From mala hotpot to small plates: The rise of Chinese F&B in Singapore

SINGAPORE – The smell hits first: charred meat and barbecue smoke, laced with the sharp sweetness of roasted pineapple and pickled cabbage, drifting across the fourth floor of Bugis+.

Inside Xita Lao Tai Tai, a barbecue chain from Shenyang in north-east China, the lunch rush is just beginning. Staff weave briskly between tables with claypots of glowing coals, while patrons chat, laugh and settle into the serious business of eating.

Sights and smells like this are becoming familiar in Singapore’s malls, shophouses and hawker centres.

According to Market Research Singapore, the number of Chinese food and beverage brands operating locally grew from 32 in mid-2024 to about 85 by August 2025. Together, they operate more than 400 outlets, making it one of the fastest foreign expansions in recent years.

Among the admirers is marketing manager Joanne Loh, who eats at Xiang Xiang Hunan Cuisine at least once a week.

The self-professed “Hunan superfan” acquired a taste for the spicy, hearty fare after reading about it in 2024 on Chinese social networking and e-commerce platform Red Note, or Xiaohongshu, and decided to try it with some friends.

Since then, the 26-year-old has spent nearly $800 in prepaid credits at the chain restaurant and also visited Changsha, the capital of Hunan province, in November 2025 to sample the cuisine at the source.

“These new Chinese brands are fascinating to me because the sort of innovation and novel ideas are unlike what we thought of China in the past. Even the food seems less foreign and is more suitable to our palates,” she says over a meal of stir-fried pork with green chilli.

She goes with a group of friends to try out different Chinese restaurants every week before swinging by Scarlett, a supermarket chain with more than 40 outlets in Singapore, selling mainly products from China, to stock up on snacks.

From Sichuan classic sauerkraut fish to Lanzhou’s handpulled noodles to Suzhou Biluochun bubble tea, this new wave of restaurants from China is not just feeding the city; it is also using it as a base for wider growth.

It’s all about global visibility

With meat as the star of the show, the food at Xita Lao Tai Tai is largely inspired by the ethnic Korean population in Shenyang.

Mr Lem Cheong, 43, co-founder of Bao Shi F&B Management, which brought the brand here, says he was keen to ride the interest in new tastes.

While many Chinese companies expressed interest in doing business with him, Xita stood out for its operational model, particularly its ability to scale rapidly while maintaining structured staff training.

Just before lunch service, employees come together for a huddle.

“We got that from our Chinese partners, the idea that the team lead sets a target for the shift and everyone focuses on a few basic principles like good service and creating repeat customers,” he says.

Singapore also lifts global visibility for Chinese brands, given China’s separate online ecosystem.

Xita, one of the largest of its kind with more than 600 outlets in China, remains hard to find on Google and largely absent from Facebook and Instagram.

“It is only when we went on Xiaohongshu, WeChat and Weibo and looked on the ‘Chinese internet’ that we got to learn more about this brand,” Mr Cheong notes.

“But now, because there is a presence here in Singapore, we have more write-ups, and content is easily searchable on international platforms. That makes it easier for people to understand who we are when we want to expand to other places.”

The calculation is widely shared. Journalist, chef and restaurateur David Yip attributes the boom to Singaporeans, particularly those aged 40 and below, being more exposed to global cuisines through frequent travel.

These brands, he says, have also introduced regional Chinese dishes in ways that feel accessible. They avoid options that stray too far from the southern Chinese flavour profiles that many locals, whose forefathers came from that region, are familiar with.

Mr Yip adds that, unlike earlier waves of Japanese, Korean and speciality cafe concepts, which were primarily focused on establishing a presence in Singapore, China’s brands are better resourced and more assertive in their expansion strategies.

Marketing consultant Benson Tong, who specialises in helping Chinese liquor makers crack the Singapore market, says many Chinese companies are willing to spend several hundred thousand dollars to gain a foothold in Singapore.

He cites the example of a “baijiu” (a type of traditional Chinese spirit distilled from flowering plant sorghum) maker, which recently spent a six-figure sum on the annual rental at the historic Fullerton Waterboat House.

There are plans to convert the space into an interactive exhibition on one floor, a fine-dining restaurant on another and a rooftop cocktail bar serving tipples made with the pungent liquor.

