Tag: singapore

The Birthplace Of Roti John

Singapore is where Roti John was concocted, invented or born as a street food. I sat down for a drink at a stall in Haig Road Cooked Food Centre, unaware.

When I looked up later, I was astonished to see a very long queue forming in front of the neighbouring stall. It was Ramadan and local Muslims were packing and taking away food to break fast later.

The stall named Rosy & Nora is 35 years old and as old as the the Roti John snack it is famous for serving. Roti John is a baguette loaf with scrambled eggs, onions and chilli gravy.

Roti John’s name or origin is humdrum as far as local legends go. It started as a a hawker’s sales pitch in asking a Matsalleh, Caucasian or white man, most likely a British soldier: “Roti, John?”

A Malay auntie in the line noticed my curiosity and she told me many of the customers, like herself, are also queuing for popiah basah (a wet spring roll). What an awesome but accidental discovery of a famous and iconic Singapore food stall.

The Geylang Serai bazaar has over 1000 stalls, excluding those in the food court. Find a hotel here, when you visit:
http://www.mycen.my/singapore-hotel-deals-finder/

#rotijohn #geylangserai #ramadan #bazaar #singapore #snacks #joochiat #fasting #iftar #food #rotijohn #popiah #geylang #hawkerfood #rosyandnora #mycenhotels #singapura

Watermelon Volcano

Watermelon Volcano.

It was the most successful fadish food at Singapore’s Geylang Serai Ramadan bazaar last year. Alongside, rainbow bagels and Ramly burgers.

Long queues of mostly young people and hipsterlets can be seen lining up in front of the kiosk. Wonder if it is still a big hit this year?

Originally, a school science project with vinegar and baking soda, the messy eruptions became a a slushie mixture of ice, watermelon cubes and evaporated milk. Because it is shared dish with straws, it is popular with couples and young people.

The bazaar has over 1000 stalls. Find a hotel here:
http://www.mycen.my/singapore-hotel-deals-finder/

#watermelonvolcano #geylangserai #ramadan #bazaar #singapore #snacks #joochiat #fasting #iftar #slushie

Singapore’s Urban Sketchers

Singapore’s Urban Sketchers

At Al Waldi Restaurant, I met a Singapore street sketcher. As she sketched the “putu piring” making kiosk and as I photographed it, we had a brief conversation. Just like in KL, there is now a growing community of street sketchers. It is a great way of documenting a cultural activity and heritage architectural subjects. They are also known as urban sketchers and its is usually done on location.

Only people I know into street sketching on my FB are Lim Chin Han, Victor Chin and perhaps Merilyn PL Ng. Let me know if you are one.

Anyone from the community can recognize this lady? I like to credit her and to connect with her to see more of her sketches. I should have sketched her name somewhere. I think I did and lost the coffee shop’s chope tissue.

#singapore #streetsketchers #urbansketchers #sketchers #streetsketch #sketch #streetphotography #artist

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall

To have quick access to the Singapore Ramadan Bazaar, I stayed at a hotel on the doorsteps of the street bazaar known as Geylang Serai. I tried to recall the name of the hotel but there are like a dozen 81 chain hotels in the Geylang area!

The one I stayed was Hotel 81 Tristar and only thing I didn’t like was that the room had no windows except for a big wall mirror. Kind of like a love hotel except it can spook you at night when you are staying alone and you noticed something moving that was your own reflection. Credit to the receptionist for telling me in advance. Some hotels don’t tell you and it may be a good idea to ask when checking in.

For a budget hotel (in the Singapore context – over RM 200), it has an outdoor pool on one of the floors and a minibar in each room. There is a convenient 7 Eleven downstairs to fill up the minibar (mini fridge). To recall the hotel’s name, I was lucky to have taken some pictures at a mamak or Malay restaurant downstairs. The restaurant’s name Al Wadi was captured and it allowed me to do a Google Street View walk to find the name of the hotel next door.  Kind of nostalgic because I used to take long exploration walks as a 7 or 8 year old kid from Everitt Road nearby, where we once stayed.

Book Hotel 81 Tristar here (Booking dot com) or here (Agoda)

Address: 1 Onan Road.  Singapore 424780

Find over 470 hotels in Singapore here

Bang The Rusty Gong. Hail The King! – Part 1 of A Two Parter

I was talking about flea markets with my friend T Muhamad IJ. In the 80s, Singapore had a charming roadside flea market near or on Sungai Road, outside the legendary Sim Lim Tower, the forerunner of Sim Lim Square.

I remember the area well because it was where Malaysian cars go to get a sun roof installed. A guy in the car accessory shop will cut a hole in your car roof with a electric jig saw and power grinders. It was mad but Malaysians loved it. Never mind, it will eventually rust like crazy and leak. As long as they can drive around Ampang Jaya or Taman TAR and let their kids stick their heads out of the roof. Style and gaya.

Eventually, the flea market in Singapore was to become the famous Thieves Market. I used to enjoy going there as one can find the rare vinyl record and other junk artifacts, if one is lucky. Can any Singaporean tell me if they are still allowed today in clinical and sterile Singapore?

I liked it because it was just outside my favourite electronics mall Sim Lim Tower. Sim Lim Tower was special because you can buy almost any electronic component or spare part (IC, resistor, capacitor, fuse, etc) and those nasty VCR spinning heads. If you dont know how to fix an appliance, there were also many shops there that sell repair or service manuals and schematics for every model sold on earth.

I also like the many ham shops there where I was fascinated by the many transceivers that cannot be sold to foreigners. I eventually became a licensed ham operator or amateur radio operator with my own call sign. There used to be many African shoppers there buying stuff by big bag loads for reselling back in their home country. I remember one guy buying a cordless phone with a 100 mile range capability (claimed specs on the display window). Common sense tells me that anything with that kind of transmitting power is illegal and can fry your brains.

End Of Part 1 – To be continued in Part 2 in next post.