Hey love!
We’re so excited to drop the very first edition of our Mini-Guides ✌🏻
Bite-sized travel guides, curated 100% by locals, featuring local neighbourhoods, top eats, places to play and culture quirks.
We’re kicking things off with Singapore 🇸🇬
Two new destinations drop every month (scroll to the bottom to discover our next destination 😉).
TL;DR:
What makes Singapore truly special is the chaotic blend of cultures you experience in a single conversation, English, Malay, Mandarin, Tamil, all mashed together into one sentence we lovingly call “Singlish”.
It’s messy, hilarious, and somehow makes perfect sense, a perfect metaphor for what Singapore really is: a beautiful collision of cultures and traditions.
And the best place to experience “Singlish” is in the heartlands: Clementi, Toa Payoh, Tiong Bahru, Yishun and beyond.
Sitting at a hawker centre in the heartlands, sipping kopi (coffee), is Singapore’s version of people watching at Parisian cafés - highly recommended!
And yes, it’s an absolute crime to leave Singapore without trying at least one local dish!
Whether it’s your first time here or your fifth, I hope this mini guide helps you see Singapore the way I do; one that’s always worth coming back to.
💸 Currency
Singapore Dollar (SGD)
☀️ Best season
February–April for lower rainfall and sunshine
💬 Languages
English (primary), Malay, Mandarin, Tamil
Back in the day, Zouk was Singapore’s version of Studio 54. Mambo Jambo nights were retro-themed parties where you’d dance and sing to classic hits from the ’80s and ’90s, a soundtrack to a whole generation of Singaporeans.
📍Clementi
Clementi is an ‘old’ dose of Singapore, the kind of place you go to get lost on purpose.
Buzzing hawker centres (open-air food courts), old-school markets, and snack shops tucked under HDB blocks, it’s everything Singapore felt like when we were growing up, before all the shiny buildings and infinity pools took over.
Pro Tip: Wander around the Clementi 448 Market & Food Centre. It’s one of the best places to soak up the Singapore heartlands.
👄 Musts:
🛒 Discounted supermarket to get a real taste of living in the heartlands
In Singapore, the real test of how good a place is? The queue. If you see a long line of locals, trust me, it’s worth it.
Chicken Rice, Roti Prata, Laksa
Here are some of my must-eats, all 100% locally owned, family-run spots:
When you grow up in an expensive, small city-state, you learn to get creative with how and where you play.
Photo credit: Marina Barrage, National Gallery Singapore, Level 33
Here are some quirky experiences that, hopefully, show you a side of Singapore beyond just Marina Bay Sands:
Former Supreme Court & City Hall, now houses the world’s largest collection of modern Southeast Asian art. Rooftop skyline 👌🏻
My must-bring spot when foreign friends visit. Killer views of Marina Bay Sands & the CBD, with a little taste of that Singapore corporate life. Reservation is a must.
BYO picnic on the Green Roof. Go just before sunset so you can catch the best of both worlds, sunset and night time skyline
My personal best-kept secret. My go-to since I was 14 for eyebrow threading and hair oil treatments. This is what Singapore is all about: living in true multiculturalism.
If you’re already in Little India, Mustafa Centre is a must. A massive Indian supermarket that open 24 hours, packed with everything from gold jewellery to snack bags the size of your body.
☕ #Culture 1: There’s a whole secret language to ordering kopi (coffee) at a kopitiam: Kopi C kosong gao → Black coffee, no sugar, extra strong.
Bro, you local?🍜 #Culture 2: Hawker centers are where Singapore’s soul lives. It’s noisy, chaotic and messy in the best way possible, it’s also where generations of Singaporeans gather, eat, and connect.
🏠 #Culture 3: HDB flats (public housing), each block has ethnic quotas. This policy was introduced in 1989 to make sure neighborhoods are diverse. It’s Singapore’s way of keeping daily life multicultural, beyond just festivals and food.
We’ve pinned all the spots mentioned in this guide so you can spend less time searching and more time exploring. Download the pre-pinned Google Map and wander Singapore like a local 👇🏻
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See you at the next destination drop… Madeira Island, Portugal 🇵🇹 on 7 October.
Till then
xoxo
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