The Best Places to Eat in Singapore's Changi Airport

28.06.2024 - 11:29 / cntraveler.com

This article is part of our airport food survival guide, which includes tips and tricks—even a hot take or two—that challenge the notion that airport meals are always dull, overpriced, and tasteless.

Changi Airport is many things: super-efficient aviation hub, surreal tropical garden, shopping haven. But for locals, it will first and foremost always be a sprawling celebration of food. This is where we load up on chicken rice and kopi (robust local coffee) before a trip; where we get our fix of bak chor mee (springy minced meat noodles tossed in mouth-puckering, piquant gravy) or kaya toast when we land; where we meet for meals even when we don’t have a flight to catch.

With nearly 200 dining outlets dotted across four terminals and the iconic glass-domed mall called Jewel, Changi is one airport where the challenge lies not in scoring a decent meal, but deciding where to eat. To save you the legwork, here’s our guide to the best restaurants and where to eat in Changi Airport.

Local celebrity chef Violet Oon’s elegant eponymous temple to Peranakan cuisine in Singapore’s National Gallery is a fixture in most travel guides, but her charming branch on Jewel’s first floor is a convenient alternative for travelers. Must-orders include the dry laksa (a spiced noodle dish), and the complex chicken buah keluak made with an Indigenous lethal nut that’s detoxed before cooking. Meanwhile, the lively vibes and sharing portions at Jumbo Seafood (L3 Jewel) are great for larger groups. This is where you’ll find authentic chili crab, one of Singapore’s national dishes, with lashings of gravy best mopped up with fluffy mantou buns.

For a different communal-style meal, head to Beauty In The Pot (B2 Jewel), where giant hot pots brimming with savory and spicy soups are served to share. The restaurant is open until 3 a.m. daily, making this a convenient choice for those with flights at inconvenient hours. Come the third quarter of 2024, the refined Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck will open a new outlet on the first floor of Jewel, offering its trademark Peking duck pancakes alongside elevated Cantonese dishes.

Local café chain PS Cafe is famous for its decadent cakes and shoestring truffle fries showered in shaved parmesan, but its Art Deco-themed space on the second floor of Jewel comes with an added treat: A view of the mall’s dramatic Rain Vortex waterfall (ask for a table at the back for prime viewing). Down in Basement 2, Hainan Story is a multi-concept eatery offering traditional and modern Hainanese cuisine from different brands under one roof. The menu features everything from noodles to Western plates (many early Hainanese immigrants to Singapore served as chefs to the British during colonial rule), but the