5 Best Wet Markets in Singapore to Immerse in Local Culture

Living | January 08, 2021

Image: Choo Yut Shing

To most locals, wet market is a destination for freshest produce while it is a must-see attraction for a cultural experience to tourists.

In Singapore, wet market is so-called because people clean the floors with water after washing vegetables or cleaning fish, and thus it is often wet. However, a typical wet market is not totally wet. There are two sections in each wet market – the wet area and the dry area. Products such as meat, poultry, and fish are selling at the wet section while herbs, spices, grain, beans, dried noodles, and dried seafood are available at the dry area.

Most of the wet markets open at 04:00 and close around noon. So the best time to explore Singapore’s wet markets is in the early morning as that is when the fresh produce is at its best.

For bargain hunters, Singapore wet market is one of your places.

So, just roll up your trouser cuffs and have an interesting experience with the 5 best wet markets in Singapore.

1. Tekka Wet Market

Address
665 Buffalo Rd, L1 Tekka Centre, Singapore 210665
Opening hours
Daily 06:30 – 17:00

Built in 1982 and closed for a significant renovation in 2008, Tekka Wet Market was reopened in 2009. Since then it has been a clean and well-organized place, offering a refreshing environment for shopping. Its location in Little India, a vibrant and colorful area in Singapore, has made it a good advantage of Tekka Market.

Highlights

Singapore’s most culturally rich market: Tekka Market is a place to be if you want to know more about Singaporeans and our way of living. Step into this most vibrant and colorful wet market, you will hear a hum of voices in various languages, from English to Hokkien, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil. Each of the ethnic communities still maintains their unique way of life with their culinary cultures, so this market is a place to observe and learn more about life in Singapore.
Almost anything for your grocery needs is available here: Being the largest wet market in Singapore with 284 stalls, Tekka Market offers fresh produce and dry goods for all kinds of needs, even shark fins, which rarely found at a wet market.
Long operating hours: While most of Singapore’s wet markets close around noon, Tekka Market opens till late afternoon. The longer it is, the more opportunities we have to fulfill our different needs.
A 3-in-1 destination: Situated at Tekka Centre, home to a wet market, a food court, and a shopping area, Tekka Market is considered a one-stop destination where you can buy groceries, have good foods, and do shopping without traveling from place to place.

WHAT ARE ON OFFER:

Fresh vegetables & herbs: A huge and beautiful selection of Asian vegetables and herbs is on offer, including those belonging to Indian, Sri Lankan, Chinese, Thai, and other cuisine cultures.
Fruit: It is a tropical fruit lovers’ paradise where you can find pineapples, bananas, mangoes, jackfruits, rambutans, guavas, starfruit, longans, mangosteens, and durians.
Fish & seafood: Huge Sri Lanka crabs, prawns of all sizes, squid, tuna, salmon, mackerel, sea bass, and a wide variety of crustaceans
Meat & poultry: Mutton, lamb, goat, beef, pork, chicken, and others are on sale. Butchers at Tekka Market are meticulous, they are pleased to follow your orders like cutting the meat up into your desired sizes.
Spices: Chinese, Indian, Malaysian and Thai spices are available.
Fresh flowers and pots are on offer.

PRICES: Prices at Tekka Market are relatively competitive. Chicken, beef, and fish are offered at better prices than others.

FOOD COURT: The big food court situated on the same level with the wet market is a good place to have breakfast, lunch or drinks when you are at Tekka Centre. As in any hawker centre in Singapore, you can find there usual Chinese, Western, Indian and Muslim food stalls. Among those, Indian food stalls are the standouts. Chicken briyani, fish biryani, tandoori chicken, roti prata and ginger hot tea are highly recommended. If you don’t know what stalls offer good foods, just choose a long queuing line to join. In Singapore, a long queue is often a sign of delicious foods.

NOTES:

Cash only
The freshest vegetables are often offered on Tuesday or Friday mornings.

2. Chinatown Wet Market

Image: Choo Yut Shing

Address
Chinatown Complex, 335 Smith Street,
Singapore 050335
Opening hours
Daily 08:00 to 12:00

Chinatown Wet Market is one of the most exotic wet markets in Singapore. Situated at the iconic Chinatown Complex along Smith Street, this wet market still retains its Chinese heritage and cultural elements.

