two and chat away in the evenings.

For those who wish to have restaurant style service with a distinctly Singaporean atmosphere, many coffee shops sell tsu cha for dinner, which is essentially various dishes being served to your table like they do at Chinese restaurants, though the food is usually cheaper and much more localised than restaurant food. Popular dishes include sam lo hor fun, prawn paste chicken and many others. The secret to eating well at these places lie in the ability to order well – learn the names of the dishes that you like to eat, and when eating out with the locals, ask what is the name of the dish. In many cases, when ordering, ask the server what are the most well-known / signature dishes.

The usual Starbucks and other local cafe chains such as Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf can be found in any shopping mall but an iced coffee or tea can put you back $5 and up, whereas a teh tarik ("pulled" milky tea) or kopi coffee runs closer to $1 at any hawker centre.

Food courts

Found in the basement or top floor of nearly every shopping mall, food courts are the gentrified, air-conditioned version of hawker centres. The food offered is much the same but prices are on average $1-2 higher. These food courts are popular lunch options for the office workers who avoid the heat by staying in air-conditioned places.

Hawker-food die-hards will observe that the best foods are still served in hawker centers, as these stalls tend to be run by the 'original' chefs or cooks who have been stirring up the dish for years. Many long-running stall owners take a great deal of pride to serve up their food, and some of them have won awards by food critics and foodies. Look out for newspaper or magazine cuttings that are placed prominently at the windows of the stalls.

Fast food

International fast food chains like McDonald's, Carl's Jr., Burger King, KFC, MOS Burger, Dairy Queen, Orange Julius, Subway etc are commonly found in various shopping malls. Prices range from $2 for a basic burger and $5 upwards for a set meal. All restaurants are self-service and clearing your table after your meal is optional. In addition to the usual suspects, look out for these uniquely Singaporean brands:

Bengawan Solo. Singapore version of Indonesian cakes, Chinese pastries and everything in between. The name is taken from the name of a famous river in Java. This bakery chain sells beautifully-wrapped Chinese cookies and other pastries that make wonderful gifts.

BreadTalk. This self-proclaimed "designer bread" chain has taken not just Singapore but much of South-East Asia by storm. Everything is jazzily shaped, funkily named (eg. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Bacon) and baked fresh on the premises. Just note that, to the Western palate, most everything is rather sweet and soft.

Jollibean. Fresh soy drinks, beancurd and tasty mee chiang kueh Chinese pancakes.

Killiney Kopitiam. Serves kaya toast, kopi and ginger tea (with ice or without); waiters at the original Somerset location shout your order towards the back with gusto. There are several chains throughout Singapore, and the decor sets you back to Singapore in the 1960s without the noise or dirt.

Old Chang Kee. Famous for their curry puffs, but their range now covers anything and everything deep-fried. Take-away only. Great (and greasy) afternoon snacks.

Ya Kun Kaya. Serves the classic Singaporean breakfast all day long: kaya toast, runny eggs and strong, sweet coffee (plus some other drinks). Similar to the Kiliney Kopitam chain.

Restaurants

Singapore offers a wide variety of full-service restaurants as well, catering to every taste and budget.

As the majority of Singapore's population is ethnic Chinese, there is an abundance of Chinese restaurants in Singapore, mainly serving southern Chinese (mostly Hokkien, Teochew or Cantonese) cuisines. As with Chinese restaurants anywhere, food is eaten with chopsticks and served with Chinese tea. While Chinese restaurant food is certainly closer to authentic Chinese fare than hawker food is, it too has not managed to escape local influences and you can find many dishes little seen in China. Depending on where you go and what you order, prices can vary greatly. In ordinary restaurants, prices usually start from $20-30 per person, while in top end restaurants in five-star hotels, prices can go as high as more than $300 per person if you order delicacies such as abalone, suckling pig and lobster.

Being a maritime city one common specialty is seafood restaurants, offering Chinese-influenced Singaporean classics like chilli crabs. These are much more fun to go to in a group, but be careful what you order: gourmet items like Sri Lankan giant crab or shark's fin can easily push your bill up to hundreds of dollars. Menus typically say "Market price", and if you ask they'll quote you the price per 100g, but a big crab can easily top 2 kilos. The best-known seafood spots are clustered on the East Coast, but for ambience the riverside restaurants at Boat Quay and Clarke Quay are better, although the quality of food differs. Take note that when eating in Chinese restaurants, tea, towels and pickles (or peanuts or any other starter dish that is usually placed on the table before you order your food) are included in your bill. If you do not wish to pay for them, ask them to remove the items before you start eating. These items are included, together with the service charge (10%) and prevailing GST (if applicable, currently at 7%).

Singapore also has its share of good Western restaurants, with British and American influenced food being a clear favourite among locals. Most of the more affordable chains are concentrated around Orchard Road and prices are around $10-20 per person for the main course. French, Italian, Korean, Japanese and Northern Indian cuisines are also readily available, though prices tend to be on the expensive side, while Thai and Indonesian restaurants tend to be more affordable.

