Old Airport Road & Geylang

The runway of Singapore's first civil airport at Kallang became, in 1973, one of its greatest hawker centres — and the roads running east through Geylang became the island's supper belt, loudest after midnight.

This is wok territory: char kway teow slicked with lard and breathed on by fire, Hokkien mee wet with prawn stock, kway chap's dark braise, frog porridge bubbling in claypots at 1 a.m. The flavours are Hokkien and Teochew, the fire is commercial-grade, and the honesty required to cook these dishes at home — smaller batches, screaming heat, a torch if you must — is a running theme of this site.

Dinner is late, unglamorous, and the best argument the island has that great food needs nothing but heat, pork fat, and practice.