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You can walk from one end of Haji Lane to the other in about two minutes, but who ever does? The shophouses are painted like somebody emptied a box of highlighters over them, there's a mural every few steps, and somebody nearby is always eating something that smells better than whatever you had planned for lunch, which is how a quick look around turns into three hours and two desserts.
I've been coming down here since my polytechnic days, back when half the lane was tattoo studios and racks of secondhand denim. The food has caught up. It's also spilt outwards, into Bali Lane, along Bussorah Street, down Arab Street, and all the way to North Bridge Road, so a proper Haji Lane food crawl can now cover upwards of 4 streets
01 • Momolato (North Bridge Road)
Start with dessert. I mean it. Momolato's counter changes every couple of weeks, so if you save it for the end of the night and your flavour has rotated out, well…
Owner Sharon Tay took the top prize at the Asia-Pacific leg of the Gelato World Tour in 2015, and she's built up a library of more than 350 flavours since, with somewhere between 18 and 24 out for scooping on any given day. The texture is what gets me. It's dense and slow to melt rather than airy, so a single scoop ($5.30) survives Singapore weather long enough for you to finish it standing up. They don't open until 2pm on weekdays, so treat this as an afternoon stop rather than a morning one.
🍽️ What I ate: A few weeks ago I treated myself to a double scoop of pistachio and something with gula melaka in it whose name I completely failed to note down, eaten standing on the kerb because there was nowhere to sit and I wasn't prepared to wait.
📍 Address: 723 North Bridge Road, Singapore 198691
⏰ Opening hours: Sun to Thu, 11.30am – 9.45pm | Fri and Sat, 11.30am – 11.15pm
📞 Contact: 8089 8279
🍴 Halal status: Halal certified
🌐 Website: momolato.com
02 • The Halal Corner (Haji Lane)
Two floors of Muslim-owned Western food where the portions are the point. The Halal Corner’s fried chicken is crisp and seasoned rather than just plain savoury, which is harder to pull off than it sounds.
If you’re hopelessly addicted to food videos, you’ll likely recognise their Samyang Carbonara ($19.90): pasta in a creamy buldak sauce with that cutlet laid across the top, spicy enough to slow you down without wiping out the cream underneath. But personally? I'd order the Carbonara Beef Roti John ($13.90) instead. It's properly stuffed, and roti john is one of those dishes that falls apart the moment a kitchen gets stingy, so you know they’ve got the good good here.
🍽️ What I ate : The Carbonara Beef Roti John, which turned up considerably bigger than I'd pictured, and which I finished anyway while insisting to my friend that I wasn't that hungry.
📍 Address: 63 Haji Lane, Singapore 189256
⏰ Opening hours: 12pm – 10pm
📞 Contact: 8779 4566
🍴 Halal status: Muslim-owned
🌐 Website: instagram.com/thehalalcornersg
03 • Coffee Donkee (Haji Lane)
A kissaten is the older Japanese idea of a coffee house: dim, unhurried, full of texture, and far more interested in the brewing than the branding. Coffee Donkee commits to it wholesale, with beans arriving from Japan and hand-brewed into ceramic cups that were also made by hand. The Donkee blend Cold Brew Coffee ($10) tastes bitter, the Ice Orange Americano ($8) is much gentler, and the Iced Coconut Latte is somewhere in between, so choose according to how your morning went. I dropped in on a Sunday afternoon when the lane outside was packed shoulder to shoulder, and it was quiet enough in here that I stayed an hour longer than I meant to.
📍 Address: 51 Haji Lane, Singapore 189244
⏰ Opening hours: 10am – 6pm daily
🍴 Halal status: Not halal certified
🌐 Website: coffeedonkee.com
04 • Waroeng Anak Indo (Haji Lane)
A few doors down the road is where I go when I want an actual meal rather than a snack. Waroeng Anak Indo serves Indonesian street food in a warm wooden room on rattan-style plates, and the ayam penyet is smashed and fried the way it should be, so the edges shatter while the meat underneath stays wet.
