Fishballs are traditionally made from raw fish flesh, vigorously mashed to a paste and kneaded in a wooden bucket. The mixture is then flavoured and shaped into bite-size balls. When cooked, they are soft and bouncily succulent.

Boiled fishballs served with noodles of different kinds is a very popular dish with Singaporeans. Served either in soup, or dry with the soup on the side, fishball noodles come with toppings such as sliced black mushrooms, minced pork, seaweed and spring onion, or simply fishballs and slices of fishcake.

You can choose from a variety of noodles like bee hoon (rice vermicelli), mee (yellow wheat noodles), mee kia (yellow wheat vermicelli noodles), kway teow (flat rice noodles) or mee pok (flat yellow wheat noodles).

Hainanese chicken rice is a dish of Chinese origin, and is most commonly associated with Hainanese, Malaysian and Singaporean cuisines, although it is also commonly sold in Thailand.

The chicken is prepared in traditional Hainanese methods which involve the boiling of the entire chicken in a pork and chicken bone stock, reusing the broth over and over and only topping it up with water when needed, in accordance with the Chinese preferences for creating master stocks. This stock is not used for rice preparation[citation needed], which instead involves chicken stock created specifically for that purpose, producing an oily, flavourful rice sometimes known as "oily rice" with Southeast Asian pandan leaves added sometimes.

In Singapore, where modernity has made the maintenance and long-term storage of master stocks unfeasible, the meat is cooked by boiling in water flavoured with garlic and ginger instead, with the resulting stock used in the preparation of the rice and also in the accompanying soup.
The dish is usually served with several dips, including chili sauce and pounded ginger. It is common in Hainan to also offer a third sauce involving oyster sauce mixed with garlic, while dark soy sauce is more commonly served in Singapore/Malaysia. The Singaporean/Malaysian version of the chili are also spicier, reflecting its Southeast Asian influences, and may also involve a mixture of chilli with garlic. Most dishes are served with sliced cucumber, reflecting the Chinese preference for introducing some variety for a more complete meal. Sometimes a boneless version of chicken rice is served in Singapore or Malaysia.

Char kway teow, literally "stir-fried ricecake strips", is a popular noodle dish in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and Singapore. The dish was (and still is in some places in Malaysia and Singapore) typically prepared at hawker stalls.

It is made from flat rice noodles of approximately 1 cm or (in the north of Malaysia) about 0.5 cm in width, stir-fried over very high heat with light and dark soy sauce, chilli, a small quantity of belachan, whole prawns, deshelled cockles, bean sprouts and chopped Chinese chives. The dish is commonly stir-fried with egg, slices of Chinese sausage and fishcake, and less commonly with other ingredients. Char kway teow is traditionally stir-fried in pork fat, with crisp croutons of pork lard, and commonly served on a piece of banana leaf on a plate.

Char kway teow has a reputation of being unhealthy due to its high saturated fat content. However, when the dish was first invented, it was mainly served to labourers. The high fat content and low cost of the dish made it attractive to these people as it was a cheap source of energy and nutrients. When the dish was first served, it was often sold by fishermen, farmers and cockle-gatherers who doubled as char kway teow hawkers in the evening to supplement their income.

Banmian is a culinary dish that is popular in China, Malaysia, and Singapore. It consists of egg noodles served in a flavorful soup, often with some type of meat or fish, vegetables and various spices. The meal is considered one of the healthier food choices and can be found for sale by restaurants, street vendors and food stalls in the region. The base of the entire meal is a soup, so there are numerous variations in ingredients, stocks and noodle shapes. In many instances, the completed soup is topped with an egg that is cooked in the hot liquid above the noodles.

Most versions of banmian use egg noodles that are simply a blend of egg, flour, water and salt that is kneaded and then formed into noodles. However, the modern day banmian is mainly made by using a pasta maker which cuts noodles in all sizes. It is a highly economical dish and you can cook your own at home because it is a fairly easy process.
The base of the soup can be water but is more commonly a type of fish stock. Normal fish stock can be used, but anchovy stock is a common choice. Various ingredients, such as onions, garlic, ginger and bean paste, also can be added to the stock to provide more flavor, although some preparations are so simple that nothing more than plain stock is used. In Malaysia, you can also try the dried version with soup served separately.

Two common ingredients that are often found across different versions of banmian are mushrooms and anchovies. The exact type of each might vary, but they are generally added to the stock base. The mushrooms can be dried and are reconstituted in the broth, while the anchovies could be fried until crispy and then served on top of the soup. The anchovies also can be added to the stock for flavor and allowed to break down as it cooks.

Once the base stock is completed, nearly anything can be added to complete the banmian. This includes vegetables such as green onions, spinach, cabbage and bamboo shoots. Some vinegar is usually added, occasionally with sugar to balance the flavor. Restaurants may offer minced pork that has been fried or chunks of white fish to act as a protein-rich addition to the soup. Finally, an egg is cracked into the hot broth and allowed to cook until the whites are set and the yolk is warmed through.

Xiaolongbao is a type of steamed bun from Shanghai and Wuxi. It is traditionally steamed in small bamboo baskets, hence the name (xiaolong is literally small steaming basket). Xiaolongbao are often referred to as soup dumplings or simply dumplings in English, but are not regarded as "dumplings" in China.

Chinese buns in general may be divided into two types, depending on the degree of leavening of the flour skin. Steamed buns made with raised flour are seen throughout China and are what is usually referred to as baozi. Steamed xiaolongbao made with partially raised flour are more commonly seen in the south. This means that their skin is tender, smoother, and somewhat translucent, rather than being white and fluffy.

Xiaolongbao are traditionally filled with pork, but variations include other meats, seafood and vegetarian fillings, as well as other possibilities. One popular and common variant is pork with minced crab meat and roe. The characteristic soup-filled kind are created by wrapping solid meat aspic inside the skin alongside the meat filling. Heat from steaming then melts the gelatin-gelled aspic into soup. In modern times, refrigeration has made the process of making xiaolongbao during hot weather easier, since making gelled aspic is much more difficult at room temperature.

Traditionally the xiaolongbao is a kind of dim sum or snack item, as well as a kind of xiaochi or "small eat". The buns are served hot in the bamboo baskets in which they were steamed, usually on a bed of dried leaves or on a woven mat, although some restaurants today use napa cabbage instead. The buns are usually dipped in Chinkiang vinegar with ginger slivers. They are traditionally served with a clear soup.

Black pepper crab is one of the two most popular ways that crab is served in Singapore. It is made with hard-shell crabs, and cooked in a thick gravy made with black pepper. The creation of Singapore's black pepper crab is attributed to Long Beach Seafood Restaurant in 1959. The black pepper crab is liked by many locals and foreign tourists over the chilli crab because of its drier and fragrant pepperish nature. It is becoming very popular to mix the pepper crab with a fresh jackfruit sauce. It has, however, not made it into the nomination list for Singapore's National Food.