“You can say some of them see this as ‘school fees’, that they are willing to pay to use Singapore as a test bed to see what could work in the international market,” Mr Tong adds.

Associate Professor Dylan Loh from the public policy and global affairs programme at Nanyang Technological University says that such a market-led expansion carries a cultural dimension that state-orchestrated efforts rarely achieve.

“Soft power is most effective when it is independent of state-led efforts. In this case, it is a lot of private entrepreneurs and businesses who are leading the charge and it is pretty much a market endeavour more than anything else,” says Prof Loh.

“Food diplomacy is very real and is commonly used around the world. But in this way, because the state has largely stayed out of it, what we have is more authentic and genuine.”

The rent squeeze

That financial firepower, however, carries consequences for those already on the ground.

Mr Dylan Ong recently moved Choon Hoy Parlor – his eatery serving Singaporean fare – to Capitol Singapore after the landlord at his previous Beach Road location wanted to increase the rent by 25 per cent.

“The landlord told me that Chinese eateries at the nearby Seah Street were willing to pay up to $30,000 for rental every month and he was doing me a favour by asking for less,” says Mr Ong, who also owns French restaurant The Masses at Capitol Singapore.

“It is really a problem when landlords see what others are willing to pay and feel like they can charge the same amount, which means rents across the board get pushed up, and all of us get squeezed.”

Mr Andy Chee, 52, owner of Restaurant Aisyah, a halal Xinjiang eatery, notes that rental pressures predated the arrival of Chinese brands.

He moved Restaurant Aisyah out of Telok Ayer in 2022 when rents began rising around him and his own soared to $30,000.

The Singaporean and Muslim convert of 18 years has since moved his restaurant to Arab Street. He says he is fortunate to have a landlord who keeps the rent manageable.

In a corner of Lorong 21 Geylang, Mr Allan Tan, third-generation owner of Tan Ser Seng Herbs Restaurant, has faced a different challenge.

The 79-year-old eatery specialising in herbal broths has had difficulty expanding into malls, which want a varied tenant mix and not too many eateries offering Chinese food.

“We meet and show people our proposal, but many respond and say they already have many Chinese food outlets, so what sets us apart? That is when I have to go into telling the story of our brand and our history,” Mr Tan says.

His restaurant offers traditional dishes eaten in past times, such as clay pot turtle soup, on its menu. “Then they start to understand what it is we are selling.”

Mr Jack Kwong, 32, director and co-founder of JING Hotpot and Grill, agrees that market forces make it unrealistic to completely shut out external players, making high rent an inescapable part of the landscape.

However, he notes that some landlords are making a conscious effort to set aside space for local brands to grow, a point he feels deserves greater visibility.

“It is heartening for a brand still in its infancy,” he says, pointing to his own venture in Paya Lebar. He co-founded JING – inspired by Chinese-style hotpot – with his Muslim business partners, a mother-and-daughter duo.

Restaurateurs The Straits Times spoke to advise setting out clear terms with landlords from the outset to safeguard their interests.

These could include capping rental increases at a fixed percentage over a defined period, ensuring sitting tenants are given priority or preventing landlords from negotiating with higher-paying prospective tenants until the current lease has ended.

They also caution against chasing trends blindly, stressing the importance of identifying gaps in the market. After all, a high rental premium is not necessarily a deal-breaker as long as a business model is sustainable.

More than just red lanterns

Apart from seeing Singapore as a launching pad, many Chinese F&B brands also want to present a different and more contemporary side of China to Singaporeans.

On the ground floor of Chijmes, the soft lighting, full-height glass panels and wood accents of Chuan Bistro evoke the calm minimalism of a Japanese restaurant.

But a closer look reveals unmistakable Chinese touches.

Posters bearing Chinese characters, Red Ears Brewing beers from China on the menu and a glowing glass panel with the words “chuan jiu xiao cai jiao ge xin” which loosely translates to sharing Sichuan liquor and small dishes as a way to connect sincerely with others.

Missing are the design tropes and colour schemes often associated with Chinese restaurants.

Co-owner Mark Zhe, 31, says: “What we are trying to bring is a more modern Chinese style of living and dining. If you walk into a bistro in Chengdu today, this would be very close to what you would experience.”

He is not alone in that ambition. Over in Duxton Hill, Spicy Moment Hunan Bistro also offers a different sort of Chinese dining experience.