Nasi Ayam Penyet is $12, and the sambal has a slow build that sneaks up on you around the fourth mouthful. The Nasi Ayam Bakar ($15) is the grilled version, sweeter and stickier from the glaze. Want noodles instead of rice? The Mi Sedap Ayam Penyet ($15) is springy and worth the swap.
🍽️ What I ate here: Nasi Ayam Penyet with extra sambal, a decision I stood behind for roughly six minutes.
📍 Address: 53 Haji Lane, Singapore 189246
⏰ Opening hours: 1pm – 11pm daily
📞 Contact: 9323 1920
🍴 Halal status: Muslim-owned, not halal certified
🌐 Website: instagram.com/waroenganakindo
05 • Madd Pizza (Haji Lane)
If you’ve never had Roman pizza before, there are a few ways it stands out from your standard Neapolitan; it’s rectangular, thin, closer to a cracker than a cloud, and sold by the slice, which means one person can try three kinds without committing to a whole pie. Madd Pizza comes from the team behind Blu Jaz Cafe, and it’s as good an introduction to the concept as any.
A Marinara slice is $10, or $53 for the full tray. The Quattro Formaggi ($15 a slice, $75 whole) is the richer option, with 1 slice qualifying as a hearty lunch in most tummies. Their focaccia sandwiches are the underrated order here, particularly the truffle pesto and mascarpone ($15), which they build fresh when you ask. This is the one stop on this list that isn't halal, so plan around it if that matters.
📍 Address: 19 Haji Lane, Singapore 189212
⏰ Opening hours: 11.30am – 12am daily
📞 Contact: 9003 6045
🍴 Halal status: Not halal
🌐 Website: maddpizza.sg
06 • Rumifolks (Bali Lane)
If you remember The Poet's Cup on Haji Lane, this is the same team in a brighter room one street over. Same great drinks, better lighting.
The Art of Mason Waffles ($13) are Belgian chocolate waffles buried under ice cream, Kinder Bueno, and marshmallows, aimed squarely at anyone who thinks dessert should be slightly ridiculous. The Croissant Avodaco ($11.90) is the sensible counterpoint. An Iced Salted Caramel Macchiato runs $8.50. They stay open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, which makes this a solid last stop after dinner.
📍 Address: 28 Bali Lane, Singapore 189864
⏰ Opening hours: Mon to Fri, 12pm – 11pm | Sat and Sun, 12pm - 12am
🍴 Halal status: Muslim-owned
🌐 Website: instagram.com/rumifolks
07 • Kowboy Singapore (Bali Lane)
Korea’s best culinary invention since kimchi has finally made its way to Singapore. UFO burgers are pressed into a distinctive saucer shape and sealed from the inside, ensuring that half the stuff doesn’t come sliding out the back even on the most brisk of walks.
The UFO Supernova Mentaiko ($12.80) is the one I'd order again. Ebi roe on top adds a small crunch against a chicken cutlet that stays tender, and the mentaiko sauce stops just short of jelak. The UFO Cosmic Truffle ($12.80) uses an A5 Wagyu patty at that same price, which I still find slightly hard to believe. Thick milkshakes too. They close at 8pm most nights and take Mondays off, so midnight snackers beware!
🍽️ What I ate here: The UFO Supernova Mentaiko, eaten one-handed while walking down Bali Lane, which the sealed bun makes entirely possible.
📍 Address: 25 Bali Lane, Singapore 189861
⏰ Opening hours: Tues to Sun, 3pm – 11pm | Closed on Mondays
📞 Contact: 8087 9858
🍴 Halal status: Halal certified
🌐 Website: instagram.com/kowboy.sg
08 • Alaturka (Bussorah Street)
Alaturka picked up a Bib Gourmand in the 2016 Michelin Guide and hasn't coasted since. The Mixed Grill Platter is the obvious order for groups dining in this homely eatery, because it lets four people taste five things without anyone negotiating. Their Lamb Shank is slow-cooked and slides off the bone. Rather than a shrug, vegetarians get real options here too, such as the super-rich Vegetable Moussaka.
