Singapore is one of the world's great food cities and its hawker centre culture — the UNESCO-listed network of open-air covered food halls where individual stalls specialise in single dishes — is the specific infrastructure that makes it so. Lau Pa Sat, Newton Circus, and Old Airport Road Food Centre are the famous ones, but every neighbourhood has a version. The Hainanese chicken rice (poached chicken, fragrant oiled rice, chili sauce, and ginger paste, served with clear chicken broth) is considered Singapore's national dish, but chili crab (Sri Lankan crab in tomato-chili-egg sauce, eaten with fried mantou buns), char kway teow (flat rice noodles stir-fried with lard, cockles, and bean sprouts), and laksa (coconut curry noodle soup) represent competing claims. The kopi culture — dark-roasted coffee with condensed milk, prepared in a stocking filter and served in a glass — is Singapore's morning before Starbucks arrived. Tiger beer and the Singapore Sling cocktail (invented at Raffles Hotel in 1915) cover the drinks geography. Take your time.