Wooden chairs and tables recall a French bistro, while the bare cement floors and skylight add a touch of modern cool. By the well-stocked bar, a porcelain figure of Chinese leader Mao Zedong – Hunan’s most famous son – stands watch.

Singaporean owner Ray Khew, 40, who spent more than a decade in Shanghai, first discovered the restaurant when working in the city’s financial hub.

“At the time, I was amazed at how a Chinese restaurant could look and feel like that, where the design is Western and modern, the food is not too greasy and people are drinking alcohol that is not beer or ‘baijiu’,” he says.

“As a Singaporean, I know this is a concept that could work here because we are very similar to Shanghai’s consumers in that we are sophisticated and willing to spend on good food and drink.”

Spicy Moment’s menu features many Hunanese classics, including fish head with pickled chillies, bacon with garlic shoots and beer-brined duck, served as small plates designed to be shared and paired with carefully selected Western wines.

“What we are trying to showcase is a vibe and how East and West can meet in very interesting ways,” Mr Khew adds.

Test bed for innovation

Chinese beverage outlets have also mushroomed across the city, running the gamut from coffee (Luckin) to tea (Mixue) and fruit beverages (Heytea). Some of them, like milk tea chain Chagee, regard Singapore as an important test bed for innovation.

Chagee first launched in Singapore in 2019 under a franchise model before exiting in January 2024 and returning the same year as a brand directly managed by the company.

It now operates 37 stores islandwide and plans to double that to 70 in three years, according to the latest interview with The Business Times.

“The consumers here have no shortage of choice… so we are constantly trying to innovate just to make sure that we continuously and consistently deliver the best experience for consumers and the best products,” says Mr Jonathan Ng, the brand’s APAC director for government and public affairs.

This includes market-specific products like an orchid-flavoured tea for National Day, Peranakan-inspired teas and gift sets and even innovation in the machines used, to improve work processes.

Ms Isabelle Sophie Chua, a research officer who specialises in Chinese businesses in South-east Asia at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, tells ST that Chagee tested the market through joint ventures before making the move to full ownership.

She says that contemporary Chinese F&B brands expanding into South-east Asia tend to adopt such a model, in contrast to earlier mom-and-pop ventures, with economic considerations as the primary driver.

“I believe that, for them, the economic calculus likely outweighs the desire to project a friendly image for China,” she adds in response to a question on whether the rapid expansions are a show of Chinese soft power.

Mr Yip says that the innovation of China’s brands is also reflected in how they price their food. Some offer smaller portions such as a single pork shank priced as low as $1.50.

This creates a perception of affordability, encouraging diners to order more and ultimately spend more overall.

He also points out that certain kitchens operate with minimal reliance on traditional chefs, instead using pre-prepared ingredients and automated equipment like rotating stir-fry machines.

This lowers production costs and improves efficiency, to the point that dishes can be served shortly after customers are seated, allowing for faster table turnover.

With the challenges of a tight labour market, Mr Yip notes that relying on technology and pre-prepared ingredients has become less of a choice than a necessity.

“It is not a shortcut but an alternative, especially when fewer people today want to become chefs.”

Culinary soft power

As Chinese flavours become more prevalent in the local dining scene, they are beginning to show up in Singapore’s own food innovations. A growing number of home-grown brands are drawing on regional Chinese tastes and reinterpreting them through a local lens.

An example is A Hot Hideout, a Singapore-born concept that has successfully reinterpreted traditional Sichuan mala flavours for the local palate.

Beyond the signature numbing heat, the restaurant layers on familiar, comfort-driven elements like collagen broth, scrambled egg crowning each pot, Thai milk tea on the drink menus and a choice to deep-fry ingredients rather than cooking them in broth.

They collectively reshape the fiery dish into a mala experience that feels distinctly Singaporean.

Home-grown brand Golden Chopsticks has also tapped into this trend, introducing Singapore’s first “Yun-Gui-Chuan” concept.

Its menu draws from Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan cuisines, offering diners a gateway to lesser-known regional flavours while keeping in mind local preferences.

Its boiled fish with pepper salt, for instance, reworks the classic Sichuan dish by replacing the signature layer of hot oil with a lighter pepper salt finish.

