2024 Edition: Best Credit Cards for Dining

Don't leave miles on the table when dining out! Here's the best miles cards to use for restaurants, cafes, bars and fast food.

One of the biggest categories of spending for most Singaporeans will probably be eating out. Thankfully, there’s no shortage of credit cards that earn bonus miles on restaurants and eateries, whether you’re sitting down for a multi-course fine dining meal, or grabbing a pastry at the MRT station.

๐Ÿ’ณ What’s the Best Card for…
โ“ Overall Guide
โœˆ๏ธ Air Tickets
๐ŸŒŽ Amaze  ๐Ÿš— Car Rental
๐Ÿ’— Charity ๐Ÿฝ๏ธ Dining
๐Ÿซ Education
๐Ÿฅก Food Delivery ๐Ÿจ Hotels โ˜‚๏ธ Insurance
๐Ÿ“ฑ Kris+ โš•๏ธ Medical ๐Ÿ–๏ธ Overseas
โ›ฝ Petrol ๐Ÿš Public Transport ๐Ÿ›’ Supermarkets
๐Ÿšฐ Utilities

For the purposes of this post, I’m going to assume that you’re paying for your meal in-store. If you’re ordering food for delivery, you should check out my separate post on the best cards to use for food delivery. 

How do dining transactions code?

Restaurants and eateries can code under any of the following MCCs:

MCC Description Examples
(non-exhaustive)
5811 Caterers Eatz, Neo Garden, Stamford Catering
5812 Restaurants Crystal Jade, Jumbo Seafood, Paradise Group
5813 Bars & Nightclubs Brewerkz, Brotzeit, Harry’s
5814 Fast Food Burger King, McDonald’s, KFC
5441 Candy, Nut, Confectionery Stores Candy Empire, See’s Candies, TWG
5462 Bakeries Bread Talk, Bengawan Solo, Four Leaves
5499 Misc. Food Stores Crave, Famous Amos, Grain

That’s quite a wide range, and it’s not always straightforward. For example, will eating in a hotel restaurant code as a hotel, or a restaurant? Will a Delifrance inside a grocery store count as a restaurant, or a supermarket?

Fortunately, it’s possible to check the MCC before spending. Here’s three ways of looking it up:

Method Ease of Use Reliability
โ“HeyMax โ—โ—โ— โ—
๐Ÿ“ฑ Instarem app โ—โ— โ—โ—
๐Ÿค– DBS digibot โ—
โ—โ—โ—

Of course, the exact MCC only matters if you’re paying with a card that uses a whitelist approach. If you’re using a card with a blacklist approach, things are much simpler.

โ“ Whitelist vs Blacklist approach
  • Whitelist: Only specified MCCs will be earn bonuses (e.g. HSBC Revolution for dining, groceries etc)
  • Blacklist: All transactions will earn bonuses, except specified excluded MCCs (e.g. UOB Preferred Platinum Visa for mobile contactless transactions)

Blacklist vs whitelist cards: How I optimise between both

What cards should I use for dining?

The following credit cards will earn you 3-4 mpd on dining, subject to the caps shown below. 

๐Ÿฝ๏ธ Best Cards for Dining
Card Earn Rate Cap
UOB Lady’s Card
Apply
4 mpd S$1K per c. month. Must choose Dining as bonus category
Review
UOB Lady’s Solitaire
Apply
4 mpd S$2K per c. month. Must choose Dining as bonus category
Review
HSBC Revolution
Apply
4 mpd* S$1K per c. month
Review
UOB Visa Signature
Apply
4 mpd S$1-2K per s. month on local contactless spend
Review
UOB Pref. Plat. Visa
Apply
4 mpd S$1.1K per c. month
Review
Amaze + Citi Rewards
Apply
4 mpd Max $1K per s. month
Review
KrisFlyer UOB Card
Apply
3 mpd No cap. Min S$800 spend on SIA Group in m. year
Review
C. Month= Calendar Month | S. Month= Statement Month | M. Year= Membership Year
*Online only from 15 July 2024
โ“ Local vs overseas dining

The above table applies whether you’re dining in Singapore or overseas. The only difference is that the UOB Visa Signature mechanics change- you’ll need to spend a minimum of S$1,000 in foreign currency in a statement month to trigger the 4 mpd rate. 

Also, if you’re dining overseas you can use a card that gives bonuses for foreign currency transactions

Let’s start with the blacklist cards, because they’re more straightforward:

  • Citi Rewards Card + Amaze will earn 4 mpd on all dining transactions, since Amaze converts all offline transactions into online ones
  • UOB Preferred Platinum Visa will earn 4 mpd on all dining transactions, so long as mobile payments are accepted (i.e. tap phone to pay)
  • UOB Visa Signature will earn 4 mpd on all dining transactions, so long as contactless payments are accepted (i.e. tap physical card or phone to pay), subject to a minimum local contactless spend of S$1,000 per statement month

As for the rest of the whitelist cards, you need to see which MCCs the bank includes under its dining definition.

