Best zi char restaurants in Singapore

Think of this as Singapore’s savviest zi char restaurant. Despite its rural Pulau Ubin beginnings in 1986, this wok shop’s kept up with the times. Unlikely bestsellers include the US Black Angus ribeye ($14/100g) and Carabinero prawn sashimi ($18/prawn). The smoky crisp shell on the mid-rare ribeye trumps most other specialist steakhouses in the CBD, and each serving comes with a side of glistening fried rice, wafting with a wok hei only a master could muster. Sri Lankan crabs ($42/500g, $58/800g) come with the option of 11 sauces that range from the recommended salted egg and chilli, to spicy masala and cream butter. The more traditional Chinese-style steamed fish ($6-$6.50/100g) are still reared and caught off the Ubin coast.

This is the quintessentially modern zi char that packs comfort food for the new generation – book well ahead.

Two Chefs requires a trek deep into Commonwealth, but it’s a chance to dine in one of Singapore’s oldest housing estates. The food turned out by its two Ipoh-born owners, on the other hand, is decidedly more modern. The raved-about butter pork ribs ($8) lives up to its hype, with tender boneless cuts of meat showered with a milky, salty dust that’ll have you musing, ‘Milk powder, or magic?’

Their other invention, cold cockles ($7) marinated in vinegar, garlic, chilli padi and spring onions, doubles as a bar snack for your kopitiam lager, and the spinach with chicken, salted duck and century eggs ($8-$14) a decent and cheaper substitute of your Cantonese restaurant favourite.