Highlights

A part of Chinese culture in Chinatown: Located in Chinatown Singapore, Chinatown Wet Market has a vibrant atmosphere of this ethnic neighborhood. You can find typical Chinese cooking ingredients like Chinese vegetables, herbs, and spices and have a chance to observe the way Chinese people doing business as well.
A place to buy live shellfish: Whether you want to find expensive stuff like crabs and lobsters or more affordable ones like cockles, clams, and prawns, you can get them at Chinatown Wet Market. The array of big, live crabs and lobsters in plastic crates is impressive.
A market for exotic meats: Live frogs, eels, and even turtles are meat ingredients in some special recipes of the locals. If you want to taste something different and delicious without learning any exotic recipes, you can try the popular frog porridge at these places.

WHAT ARE ON OFFER?

Vegetables with a main focus on Asian varieties
Chinese herbs
Tropical fruit
Fresh meats
Poultry
Live seafood
Dry goods
Spices
Preserved foods
Homemade tofu and mock meat

PRICES: For the same purchased items, prices are cheaper in comparison with supermarkets’.

ATMOSPHERE: Chinatown Wet Market gathers Chinese Singaporeans, especially senior residents flocking to get their favorite food ingredients. So, the hum of voices from various Chinese dialects is in the air. This market is colorful with a beautiful array of fresh vegetables, fruit, and spices and exciting with the typical smells of a wet market.

PLUS POINT: Chinatown Complex Food Centre, located at the same level with the market, is one of the best hawker centres in Singapore. It offers tasty and popular dishes such as chicken rice, popiah, bee hoon, and fishball noodles.

NOTES:

Come early for the best selection
Bargain for better prices

3. Tiong Bahru Wet Market

Address
30 Seng Poh Road, Singapore 168898
Opening hours
Daily from early morning to 13:00

Tiong Bahru Wet Market is well known as one of the markets for the freshest produce in Singapore. At some of its stalls, produce is packaged like the way it is in supermarkets to make it more convenient for shoppers.

Highlights

A traditional market drawing an international crowd: Tiong Bahru Wet Market is popular among international residents, especially expats living in Singapore. You will be impressed with a variety of Western fresh produce available there. Australian and New Zealand beef at half the price of the supermarkets’ is a highlight of this market.
A place to get flowers, especially orchids at reasonable prices: At one of the market’s entrances, there are a few floral stalls selling fresh-cut orchids and orchid plants with a beautiful selection at reasonable prices. An orchid branch is offered at prices from 40 cents to 1.20 Singapore dollars, depending on the varieties.
Breakfast, shopping, lunch, coffee, and bookstores: If you want to spend a whole weekend day enjoying those listed things available at Tiong Bahru Estate, you can do it because Tiong Bahru Wet Market is in close proximity to the area’s dazzling coffee shops, restaurants, and bookstores.

WHAT ARE ON OFFER?

Vegetables
Tropical fruit
Meats
Poultry
Cheeses
Fish
Shellfish
Eggs
Tofu
Dry goods
Spices

ATMOSPHERE: Tiong Bahru Wet Market features modern shopping facilities with a good ventilating system and ample walkways. The shopkeepers are friendly and helpful with their ready smiles to warmly welcome people.

PLUS POINT: Above the wet market is the famous Tiong Bahru Food Centre, one of the best hawker centres in Singapore. This famous food court is home to a lot of delicious and wallet-friendly local foods such as the Michelin-starred Hokkien mee (Hong Heng Fried Sotong Prawn Noodles stall), roasted sliced duck, lor mee, fried kway teow, chwee kueh, wonton soup, and pig’s organ soup.

NOTES:

Come early for the best selection
Bargain to get better prices

GETTING THERE:

Buses: 5, 16, 33, 63, 123, 195, 851, and NR5 (Walk 1 min from bus stop B10141)
Nearest MRT station: Tiong Bahru MRT (EW17) (Walk 8 mins from Exit B)

4. Geylang Serai Wet Market

Address
1 Geylang Serai, Singapore 402001
Opening hours
Daily 06:30 – 12.00 (Wet market)
Daily 08:00 - 22:00 (Food centre)

Geylang Serai Market is one of the biggest and busiest wet markets in Singapore. Since 1964, this market has been a focal point for the local Malay community, with a good selection of Malay and Indian-Muslim specialties on offer.