๐Ÿฝ๏ธ Dining Card MCC Coverage
 
  HSBC Revo
UOB Lady’s
KF UOB
5811 โœ… โœ…  
5812 โœ… โœ… โœ…
5813 โœ…   โœ…
5814   โœ… โœ…
5441 โœ…    
5462 โœ…    
5499   โœ…  
Earn Rate 4 mpd 4mpd 3 mpd
Monthly Cap S$1K S$1K/2K No cap

There’s an interesting trade-off running across these three cards:

โš ๏ธ UOB$ merchants

Take care when spending with UOB cards, because you will earn reduced or no UNI$ (i.e. miles) at UOB$ merchants.

For the UOB Lady’s Card, Lady’s Solitaire Card and Visa Signature, deduct 0.4 mpd from the usual 4 mpd earn rates. For the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa and KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card, you will earn 0 miles. Refer to this article for more details, and to this article for potential workarounds. 

Major UOB$ dining merchants include Aburi-En, Baker & Cook, BreadTalk, Bonchon, Crystal Jade, Patisserie G, Polar Puffs and Cakes, Starbucks, Sushiro, and Toast Box.

I suppose I should also briefly address the StanChart Smart Card, for the sake of completeness. This can be used as a dining card too, but its coverage is very narrow. You’ll earn 5.6 pmd on spending at McDonald’s, KFC, Subway, Burger King, Ya Kun Kaya Toast and Toast Box, capped at S$818 per statement month. If those are places you patronise, by all means- just beware of the orphan points problem, which can arise if you don’t otherwise use the card all that much.

The 5.6 mpd earn rate was previously positioned as a limited-time offer, but the language regarding expiry has now been removed from the T&Cs, making it evergreen. 

What if the restaurant uses QR-code ordering?

QR code ordering, we meet again

Many restaurants now use QR-code menus, and some require that you pay for your meal via your phone before submitting your order.

If that’s the case, the situation becomes akin to a generic online transaction, or food delivery. Here’s the main changes I’d make to the recommended cards in that case:

  • DBS Woman’s World Card can be used to earn 4 mpd, capped at S$1,500 per calendar month
  • Citi Rewards Card can be used to earn 4 mpd, capped at S$1,000 per statement month. You won’t need to pair it with Amaze in this case, which can help you preserve your monthly SGD cap. Do be careful of Citi’s blanket exclusion on in-app mobile wallet transactions though!
  • StanChart Journey Card can be used to earn 3 mpd, capped at S$1,000 per statement month. This is provided the transaction is in SGD

What if I want to pay with Kris+?

S$5 for new Kris+ Users
Get S$5 (in the form of 750 KrisPay miles) when you sign-up with code W644363 and make your first transaction

Kris+ is great way of racking up additional miles on dining, on top of what you earn from your credit cards. There’s a few hundred dining partners offering an extra 1-9 mpd, and it doesn’t cost you anything extra to use.

In general, Kris+ preserves the MCC of the merchant, so if you’re at a restaurant, you should use the same card you’d otherwise use for dining. 

For a guide on the best cards to pair with Kris+, refer to the article below.

What’s the best card to use for Kris+?

Other ways of saving on dining

Save up to 50% off dining at SKIRT and other hotel restaurants with AMEX Love Dining

While this article is meant to focus on miles earning, just a quick reminder that there are credit cards which offer special dining privileges that can take a bite out of the bill:

Alternatively, $120K cards like the Citi Prestige and OCBC VOYAGE sometimes offer special dining experiences which may be discounted. You’ll need to opt in to receive marketing materials from the bank to get a heads up when they’re released.

Conclusion

While banks are clamping down on points for non-discretionary spend like education and utilities, dining is one luxury they’re happy to continue rewarding.

The right credit card can earn you up to 4 mpd, and has no doubt led to many arguments about whose turn it is to pay the bill!

Aaron Wong
Aaron Wong
Aaron founded The Milelion to help people travel better for less and impress chiobu. He was 50% successful.

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Anonymous

Most restaurants now allow ordering via a QR code and may also integrate the payment into the ordering process. In this case, this would count as online transaction and would be suitable for cards such as DBS Women’s World Mastercard.

Anonymous

Not necessarily. From personal experience, I have seen Dining MCCs such as 5814 being assigned for such QR payment. But yes, using MCC agnostic cards like DBS WWMC would be safer

J Y

I think you missed out HSBC Premier Mastercard which is 5%+1% and with a very high cap?

Nightmare_Angel

How long does it take for the UOB Ladyโ€™s Solitaire to be approved? Applied a week+ back and still pending approval. Sent a query email to UOB but no response.

Thanks