The best healthy restaurants in Singapore

Newly-opened Bamboo Bowls in Far East Square is admittedly bringing something new to the table. For one, their lineup of renowned chefs has us impressed. It’s running on culinary powerhouses, familiar household names like Bjorn Shen of Artichoke and Justin Hammond of Neon Pigeon.They’ve even got Mano Thevar in their crew – and his modern Indian restaurant was recently listed as #92 on Asia’s Top Restaurants. 

But name-dropping aside, these Asian bowls are also right up our alley for a quick lunch – intended as wholesome fuel to get you through the work day. It's a menu of eight bowls, representing the flavours of Singapore, Sichuan, Saigon, Bangkok, Bali, Tokyo, Mumbai, and Seoul. Our easy favourite? Thevar’s Bombay Bowl, hands down. This plant-based, organic bowl draws inspiration from Indian street snacks like chana dal and pumpkin vada. Add on spiced lamb kofta ($5), and you’ve got a nutritious meal without an impending food coma.

It seems only fitting that the lush compound of Dempsey is also home to the largest organic and natural food store in Singapore. Terra Madre champions the best that nature has to offer, with an expansive retail store and an adjoining dining space. After picking up pantry staples from its shelves, swing by Terra Madre Restaurant for a hearty, healthy menu that embraces the bounty of nature. Fresh produce, conscious ingredients, and local finds are used extensively in the kitchen to cook up a line-up of Australian-inspired plates. Kickstart the day on the right note with nourishing breakfast bowls ($14/$15) and loaded toasties ($18/$19), or construct your own wholesome salad for lunch. Come dinner time, the options expand to present sharing plates loaded with flavour – think burrata salad ($32), wild-caught prawns ($28) and charred eggplant ($22). Desserts remain just as guilt-free; Calabaza squash is turned into creamy mousse, and piped onto a gluten-free sponge ($15). 

There is more to The Ritual Café and Bar than its white-clad interior and avocado toast. While this coffee spot at Bukit Timah serves up a wholesome menu, it also hopes to promote holistic wellness – through its alternative healing experiences. Savour nourishing dishes that come prepped with natural Himalayan salt instead of table salt, and stay for one of its many programmes dedicated to topics of mental wellness, spirituality, herbal remedies, and more. Hungry? Fries come dusted with homemade kombu salt ($15), and nachos ($15) are topped with Impossible chilli. From the breakfast menu, highlights include a pillowy bagel, topped with beetroot-stained gravlax and cream cheese ($23) and a signature avocado toast ($18) dressed with Vegemite.

Tucked amidst sprawling towers and office buildings in the busy city is a calming escape: Carrotsticks and Cravings. The third outlet of the health-focused café sets up a breezy respite along Stanley Street – with soothing hues of cerulean blue, foliage wallpaper, and wood-toned fixtures custom-made in Bali that help lend the space a coastal charm. Calming interiors aside, they have veggie-forward dishes like the Stanley Breakfast for Two ($46) – a smorgasbord of salads, oven-roasted eggplant, falafel patties with sides of meat. The signature smashed avo ($18) remains a firm favourite at the café, as well as the belly-warming shakshouka ($18), a vegetarian-friendly stew of tomatoes and peppers. And apart from the usual cuppa, the bar counter also blends up a range of nourishing smoothies and juices to help you boost your energy levels and immune system. 

Genius Central Singapore is part of a worldwide network of resorts and beach clubs that cater to the growing entrepreneur crowd. While the outlet at Amoy Street is nowhere near a beach, it’s a spacious and chic spot to get some serious work done among other equally hardworking folks. If you have dietary restrictions or are just a health nut, you’ll be glad to know that Genius Central has a wonderfully inclusive menu. The café serves up largely organic fare, with vegetarian, vegan, dairy-, gluten- and nut-free options if you so desire. It doesn’t skimp on taste either – just try the fragrant coconut-forward Bumbu Bali ($13.80) curry with rice, flavours of Asia ($14.80) salad bowl or organic popcorn chicken ($8.80) snack with housemade paprika mayonnaise.

