If there’s one thing you must do in Singapore, it’s eat at a hawker centre.

Because in this country, makan, or eating, is the national pastime.

Everyone eats here, in these humble open-air areas packed with rows of food stalls selling everything from fried fish balls to stir-fried curried noodles. The rich, the food snobs, the first-timers, the hipsters, grandmas, American tourists, lunching ladies — literally, everyone eats here.

The food here is usually inexpensive and prepared to order. And every stall tends to sell something different from the others, making your visit to one of these centres, most often located in dense urban centers or near transportation hubs, a bit overwhelming.

What should we eat? Where should we go? What the heck is this?

Those were the questions running through my mind during our visit to Geylang Serai, one of the biggest and busiest wet markets in Singapore. Since 1964, this market has been a focal point for the local Malay community — and we were here to eat.

One of the food stalls at Geylang Serai.

Melissa Chang and her plate of Malay food.

The first floor is a maze of vendors selling dried fruits, Malay textiles, traditional clothing, fresh vegetables, live seafood and tons of spices.

But upstairs is where the foodies flock. Here, food stalls serve up some of the best Muslin/Indian food in Singapore. You can find plates with fried chicken and basmati rice; desserts like chendol with coconut cream and ice shavings; or mee rebus (“boiled noodles” in Malay) stewed with dried shrimp, mutton scraps and flower crabs.

While there are variations within Malay cuisine that’s prevalent all over Singapore — it’s only a six-hour drive from Singapore to Kuala Lampur, Malaysia’s capital city — there are a few characteristics that remain true across the board: a generous use of spices, belcan (shrimp paste) to make sambal, coconut milk, chili peppers, and rice (nasi). Oh, and Malays rarely use utensil, opting to eat with their hands instead. (Right hands, to be exact. The left is used for, well, other things.)

Inside Geylang Serai.

One of the Singaporean-style noodle dishes we tried at this hawker centre. Notice the thin rice vermicelli. Love that!

Another food vendor serving Malay dishes. It’s like an okazuya, where you ask for a plate of rice and order two to three side dishes — or more if you want.

Pineapple and dragonfruit juices. The pineapple one was sickly sweet.

Nasi ayam is the Malay version of Hainanese chicken rice, with a deep-fried piece of chicken paired with flavorful rice and a dipping sauce.

We went to a Muslim “okazuya” of sorts with rice (topped with chicken gravy), fried chicken, tofu and green beans and quail eggs

From the aptly named House of Gandos, we ordered its specialty: gandos, a hard-to-find dessert, called kueh in Malay, that reminiscent of butter mochi. It’s a slightly dense coconut mochi-style cake that’s completely addictive. And we got six pieces for just $2 Singaporean dollars!

After breakfast — where we literally sampled about 10 different dishes — we wandered around the first floor of the hawker centre to see what other treasures we might find.

This stall on the first floor of Geylang Serai sold spices.

A whole section was devoted to fresh fruits and vegetables. It looked a lot like Chinatown.

These are blue eggs called kurang masin. “Masin” in Malay means salty. Kurang is a village in India. I still don’t know what this means…

Another section of the market were vendors selling fresh meats like chicken and fish.

We spent the rest of the day walking around the enormous Marina Bay Sands, checking out the world’s longest elevated swimming pool on its top floor and the 1-million-square-foot Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, which boasts more than 300 stores and restaurants and a canal snaking through it. We even made a pit stop at Din Tai Fung for its famous xiao long bao (soup dumplings).

The famous infinity pool at the top of the Marina Bay Sands. Look at that view!

The xioa long bao (soup dumpling) from Din Tai Fung, soaking up the shoyu-vinegar-ginger dipping sauce.

For dinner, Melissa had invited @SingaporeanEats — she doesn’t use her real name, though we do actually know it! — to eat with us. A native of Singapore — and a bonafide foodie — she had a list of places and dishes we needed to try. But in the interest of time and convenience, she took us to what she called a rather tourist-y hawker center named Makansutra Gluttons Bay on Raffles Avenue.

It’s a lively spot, right on the bay with great views of the skyline of the island’s financial district.

But we weren’t here for the views!

The scene at the Makansutra Gluttons Bay.

Sambal stingray at Makansutra Gluttons Bay.

The black carrot cake — which might be confusing to Americans. This dish uses turnips — not carrots — “cake” refers to the way the rice flour binds the ingredients. It’s definitely not a sweet dessert with cream cheese frosting!

This is an egg scramble with oysters, a popular street food item here.

The spread, which includes chicken and pork satay skewers and fried chicken with a prawn paste.

Our Singaporean friend said while this might be a newer, trendier spot that attracts visitors, the vendors are completely authentic and serve delicious food, even by her (high) standards.

It’s one of the highlights of any trip abroad to meet up with someone who’s from the area, someone who loves food as much as we do, someone who’s generous and willing to share her insights with us. These people really know what’s going on, what’s good, what’s hot, and what we should avoid at all costs. We were incredibly fortunate to spend this evening with this super fun, super smart Singaporean.

The skyline that night, with the reflection of lights dancing in the bay. It was mesmerizing.

After dinner, we walked over to Merlion Park, a landmark of Singapore near the Central Business District (CBD). It was packed with tourists snapping photos of the Merlion statue, which shot water out of its mouth.

By sheer luck, we caught the nightly Wonder Full, southeast Asia’s largest light and water show brought courtesy of Marina Bay Sands. It’s a 13-minute show with visual effects — like these lasers — and a water show we couldn’t see.

Our final stop before heading back to the hotel was the Helix Bridge — previously known as the Double Helix Bridge. It was nice strolling across this well-designed, beautifully lit pedestrian bridge.

We started the day at a hawker centre and ended it at another one. That’s not a bad plan!

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The hawker centres in Singapore are owned by three government bodies, namely the National Environment Agency (NEA) under the parent Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR), Housing and Development Board (HDB) and JTC Corporation. In 2010, NEA launched www.myhawkers.sg, an interactive web portal that offers useful information on hawker centres and food stalls.