📍 Address: 15 Bussorah Street, Singapore 199436
⏰ Opening hours: Daily, 11.30am – 10.30pm
📞 Contact: 9434 6026
🍴 Halal status: Muslim-owned
🌐 Website: alaturka.com.sg
10 • All Things Delicious (Arab Street)
Chef Mel has run this bakery and cafe out of a conservation shophouse since 2013, and it's halal certified across the whole operation, kitchen included. Morning light floods the room, which makes it the best breakfast in the area by a decent margin.
The gula melaka scones are what people actually come for. Crusty outside, soft in the middle, with the palm sugar doing the work instead of a sugary glaze, and a box of six costs $22.90 to take home. Eating in, the Avocado on Sourdough is $13.90, and the Mushroom and Kale Stuffed Pita ($15.90) fills you up more than it looks like it will. They close on the last Monday of every month, which has caught me out before.
🍽️ What I ate here: Avocado on Sourdough for breakfast, followed by a box of gula melaka scones I bought "for the office" and did not, at any point, bring to the office.
📍 Address: 34 Arab Street, #01-01, Singapore 199733
⏰ Opening hours: 8am – 10pm | Closed on the last Monday of each month
📞 Contact: 6291 4252
🍴 Halal status: Halal certified
🌐 Website: allthingsdelicious.sg
11. Wooly's Bagels (Arab Street)
Bagels in Singapore usually go one of two ways: too dense, or too much like ordinary bread. Wooly's bakes theirs on site in flavours including sesame and Tuscan pizza, and the chew lands right in the sweet spot where few dare to tread.
The GTFBagel 2.0 ($15.50) is the maximalist order, packed with chicken meatloaf, egg, a hashbrown, and truffle mayo. But for something calmer, the Bagel and Lox ($19) is simple and well made. Seating runs back along a corridor, so there's more room than the shopfront suggests.
📍 Address: 27 Arab Street, Singapore 199726
⏰ Opening hours: 9.30am – 7:30pm daily
🍴 Halal status: Muslim-owned
🌐 Website: instagram.com/woolysbagels
12. Éla (Jalan Sultan)
Éla is five minutes further out than everything else on this list, but it’s well worth the trek. The restaurant bills itself as Singapore's first halal-friendly Greek eatery, and the room is bigger and calmer than anything in the lanes, all neutral tones and soft edges. It’s almost enough to make you forget that you’re on one of Singapore’s rowdiest streets!
Most plates sit under $20. Start with the Dip Platter ($26), which comes with warm flatbread and three dips: tzatziki, taramosalata, and a hummus that's smoother than most you’ll find in Singapore. If you want something lighter, the Strapatsada ($14) is eggs scrambled slowly with tomato and capsicum, and it sits on the all-day brunch menu, so nobody will stop you ordering it at 7pm.
🍽️ What I ate here: Strapatsada at about four in the afternoon, which felt slightly illegal and was the best decision I made that week.
📍 Address: 33 Jalan Sultan, #01-09/10, Singapore 198965
⏰ Opening hours: 12pm – 10pm
🍴 Halal status: Muslim-owned
🌐 Website: ela.sg
13. Singapore Zam Zam (North Bridge Road)
Zam Zam has sat across the road from Sultan Mosque since 1908 and is widely held to be Singapore's oldest Indian-Muslim restaurant, which is usually the sort of claim that arrives alongside a quiet drop in standards. Not here.
Their murtabak is built different. An extra base layer of fried prata kosong goes underneath, so you get a crisp floor holding up minced meat, egg, and caramelised onions sweet enough to push back against the spice. Order mutton if it's your first time.
🍽️ What I ate here: A mutton murtabak split with my brother, who then ordered a chicken biryani on top of it because he doesn't really accept sharing as a concept 🙄
📍 Address: 697 to 699 North Bridge Road, Singapore 198675
⏰ Opening hours: Daily, 7am - 11pm
📞 Contact: 6298 6320
🍴 Halal status: Halal
🌐 Website: zamzam.sg
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