Restaurant in Singapore, Singapore
Singapore's most-ranked hawker bowl, mornings only.
Da Dong Prawn Noodles on Joo Chiat Road has ranked on Opinionated About Dining's Casual Asia list three years running, hitting #60 in 2025. It is a walk-in-only hawker stall open until 2 pm, closed Tuesdays, and built around technically serious prawn noodle broth. Go early — the kitchen closes when the soup runs out.
Da Dong Prawn Noodles on Joo Chiat Road is one of the most awarded hawker stops in Singapore for its category. Ranked #60 on Opinionated About Dining's Casual Asia list for 2025 — up from #108 in 2024 and #77 in 2023 — its trajectory is consistent and the recognition is credible. If prawn noodles are your benchmark for Singapore hawker craft, this is the address to test that benchmark against. The catch: it operates only until 2 pm, Tuesday is closed, and once the broth runs out, the stall closes. Plan accordingly or you will miss it.
Da Dong's reputation is built on prawn noodle craft, a discipline that rewards patience in the kitchen long before a bowl reaches the table. The genre lives or dies on broth depth , specifically the slow extraction of flavour from prawn heads and shells , and Da Dong's three consecutive appearances on the Opinionated About Dining Casual Asia list suggest the kitchen is doing something technically right that casual competitors are not. Watson Lim runs the stall, and the operation is tight: limited hours, no dinners, and a format that prioritises quality over throughput. That self-imposed constraint is itself a signal. Stalls that push volume rarely hold a ranked position across three consecutive years.
The Joo Chiat setting matters more than it might seem. The neighbourhood hosts some of Singapore's most serious hawker eating, which means Da Dong competes for regulars who have strong opinions and high baseline expectations. Holding ranked status in that context is more meaningful than doing so in a tourist-heavy food court environment.
Da Dong works for solo diners, couples, and small groups who want to eat seriously without a large spend. It is not a special-occasion venue in the fine-dining sense , there is no evening service, no dress code consideration, and no reservation system to manage. But if your idea of a special occasion in Singapore includes eating a technically precise bowl of prawn noodles at a neighbourhood institution that has earned its ranking three years running, then this fits that brief well. For celebrations that require a longer, seated evening experience, Odette or Les Amis are the relevant comparisons at a completely different price point. For something in between, Meta offers a more structured dining format at a mid-range price.
Da Dong operates Wednesday through Monday, 7:30 am to 2 pm. Tuesday is the weekly closure. No phone number or booking system is listed, which is standard for a stall of this type , walk-in only, and arrival before the lunch peak is advisable if you want to eat without a significant queue. The 3.9 Google rating across 748 reviews reflects the divided response that serious hawker stalls often attract: regulars who measure everything against the broth, and occasional visitors who expected something different. The OAD ranking is the more useful signal here for anyone specifically interested in prawn noodles as a craft category. The address is 354 Joo Chiat Road , reachable by MRT to Kembangan or Eunos, with a short taxi or bus connection from either. For broader context on eating in Singapore, see our full Singapore restaurants guide.
Prawn noodles , hae mee in Hokkien , is one of Singapore's foundational hawker dishes, and the category has genuine depth. The leading versions layer dried shrimp, pork ribs, and prawn shells into a broth that takes hours to build. Da Dong's consistent OAD placement puts it in a small group of stalls operating at a level that food-literate visitors and locals both track. If you are building a Singapore eating itinerary that includes fine dining at Zén or Jaan by Kirk Westaway, a Da Dong breakfast or early lunch is a logical counterpoint , and one of the better arguments for why Singapore's food culture operates across price tiers in a way few cities match. For other dimensions of what Singapore offers, see our Singapore hotels guide, bars guide, and experiences guide.
| Venue | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Da Dong Prawn Noodles | — | |
| Zén | $$$$ | — |
| Jaan by Kirk Westaway | $$$ | — |
| Summer Pavilion | $$ | — |
| Burnt Ends | $$$ | — |
| Seroja | $$$ | — |
Comparing your options in Singapore for this tier.
Yes, it's well-suited for solo diners. Hawker-format seating means you order, find a seat, and eat at your own pace with no minimum spend. Ranked #60 on Opinionated About Dining's Casual in Asia list for 2025, this is a high-signal stop for anyone eating alone and eating seriously.
There's no booking system listed for Da Dong, which is standard for Singapore hawker stalls. Your strategy is timing: arrive close to the 7:30 am opening on a weekday to avoid the longest queues. Saturdays will draw more weekend traffic, so factor that in.
Da Dong operates as a hawker stall, so there's no bar in the conventional sense. Seating is communal and open, typical of Joo Chiat Road's neighbourhood coffee shop format. Come expecting shared tables, not counter seats.
Not in the formal sense. Da Dong is a hawker stall with no reservations, communal seating, and a 7:30 am to 2 pm window. For a celebration, it works as a deliberate 'serious food' outing rather than a dinner-out occasion. If you want a sit-down special-occasion meal in Singapore, look elsewhere.
For prawn noodles specifically, Singapore has other well-regarded hawker options across the island, though Da Dong's three consecutive OAD Casual Asia rankings (2023, 2024, 2025) set a high bar in the category. If you want a different format entirely, Burnt Ends offers serious cooking in a more structured setting, while Seroja delivers a full-service experience with a Peranakan lens on local ingredients.
Dinner isn't an option: Da Dong closes at 2 pm daily except Tuesdays. Your only window is breakfast or early lunch, with 7:30 am the safest arrival to get a bowl before the queue builds. Plan your morning around it, not the other way around.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