It's a hard task to create a menu that completely omits gluten. It's an even harder task to create a menu where you don't notice that it's gone. But The Butcher's Wife has been doing just that since 2018 – feeding both the gluten-free crowd and those looking for a good meal in a casual space at Tiong Bahru. Fermentation techniques feature extensively in the kitchen, and is used to create some homemade kombucha ($14) with flavours that change up frequently. Roselle and orange, tart and bright, will whet the appetite for a full meal ahead. Try the pretty blue pea flower naan sandwich ($20), stained in an indigo hue from the addition of blue pea flower extract. Within, fermented black beans are used as a base to make its falafel, and yoghurt and green mango chilli sauce add a bright pop of freshness. Gnocchi ($22), made using sweet potatoes and buckwheat flour, is also a great option for carb-lovers.

Adjoining the largest outlet of Little Farms at Katong is a new, all-day dine-in eatery. This is also Little Farms Bistro’s biggest venue to date, complete with a full-service bistro, coffee kiosk, and impressive bar counter. The same fresh produce found at its supermarket shelves is used to cook up a range of hearty delights; sample the exclusive wilted kale salad ($18), sautéed lightly with olive oil, then tossed with baby piccolo tomatoes and caramelised Spanish onions for texture and to impart natural sweetness. Don’t miss out on the special manuka honey cake ($12) and tahini brownie with ice cream ($12), alongside boozy botanical-inspired tipples (from $15). 

It's common knowledge that salmon comes packed with omega-3, protein, potassium, and more nutrients. Here, the humble seafood gets prepped in multiple ways at Salmon Samurai. Whether you’re in the mood for some fresh sashimi, or cooked and glazed with teriyaki, there’s a meal bowl that will satisfy your salmon craving. A basic set starts from $9.90, and comes with your choice of salmon – sashimi, spicy, garlic shoyu, teriyaki, mentaiko, and more – served atop yuzu ume rice, chilled udon, or buckwheat soba. There’s even the option to swap out carbs for mixed salad greens to create a guilt-free lunch.

It’s not all about cold salads when eating clean. At Tokyo Sundubu, tuck into a warm meal of Korean tofu stew, which is well-loved for its collagen-rich soup and fresh toppings. Its main highlight: the humble sundubu, or soft soy tofu, that’s made in-house to yield a silky texture. Choose from ingredients like chicken ($14), beef ($17) or Asari clams ($16) to add an extra dose of protein, before slurping up the fiery broth with red pepper that’s said to help kick-start your metabolism.

Pink Fish may be a fast-food joint, but the menu includes plenty of dishes that feature sustainably farm-raised salmon from Norway. Aside from the regular menu of burgers and wraps, the eatery also whips up poke bowls that come topped with seasoned seafood, alongside fresh greens. Love your spice? Try the locally inspired mala bowl, where plump salmon cubes are slathered with a house-made mala sauce brimming with Sichuan peppercorns and fresh chillies. 

The latest all-day dining concept of Tiong Bahru Bakery serves up thoughtful, clean plates that aren’t just leaves tossed with dressing. Take for instance the hot chicken salad with caramelised pumpkin ($20) – it might sound simple, but to prepare it, chicken breast is first marinated overnight in turmeric and lemongrass, then slow-cooked in a pan. For a balanced square meal, pair it with the Super Green Warm Soup ($16) blended with a long list of nutritious greens, or get the one-dish Rainbow Bowl ($19) where brown and wild rice are topped with pineapple kimchi, purple potato chips, salsa verde, and a slow-cooked organic egg. The only downside? Resisting the buttery pastries on display.  

COMO Cuisine brings together the best dishes from the luxury hotel’s various properties. So while you might be dining at COMO’s hip Dempsey enclave, your tastebuds will be taking a journey across the globe, sampling Bhutanese momo ($12) with a side of ezay chilli, or digging into the same aromatic lobster biryani ($48) that’s served at its Cocoa Island property. The menu leans healthy, thanks in part to a series of signatures from COMO Shambala, the brand’s wellness arm. Try the popular tandoor cauliflower ($22), which is marinated in yoghurt, turmeric, garlic, ginger, and coriander before it goes into a tandoor oven to earn a smoky char. Savour other vegetable-forward dishes like the mangrove crab salad ($24) and golden beetroot ($20) as well. 