Meanwhile, its braised chicken with mashed potatoes, a Yunnan-inspired dish, is made creamier and offered in a non-spicy version, broadening its appeal to families and diners who do not favour the heat.

The influence is also being felt in the halal food space. Mr Adam Shah, founder of the long-running The Halal Food Blog, has sampled Chinese cuisine both locally and abroad and experienced how it has been reshaped for Singapore residents.

The 43-year-old Singaporean’s latest obsession is Mon Chinese Beef Roti, a brand that started in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The concept reimagines the traditional “niu rou bing” – a crispy, flaky pastry stuffed with tender beef – and presents it as “roti” for the South-east Asian audience.

Its recent opening at VivoCity drew long queues and even spurred Singapore entrepreneurs to replicate the idea with similar offerings at the recent Ramadan bazaar in Geylang Serai.

Mr Chee notes that Muslim diners in Singapore are very open to Chinese and other flavours.

“When they see non-Muslims enjoying these dishes, naturally, they become curious and want to try them too,” he says. “But there are not many halal versions.”

He adds that this gap is one reason Restaurant Aisyah has found an audience with those, including visitors from Malaysia and Indonesia, keen to try halal Xinjiang cuisine.

At the same time, he believes adaptation, not imitation, is key.

“In China, lamb is often served with a strong gamey smell, which the people there associate with freshness,” he explains. “But here, that will not appeal to the local palate. So we tone down the gaminess, make it more tender and adjust the spice levels to suit the locals.

Despite consumers being spoilt for choice, Choon Hoy’s Mr Ong believes Singapore operators can still hold their own, given the different products and dining experiences on offer.

“Those unfamiliar would think that all Chinese food is the same but clearly it is not. You have regional cuisine from China and what we are offering, which is Singapore Chinese ‘soul food’.”

Mr Chee also believes the influence of Chinese brands is unlikely to be lasting, as trends often follow a familiar cycle of being madly popular before stabilising and evolving into becoming part of the food landscape.

“You see mala everywhere because everyone wants to jump on that bandwagon and make money from it.” Over time, as the market becomes saturated, customers will spread out.

“In the end, it is usually the first movers who benefit most,” he says, adding that this is how certain food enclaves take shape over time. Tanjong Pagar, for instance, became synonymous with Korean cuisine and has remained that way.

And while Chinese brands have made inroads even into hawker centres, they are unlikely to displace longstanding Singapore staples.

“People will still crave their wonton mee, roti prata, nasi padang… You cannot position these things wrongly,” Mr Chee adds.

Mr Kwong notes Chinese brands have also raised the bar for the industry.

For example, Haidilao has reshaped expectations of Chinese hotpot in Singapore, through service and the overall dining experience.

The chain, which originated in Jianyang in Sichuan in 1994, is famous for offering complimentary manicures, snacks and games for waiting customers as well as free amenities including aprons and phone wipes.

For Singaporean brands that understand the Singapore palate and community, this means having to evolve and offer more.

“We need to compete at their level,” Mr Kwong, whose JING Hotpot and Grill offers mala as an option for its hotpot broth, says. “Eventually position ourselves to meet global standards.”

Mr Yip believes food trends are inevitable and that the next major wave could be Indian cuisine. He points to the growing prominence of Indian restaurants on lists such as Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, as well as the increasing number of Indian migrants in Singapore, as signs of rising interest.

More broadly, he argues that trends are neither right nor wrong, they simply reflect what people want at a given point in time. If a brand thrives, it shows what diners are choosing to support.

Rather than resisting change, he says, both consumers and industry players should observe, adapt and remain open-minded.

However, not everyone experiences a food boom in the same way.

For some diners, the excitement is tempered by questions of access and inclusion. Content creator Nurul Mimsy, 30, often feels like she is watching from the outside, puzzled by all the hype. The lack of English menus further complicates things.

She says: “It can get a little disheartening when a (Chinese) restaurant that everyone talks about does not also cater to Muslim patrons.”

She believes when Korean barbecue and Japanese ramen first started booming in Singapore, halal options were pretty sparse, but over time, things changed and there are now more choices for Muslim diners. She hopes to see the same trajectory with Chinese brands.

For diners like Miss Loh, the new taste experience opened the world to her.

She says: “I am not very familiar with geopolitics but to me, food is something that is universal, so if it is something that can bring people together, why not celebrate it?”