Singapore’s Vanishing $2.20 Chicken Rice Stokes Inflation Angst

Prices of dishes such as chicken rice and seafood noodles have risen more than 12% in two years.

Customers have lunch at Chinatown Complex Food Centre in Singapore.

Photographer: Edwin Koo/Bloomberg

Breaking for lunch during his work as a handyman in Singapore, Zuo Jing Fa usually heads to the nearest food hall in search of a cheap meal.

He’s having to look harder these days as inflation hits hawker centers — the open-air food complexes dotting the city and long a source of affordable dining in one of the world’s most expensive cities.