About Maxwell Food Centre
Maxwell Food Centre is a popular hawker centre in Tanjong Pagar within Singapore's Downtown Core, located at 1 Kadayanallur Street. Established in its current form in 1986-1987 in a former 1935 market building, it houses over 100 stalls. It is notable for affordable local Singaporean cuisine, including the famous Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice, and is a key example of Singapore's hawker culture.
Visitors guide
Visitors can expect a large, open-air hawker centre with rows of food stalls under a high-pitched roof and communal seating with tables and stools. The environment is busy and casual, especially at lunch. Visitors can walk between stalls offering Chinese, Malay, Indian and local Singaporean dishes, order directly from stallholders, and dine at shared tables. The centre is surrounded by the Tanjong Pagar and Chinatown streetscape with heritage shophouses nearby.
Key highlights
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Over 100 stalls offering affordable Singaporean hawker dishes
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Home to Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice, a Michelin Bib Gourmand stall
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Historic market building originally built as Maxwell Market in 1935
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Central location in Tanjong Pagar near Chinatown and Buddha Tooth Relic Temple
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Representative example of Singapore's UNESCO-recognised hawker culture
History of Maxwell Food Centre
The site was originally Maxwell Market, built in 1935 as a fresh food market. The building was converted into Maxwell Food Centre in 1986-1987 to house street hawkers as part of Singapore's hawker resettlement programme. The structure retains its 1930s market architecture and has served as a community food hub for decades.
Culture & Context
Maxwell Food Centre is a prominent example of Singapore's hawker culture, which was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2020. It reflects the multicultural culinary traditions of Chinese, Malay and Indian communities and serves as a communal dining space for locals and visitors.
Route
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