The best shops in Singapore for food and drink

Occupying a sprawling 20,000 sq ft of space at Kitchener Complex, Mahota Commune redefines what it means to be a specialty retail store. The area is split into several key themes: kitchen, pantry, farm, market, clinic and life. At Mahota kitchen and pantry, the focus is on fuss-free, farm-to-plate produce that visitors can purchase – items like cold-pressed juices, freshly-baked bread and biodynamic wines are available. At the market, expect organic vegetables, hormone-free meats and free-range poultry. Over at Mahota Life, free meditation and yoga classes will help you find your zen, while its clinic has their own in-house TCM specialist.   

Temple Cellars is the cosy liquor store of your hipster dreams, and we do mean it quite sincerely. Its stash is devoted to craft beers, spirits, wines and sakes from small-batch producers – and there's a lot of love for the weird and wonderful. Craft beers and minimal intervention wines are their strongest suits but they also stock local goods such as meads by Rachelle The Rabbit and bottled cocktails by Sunday Punch. Tasting masterclasses happen quite regularly so keep a lookout for events via its Facebook page. 

The new kid on the Jurong block, this zero-waste grocery shopis every eco-loving Westie's dream. Located in Jurong Point, this sleek looking store offers Barilla pasta, nuts and dried goods by the bulk. Spice queens will get excited with the wide selection of spice blends from Anthony The Spice Maker in-store.

Stock up on Aussie supplies and ethically sourced produce from artisanal farmers at Little Farms. The store in Valley Point retails a colourful display of organic, farm-fresh produce, as well as pasta, milk, and preservative-free meats from Down Under. Homegrown brand The Whole Kitchen’s gluten- and refined sugar-free snacks can also be found in the aisles, next to cult favourites such as Soma Organics energy bars and Doodles Creek sauces.

Habitat by Honestbee is a 'NewGen Retail' experience with advanced technology and robots used to smoothen traffic and inconvenience. Adopting both a dining and grocery concept in a single space, Habitat is said to be 'the world's first tech-integrated multi-sensory grocery shopping experience. Make a trip down and take a peek at their automated cashless checkout process with a robotic collection. 

Set up by Sebastian and Wendy Chia for their son, Ryan, who is gluten intolerant, this GF gourmet and grocer caters to individuals with special dietary needs. Australian-trained butchers are on hand to advise on choice cuts of organically-reared, antibiotic-free and free-range meats, including those from Blackwood Valley Beef in Perth. Order on Ryan's website for home delivery. 

This stall is doing its part to show the food-obsessed how beer, too, can be an artisanal product. Among the more craft-serious beers on offer are the iconoclastic brews by Danish gypsy breweries Mikkeller, To Øl and Amager, funky Belgians, and Prairie Artisan Ales from Oklahoma.

Thirsty lays down new conventions with its range of bottled beers at prices mainly hovering between $7 and $12. From its first stand in Liang Court, Thirsty has blossomed into retail nooks in Holland Village Shopping Centre and within Tiong Bahru Bar. Both stores encourage takeaways by the six-pack, with bulk discounts sweetening the deal. The selection has an American slant, but there are also beers to water any occasion, quiet or loud.

The influx of French expats in the Serangoon neighbourhood – their international school, the Lycee Français de Singapour, has a campus in the area – comes with benefits, like this deli in Serangoon Gardens. French transplants Morgane Freyermuth and Jean-Baptiste Couty fill the narrow La Petit Boutique flanked by the local lottery shop with enough wine, cheese and home-cooking provisions from back home to soothe a homesick expat.

Aficionados of cured curds of all stripes will certainly appreciate the reasonable prices for the priced-by-weight cheeses on offer, like the 36-month-old Gouda and truffle brie that Couty flavours in a back kitchen, as well as the many little nubs of goat's cheese housed in a tumble in fridge cases. And if you're hankering to bite into a croissant, koign amman or baguette, La Petite's got you covered with a selection of pastries delivered from Tiong Bahru Bakery daily. 

This gourmet grocer makes its debut with a fifth-floor warehouse unit in the towering Tan Boon Liat Building on Outram Road. Here, the concept of the house brand is taken to gourmet levels as owners Bruce Chapman and Robert Collick (the latter owned the franchise rights to Jones the Grocer here until last year, and the former helmed operations as its general manager) commissioned a group of artisans to create Providore-branded topshelf drinks and condiments.