Highlights

A market in a traditional Malay kampong house: Situated in the heart of the Singapore Malay community, Geylang Serai Market plays the focal role of a hub celebrating Malay culture in its way. After the renovation, this market is dressed in a cultural suit – a traditional Malay kampong house. Together with Malay spices and foods offered there, the building’s pattern and structure say the celebrating word.
Offering ingredients for cooking Malay culture-rich dishes: This market is where many Malay Singaporeans get ingredients to prepare traditional dishes. If you are looking for peeled and blended tapioca for making kueh, Geylang Serai Market is a place to check out.
Malay spices and Middle Eastern spices: Geylang Serai Market supplies all sorts of Malay spices and a variety of spices from the Middle East. Visit BB Spices (stall 01-166) to get cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon and many more.
Best Malay food: The second floor of Geylang Serai Market is home to hundreds of food stalls with a main focus on Malay and Indian cuisine. This is the best food court to enjoy Malay dishes such as asam pedas stingray (spicy stingray), beef rendang (spicy beef), ikan terubok (fried fish) and goreng pisang (banana fritters).

WHAT ARE ON OFFER?

Vegetables
Fruit
Fresh meats
Poultry
Live seafood
Tofu
Spices
Eggs
Dry goods
Noodles
An array of fabrics and decorative materials

PRICES: Prices here are among the lowest in Singapore, especially fish prices.

ATMOSPHERE: Reopened in 2010, the new Geylang Serai Market has become brighter and cleaner but the atmosphere of the old traditional market still remains. This vibrant place is where middle-aged shoppers come to do their daily shopping and young people come for good foods at weekends.

NOTES:

Come early for the best selection
Bargain for better prices
At spice stalls, you can get dazzling curry recipes from the owners
Pork is not on offer at this market

GETTING THERE:

Buses: 2, 7, 13, 21, 24, 26, 28, 30, 51, 67, 154, 155 and NR7 (Walk 1 min from bus stop B82049)
Nearest MRT station: Eunos MRT (EW7) (Walk 8 mins from Exit B)

5. Senoko Fishery Port

Address
31 Attap Valley Road, Singapore 759908
Phone
+65 62579760 / 62576721
Opening hours
Tue - Sun from 02:00 to 06:00

Senoko Fishery Port is one of the two fishery ports operated by the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore. This wholesale fish market gets stocks from local fish trawlers, in-shore vessels and fish farms as well as imported sources, and distributes to markets, supermarkets, food courts and restaurants across Singapore. Besides the fish market, there are other facilities at Senoko Fishery Port, including a canteen where shoppers can have some foods and coffee to boost energy.

Highlights

Venturing into another world of wet market: People may know typical wet markets in Singapore, but not everyone notices the existence of another kind of wet markets, different from what normally seen regarding location, operating hours and on offer products. It is interesting to make an outing to Senoko Fishery Port to take in the bustling picture of a wholesale market, supplying fish and shellfish to Singapore’s food scene. Embarking on this journey involves staying out late, but it is a chance to do things differently, observe and capture frenetic activities at a wet market while the dark of the night is surrounding.
Fresh seafood at wholesale prices: Venture and get freshest ingredients for a seafood barbecue. Does it sound good? Choose your favorite seafood after feasting your eyes on an amazing selection of sea creatures, and treat your beloved to a seafood party in the afternoon. The good news is its wholesale prices.

WHAT ARE ON OFFER?
Being a wholesale fish market supplying seafood for food courts, restaurants, and even wet markets in Singapore, Senoko Fishery Port offers seafood of all types and sizes. You can find there a wide range of fish, squids, mud crabs, flower crabs, crayfish, prawns, scallops, mussels, clams, cucumbers, and many more. These offers come from both the locally caught and imported sources. Two kilograms per type of seafood is the common minimum purchase at this market.

ATMOSPHERE: Like any of Singapore’s wet markets, Senoko Fishery Port is wet, slippery, and crowded. Smell of the sea flying in the air, tons of numerous types of seafood on the floor, traditional weighing scales hanging from the stall beams, and fish merchants in action. These all make up a labour picture that not everyone has ever seen in his life.

NOTES: