While Singapore is often lauded for its bustling hawker food culture and effervescent fine-dining scene, the island-nation doesn’t quite get the attention it deserves for its arsenal of desserts.
From traditional local treats brimming with ingredients to excite, nourish, and more often than not, simply quell the topical heat, to international sweets adapted and improved for the local palate, the Lion City offers plenty of indulgence for the sugar lovers.
So, unbuckle your belts and make room for dessert with this list of MICHELIN-recommended spots for the sweet-toothed in Singapore.
Dudu Cooked Food: Tu Tu Kueh
Bib GourmandMICHELIN Guide Singapore 2024
Located at: Jurong West 505 Market & Food Centre, #01-19, Blk 505, Jurong West Street 52, 640505, Singapore
If you’re looking for a sweet snack that won’t sit too heavy on the stomach, head to Dudu Cooked Food for old-school, honest-to-goodness tu tu kueh. The Chinese steamed rice flour dessert is available here with either a filling of grated coconut and palm sugar or ground peanut, and in two sizes — a flower-shaped one- biter, or, if you’ve got room to spare, a larger, palm-sized version.
Un-Yang-Kor-Dai: Tub Tim Krob (Red Ruby in Coconut Milk)
Bib GourmandMICHELIN Guide Singapore 2024
Located at: #01-02, 57 South Bridge Road, 058688, Singapore
Anything goes at Un-Yang-Kor-Dai — that’s literally what the restaurant name means — so feel free, if you wish, to skip its fiery Isan signatures from northeastern Thailand and zero in on its sweet treats.
(Photo: Un-Yang-Kor-Dai)
There is, of course, a perennial favourite in its Mango Sticky Rice splashed with coconut milk and the Thai Milk Tea Pudding, though we’d also recommend trying the tub tim krob — an icy Thai dessert featuring scarlet gems of tapioca dough wrapped around crunchy water chestnut bits, heaps of coconut milk, and slices of jackfruit.
The Blue Ginger (Tanjong Pagar): Sago Gula Melaka and Chendol
Bib GourmandMICHELIN Guide Singapore 2024
Located at: 97 Tanjong Pagar Road, 088518, Singapore
It would be remiss to visit Singapore without at least sampling flavours from the local Peranakan community, and there is no better place to do this than at the The Blue Ginger, a cosy café located in the heart of Chinatown. There, dessert looks like a sinful Sago Gula Melaka — a multi-layered construction of sago (tapioca pearls), coconut milk, and honey sea coconut — or a classic Chendol, which you can have with or without a large heap of durian purée.
Birds Of Paradise (Katong): Ice Cream
SelectedMICHELIN Guide Singapore 2024
Located at: #01-05, 63 East Coast Road, 428776, Singapore
Birds of Paradise (Katong) offers up a taste of la dolce vita with a Singaporean twist. Choose from a selection of house-made gelato and sorbet scented with Asian botanical ingredients like white chrysanthemum, lychee, osmanthus, and blue pea flower. Enjoy it as is, or with their thyme-infused waffle cones for an extra punch of textural and scented pleasure.
Claudine: Pariterole and Île Flottante
SelectedMICHELIN Guide Singapore 2024
Located at: 39C Harding Road, 249541, Singapore
Located in a converted chapel with a focus on comforting French brasserie fare, Claudine is almost a spiritual homecoming for chef-owner Julien Royer. Here, he steps away from the haute dining of his flagship three-MICHELIN-star restaurant Odette in favour of the classics — coq au vin, steak frites, bouillabaisse, and more.
Desserts, too, are equally approachable with treats ranging from a chocolate soufflé to a pariterole (that’s a cross between a profiterole and the Paris-Brest, a ring-shaped choux pastry) and the île flottante, featuring meringue filled with crème anglaise alongside pink praline, hazelnut, and pistachio.
Jiang-Nan Chun: Reimagined Classic Chinese Desserts
SelectedMICHELIN Guide Singapore 2024
Located at: Four Seasons Hotel, Level 2, 190 Orchard Boulevard, 248646, Singapore
For dessert in Singapore that’s a touch more virtuous, look no further than Jiang-Nan Chun.
(Photo: Jiang-Nan Chun)
The Cantonese restaurant takes pains to even out the double-boiled soups, barbecued meats, and heaving seafood platters it specialises in with a selection of nourishing desserts. These include a chilled almond pudding heaped with bird’s nest served rather spectacularly in a whole pumpkin; herbal jelly, prized for its purported cooling properties, scented with osmanthus; and a not-so-healthy tiramisu accented with the aroma of pu’ er tea.
Nyonya Chendol: Chendol
SelectedMICHELIN Guide Singapore 2024
Located at: Chong Pang Market and Food Centre, #01-162, 105 Yishun Ring Road, 760105, Singapore
Come to Nyonya Chendol for one thing and one thing only — its indulgent, refreshingly icy take on a Southeast Asian classic. Every bowl begins with heaps of shaved ice, lashings of coconut milk, and a sweet drizzle of caramelly palm sugar syrup, along with the actual chendol (pandan-scented green rice flour jelly noodles), and stewed red beans. You can also get it with sweet corn or a scoop of durian for extra oomph.
Revolver: Dessert Kulchette
SelectedMICHELIN Guide 2024
Located at: 56 Tras Street, 078997, Singapore
Revolver’s flame-powered trinity of a charcoal grill, brazier, and tandoor is what allows it to turn meats, seafood, and vegetables into spicy, smoke-kissed magic. But the Indian barbecue restaurant is just as good at channelling fire into dessert — which is why you can’t miss flavours like its signature Dessert Kulchette, where milk fudge, jaggery, mixed nuts, and kulfi gelato sing on a bed of tandoor-baked flatbread.
Torno Subito: Pere e Balsamico and Tiramisubito
SelectedMICHELIN Guide Singapore 2024
Located at: #01-02, 26 Dempsey Road, 249686, Singapore
Operating under the patronage of celebrity chef Massimo Bottura in Singapore’s verdant Dempsey Hill enclave is Torno Subito, a restaurant thoroughly dedicated to the retro vibes of Italy’s cinematic golden age. While pride of place fairly belongs to pizza fired in an imported stone oven, the sweets are also worth a try. Desserts include a the Pere e Balsamico, a rosemary-infused poached pear drizzled with salted caramel and Villa Manodori balsamic vinegar; and the signature Tiramisubito (no prizes for guessing what this treat is all about). End the evening with a scoop of ice-cream or sorbet.
