The hidden highlight of the world’s best airport

Singapore’s hawker centres are among the world’s best places to indulge in street food on the cheap.

Some dishes, passed down over multiple generations, have earned Michelin stars. UNESCO, too, has recognised the cultural importance of these community dining rooms island-wide. Wanting to make the most of Singapore’s food scene, I purposefully arrive at Changi Airport Terminal 2 ravenous.

My six-hour transit stop allows me plenty of time to stretch the legs and find something to eat. While I could head into the city, there’s plenty to see and do staying put in Changi, voted the 2025 World’s Best Airport by Skytrax. The airport can’t help but uplift sapped travellers with various multi-million-dollar attractions to make time fly, from butterfly gardens to an indoor waterfall “rain vortex” tumbling 40 metres into the void.

It, too, impresses with its slick amenities and food options across its four terminals – fast food chains, refined local fare, and all the international cuisines you can think of. Expect to pay about $S14 ($16.20) for barbecue pork noodles at the award-winning Kam’s Roast or a burrito at Guzman y Gomez.

But I’m more interested in Changi’s less glam offerings: its staff canteens.

Do you need a badge, a broom, or to be in a workers’ uniform to enter? No, just come as you are. Do you need special access to roam these “secret” food halls? Not at all.

Do I think it’s Changi’s greatest layover hack? A resounding yes.

The two staff canteens are located outside the departures area, before immigration. The Terminal 1 canteen is just outside the arrivals hall, while Terminal 2’s is on level 3M above a carpark.

Each has vendors selling Asian cuisine, like the ones that populate no-frills hawker centres nationwide.

Despite its opportunistic location, meals are priced similarly to its physical street food counterparts; think comparable to a coffee in Australia, if not cheaper.

Devouring hawker food without leaving Changi Airport is a revelation. If going through border security is the only way to access these lesser-known food courts, so be it. Nothing is anchoring me; my luggage is checked in for the next flight.

Exiting immigration is swift with Singapore’s electronic SG Arrival Card, which allows applications to be submitted online before arrival (or completed at the airport).

Within minutes of being cleared, I catch the Skytrain to Terminal 1. The train doors open and in front of me is a luminous blue sign with the words “Staff Canteen”. Most travellers would assume it’s a no-go; a place only Changi staff can access – but that’s not the case.

While people with luggage move towards the check-in counters, I follow those entering through a white door near check-in rows 13 and 14, towards the staff canteen.

On the ground level outside the arrival hall, it’s nice to feel Singapore’s humidity, even if it is stifling. Past the designated smokers’ area and behind a stairwell, I spot a sign for Orchis Food Court.

Open from 5am to 8.30pm, the hawker centre is far from the polished facade of Changi Airport. Open since 1981, the basement food court features 25 stalls. Wooden tables with orange plastic chairs fill the room, accompanied by several large, freestanding air-conditioning units positioned around the cafeteria setup.

It’s nearly 8am and not all shops are open. Still, there are tables of solo diners, including auxiliary police, airline staff, cabin crew, and people in regular clothes. I do two laps and note two prices on the menus: one for staff and one for the public. Meals cost between $S3 and $S7, with most shops accepting cash only. Coffee is under $S2.

A staff member notices my hungry gaze and points to where the line appears to be the biggest, Bidadari Muslim Cuisine. Three tiers of Indonesian fare – fried chicken, tempeh, noodles, egg sambal, to name a few – are displayed in the shop window.

There are a few people ahead of me as I order the signature Ayam penyet. For $S7 ($8), it includes a portion of turmeric-infused fried chicken, alongside a chicken-based broth soup, tempeh, cabbage and cucumber salad, onion crackers, a dollop of house-made sambal and a mound of rice, served on lime-green plates. Albeit fleeting, it satisfies the essence of Singapore I’m after.

THE DETAILS

Orchis Food Court is open 5am-8.30pm at T1 Public Basement 1, Changi Airport. Foodies’ Clan is open 7am-8pm at T2 on Level 3M (above carpark 2A), Changi Airport. See changiairport.com

The writer travelled at her own expense.