One British import much beloved by Singaporeans is high tea. In the classical form, as served up by finer hotels across the island, this is a light afternoon meal consisting of tea and a wide array of British-style savoury snacks and sweet pastries like finger sandwiches and scones. However, the term is increasingly used for afternoon buffets of any kind, and Chinese dim sum and various Singaporean dishes are common additions. Prices vary, but you'll usually be looking at $20-30 per head. Note that many restaurants only serve high tea on weekends, and hours may be very limited: the famous spread at the Raffles Hotel's Tiffin Room, for example, is only available between 3:30 PM and 5 PM.

Singaporeans are big on buffets, especially international buffets offering a wide variety of dishes from Western to Chinese and Japanese as well as some local food at a fixed price. Popular chains include Sakura, Pariss and Vienna.

Most hotels also offer lunch and dinner buffets. Champagne brunches on Sundays are particularly popular, but you can expect to pay over $100 per head and popular spots, like Mezza9 at the Hyatt on Orchard, will require reservations.

Dietary restrictions

Singapore is an easy place to eat for almost everybody. Many Indians and a number of Chinese Buddhists are strictly vegetarian, so every Indian stall will have a number of veggie options and most hawker centres will have a Chinese vegetarian stall or two, often serving up amazing meat imitations made from gluten. Be on your guard in ordinary Chinese restaurants though, as even dishes that appear vegetarian on the menu may contain seafood products like oyster sauce or salted fish — check with the waiter if in doubt.

Muslims should look out for halal certificates issued by MUIS, the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore. This is found at practically every Malay stall and many Indian Muslim operations too, but more rarely on outlets run by the Chinese, few of whom are Muslims. That said, the popular Banquet chain of food courts is entirely halal and an excellent choice for safely sampling halal Chinese food. Many, if not all, of the Western fast-food chains in Singapore use halal meat: look for a certificate around the ordering area, or ask a manager if in doubt. A few restaurants skimp on the formal certification and simply put up "no pork, no lard" signs; it's your call if this is good enough for you.

Drink

Singapore's nightlife isn't quite a match for Patpong, but it's no slouch either! Some clubs have 24-hour licenses and few places close before 3 AM. Any artist touring Asia are pretty much guaranteed to stop in Singapore, with superclub Zouk in particular regularly clocking high on lists of the world's best nightclubs. Two new additions to the night scene - St James Power Station and Ministry of Sound give party animals even more reason to dance the night away. Singapore's nightlife is largely concentrated along the three Quays — Boat, Clarke and Robertson — of the Riverside, plus nearby Mohammed Sultan Road. Drinking age is 18, and while this is surprisingly loosely enforced, some clubs have higher age limits.

Friday is generally the biggest night of the week for going out, with Saturday a close second. Sunday is gay night in many bars and clubs, while Wednesday or Thursday is ladies' night, often meaning not just free entrance but free drinks for women. Most clubs are closed on Monday and Tuesday, while bars generally stay open but tend to be very quiet.

For a night out Singapore style, gather a group of friends and head for the nearest karaoke box — major chains include K-Box and Party World. Room rental ranges from SGD$30/hour and up. Note that the non-chain, glitzy-looking, neon-covered KTV lounges may charge much higher rates and the short-skirted hostesses may offer more services than just pouring your drinks. Note that in Singapore, the pronunciation of karaoke follows the Japanese "karah-oh-kay" instead of the Western "carry-oh-key".

Alcohol

Alcohol is widely available, but is very expensive due to Singapore's heavy sin taxes. Tax-free at Changi Airport, on the other hand, has some of the best prices in the world; you can bring in up to one liter each of liquor, wine and beer. Careful shopping at major supermarkets will also throw up common basic New World (read: Oz) wine labels on special prices in the mid to late teens.

Prices when eating out vary. You can enjoy a large bottle of beer of your choice at a coffee shop or hawker center for less than SGD$6 (and the local colour comes thrown in for free). On the other hand, drinks in any bar, club or fancy restaurant remain extortionate, with a basic drink clocking in at SGD$10-15 while fancy cocktails would usually be in the SGD$15-25 range. On the upside, happy hours and two-for-one promotions are common, and the entry price for clubs usually includes several drink tickets. Almost all restaurants in Singapore allow bringing your own (BYO) wine and cheaper restaurants without a wine menu usually don't even charge corkage, although in these places you'll need to bring your own bottle opener and glasses. Fancier places charge SGD$20-50, although many offer free corkage days on Monday or Tuesday.

Tourists flock to the Long Bar in the Raffles Hotel to sample the original Singapore Sling, a sickly sweet pink mix of pineapple juice, gin and more, but locals (almost) never touch the stuff. The tipple of choice in Singapore is the local beer, Tiger, a rather ordinary lager, but there's been a recent microbrewery boom with Archipelago (Boat Quay), Brewerkz (Riverside Point), Paulaner Brauhaus (Millennia Walk) and Pump Room (Clarke Quay) all offering interesting alternatives! Some clubs have 24-hour licenses and few places close before 3 AM. Any artist touring Asia are pretty much guaranteed to stop in Singapore, with superclub Zouk in particular regularly clocking high on lists of the world's best nightclubs. Two new additions to the night scene - St James Power Station and Ministry of Sound give party animals even more reason to dance the night away. Singapore's nightlife is largely concentrated along the three Quays — Boat, Clarke and Robertson — of the Riverside, plus nearby Mohammed Sultan Road. Drinking age is 18, and while this is surprisingly loosely enforced, some clubs have higher age limits.