2024 Edition: Best Credit Cards for Dining

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.

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:

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:

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.

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. 

🍽️ 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

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.

🍽️ Dining Card MCC Coverage
	HSBC Revo	UOB Lady’s	KF UOB
5811	✅	✅
5812	✅	✅	✅
5813	✅		✅
5814		✅	✅
5441	✅
5462	✅
5499		✅
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:

• HSBC Revolution offers the widest dining MCC coverage (even after losing MCC 5814 and 5499 earlier this year), but has a monthly cap of S$1,000 and an earn rate of 4 mpd. Also, from 15 July 2024 it will only award bonuses for online transactions, which greatly hampers its use as a dining card
• UOB Lady’s Card/Lady’s Solitaire have a more restricted dining MCC coverage, but a monthly cap of up to S$2,000 and an earn rate of 4 mpd that can be further buffed with the UOB Lady’s Savings Account
• KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card has the narrowest dining MCC coverage, but offers 3 mpd with no cap (assuming you meet the min. S$800 spend on SIA Group merchants per membership year, which shouldn’t be that hard to do)

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?

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

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:

• AMEX Platinum Charge, Platinum Reserve and Platinum Credit Card members have access to the Love Dining programme, which offers up to 50% off food at selected hotels and restaurants
• AMEX HighFlyer Card and DBS Vantage Card members get a complimentary Accor Plus membership, which offers up to 50% off food at participating hotels
• All HSBC Card members get a complimentary copy of The Entertainer with HSBC, which offers more than 200 1-for-1 dining offers

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!