Here, toasts (from $8) come topped with hearty, healthy ingredients like mashed avocadoes or roasted eggplant drizzled with miso dressing ($8). The Social Space also serves colourful smoothie bowls (from $10) blended with a variety of fruits and vegetables. You can also swap out the usual cuppa for a calming chamomile lavender latte ($7) or a golden turmeric latte ($6). But more than just a healthy eatery, is is also home to a socially-conscious nail salon, and stocks eco-friendly lifestyle products.

DoSiRak serves healthy, sub-500 calorie Korean-style lunch bowls in the CBD. Create your lunchbox by choosing a carb, a protein and several veggies including its housemade kimchi. The standard serving packs white rice into the bowl, but add $1 for brown rice or buckwheat noodles to add heft to add-ins like beef bulgogi ($9.90), cured salmon ($11.90) and kimchi tofu ($7.90), drizzled with DoSiRak’s homemade Korean chilli sauce.

For healthy and affordable build-your-own bowls in the CBD, hit up Wafuken at either Asia Square Tower 2 or OUE Downtown Gallery. A plain donburi ($4) – choose between furikake Japanese brown rice or white rice – is served with onsen egg, daikon and cucumber pickles and you can choose to add on protein options like sous vide chicken breast ($4) to make a bowl that still comes in at under $10.

There may be no shortage of healthy restaurants in this city, but Singapore has nothing quite like this: a one-stop café, health shop and ‘lifestyle-improvement’ space (apparently that’s a thing) overseen by Balanced Living founder Dana Heather. You’ll be amazed by how extensive the menu is, proving that eating clean doesn’t need to be limiting. There are raw food mains like pad thai noodles ($16.50) made with zucchini, and taco boats ($18) packed with guacamole, mango salsa and ‘meatballs’. You can even chow down on burgers and wholemeal pizza without the guilt – or hunger – pangs after. And don’t forget to pop by the retail space on the second floor to stock up on more healthy eating essentials.

Workspace Espresso stands out from the ‘build-it-yourself’ grain bowl crowd by offering dishes peppered with Middle Eastern flavours. For $13.80, you can select one base, one hot protein, three sides, two toppings and a dressing. Or, choose one of the pre-constructed Super Bowls like Belly Awesome ($16.30) or Oishi-Seyo ($16.30). Belly Awesome comes with roasted pork belly, tofu, brown rice, and baby french beans, while Oishi-Seyo comes with miso mirin salmon, chap chae, eggplany, and kimchi salad. Aside from grain bowls, Workspace also offers pita pockets, coffee and cakes so you’ll always have a pick-me-up for the rest of the day.

Haakon, pronounced  ‘haw-coon’, is a Scandinavian-inspired café that brings superfoods from Norway to your plate. It only uses premium Norwegian smoked salmon – it’s rich in protein, Omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants – to make dishes like their specialty bowls (from $10.90) and hummus vege burger ($12.90). For those with a sweet tooth, go for Haakon’s classic acai bowl (from $7.90), topped with coconut flakes, banana, strawberries and blueberries for a quick and guilt-free energy boost.

As the first restaurant to bring Hawaii’s answer to chirashi to our shores, Aloha Poké deserves a special mention in our books. Customise your poké bowl with tuna, salmon, tofu or seasonal fish dressed in sauces like wasabi mayo and nutty sesame, atop your choice of carbs (white or brown rice) or salad. Add on edamame, cherry tomatoes, cucumber and tamago ($1) to really pack in as much guilt-free snacking as possible. 

Finding wholesome food in the CBD isn’t difficult at all, but Grain Traders is holding on to a winning ticket built on tasty veggies, premium meats and a wealth of grain options. The high-ceilinged space bears the good looks of a sun-kissed Aussie café and Mexico-style washed pastels, cleverly worked into a chilled-out respite. Each bowl is priced at $16 and comes with your choice of grain, protein, two vegetables, one side, sauce and topping.