Pasar Malam Food Tier List: What Is Worth the Queue

S-tier: tutu kueh, kebab, tornado potato, Ramly burger

These four are the reason you walk the whole stretch instead of stopping at the first stall. Tutu kueh only works fresh, straight off the steamer, and a pasar malam is one of the few places you get it that way rather than sitting in a plastic box. The kebab stall is the best value on the row and nobody argues about it. Tornado potato is pure fairground engineering and it is worth the two minutes it stays crisp. The Ramly burger is a Malaysian import, wrapped in egg, mashed flat under a spatula, and it tastes like a night market rather than a food court, which is exactly the job. If you want a specific market to test this on, we walked the Pasir Ris pasar malam and the same stalls turn up.

A-tier: chicken skin, cup corn, muah chee

Chicken skin is the one we would actually fight for. Deep-fried in sheets, salted hard, and gone before you finish the walk back to the car. It only misses S-tier because a bad stall serves it soft and then it is genuinely unpleasant. Cup corn is the most reliable thing at any pasar malam, the same in 2004 as it is now, and there is something to be said for that. Muah chee is A-tier if the peanut is freshly ground and B-tier the moment it is not, so look at the peanut tray before you commit.

B-tier: Thai milk tea, vadai, sugarcane juice, imitation sharksfin soup

Nothing wrong with any of these, they just are not why you came. Thai milk tea from a giant urn is dependable and sweet enough to end the night on. Vadai is better than its reputation and the prawn ones are worth the extra. Sugarcane juice is a hot-night fix rather than a craving. Imitation sharksfin soup is the odd one, a whole soup stall in the middle of a snack market, and it earns its spot for the people who want something warm that is not fried.

C-tier: fishball and otah

Not bad food. Just food you can get anywhere, any day, without walking through a crowd. The skewered fishballs are the same ones in your fridge with a sauce brushed on. Otah at a pasar malam is usually reheated rather than grilled to order, and once you have had it properly charred over coals the difference is obvious. Spend the slot on something you cannot buy at the supermarket.

FAQs

What is the best food at a Singapore pasar malam?

Our top four are tutu kueh, kebab, tornado potato and the Ramly burger. They are the items that are either better fresh off the stall or hard to find elsewhere, which is what a night market should be for.

What is a Ramly burger?

A Malaysian street burger built around a Ramly patty, wrapped in a thin fried egg and pressed flat on the griddle with margarine and sauces. It is a night market staple in Malaysia and has been a pasar malam fixture in Singapore for years.

What is tutu kueh?

A small steamed rice flour cake filled with ground peanut or grated coconut, steamed in a cloth-lined mould and served on a piece of pandan leaf. It is best eaten within a few minutes of coming off the steamer, which is why the pasar malam version beats the packaged one.

Which pasar malam foods are overrated?

We put skewered fishball and otah in C-tier. Both are fine, but you can buy either any day of the week, and pasar malam otah is usually reheated rather than grilled to order.