Food Outlets Past And Present

[postnew]

The Alhambra, Singapore
First Singapore cinema to have air conditioning.

Alhambra Cinema was formerly located at the junction of Beach Road and Middle Road, next to the former Marlborough Cinema, another landmark building in the area. The Cinema was built in 1907 by motion picture industry pioneer, Tan Cheng Kee. It was one of the pioneer cinema halls in the early 1930s and was the first Singapore cinema to have air-conditioning. Alhambra Cinema was nicknamed Hai Kee ("by the sea" in Hainanese) due to its proximity to the sea. The Cinema was eventually demolished to make way for the construction of Shaw Towers in the 1970s

 

[Baroko]

I remember very vaguely in the late 70s or early 80s, there was an open air hawker centre in the car park next to where Specialists Centre used to be.

But when I asked several people, some of whom are older than me, none of them could remember this.

Can anyone remember? What were some of the famous stalls there?

On present food outlets, I happened to notice that there is a restuarant outside Plaza Singapura next to Dhoby Gaut MRT station, which purports to sell roti prata from Jalan Kayu.
Has anyone noticed this restaurant or patronized it?
How's the quality and can you confirm it's from Jalan Kayu?

It's a worry that as all these coffee shops or hawker stalls move into such upmarket establishments, prices will only go up and up at a fast rate. Do you have similar concerns?

The Orchard Car Park glutton square is where 313@somerset is now, next to the site of the old Specialist Centre. The fame car park is opposite Centrepoint where the Koek Rd food centre was. Too many good food stalls to mention here. But speak to some of your senior uncle friends to know more.

Do note that the said car park it is NOT next to Killiney Rd. The STB appeared to have made a mistake when they touted the wrong corner as THE place.

 

[elephanto]

My, my, nostalgia is the best ointment for the soul .... like that also 4 pages leow.

Nostalgia - no controversy right , nobody need to kpkb ok ....

I reckon bros like kingrant, johnny333 & halsey02 must be beyond their 50s.

Alhambra is beofre me, but Jubilee lower down the road opposite Odeon, I have impression - showing chinese films in an old colonial pu-ka-lau building.

Now of course, all gone & to commemorate the site, the Raffles Hotel Comlpex name one of its performance halls as 'Jubilee' Hall.

Lower down North Bridge road, the giant National 'N' Neon lights adorn the Bata Building .....

Funan Centre itself was born in the early 80s & undergone at least 3 major renovation & facelift. Remember when Sim Wong Hoo was starting out at Funan, the 6th Floor was where the non-aircon food centre was ....

Connected by overhead bridge to the Hock Lam Hawker Centre next to Central Fire Station .... good food galore....

That pix from Sam showing the night hawker centre opp Cold Storage, notice the only tall longish building in the foreground ?

The Hotal Grand Central is a bloody old old building that lasted to this day, behind the Meridien....

The Old Lido Cinema and the Ship restaurant inside ..... so cosy, atmosphere cannot replicate....

Beach Rd seafood hawker stalls are the best.... went as a kid, now memory foggy, remember it is behind & within the backlanes & an open-air enclosure, like Kingrant mentioned, wide open display of cuttlefish & seafood choices, kerosene lamps, steamboat fumes ..... lovely .... leading me to remember the other seafood nostalgia, those Upp East Coast seafood houses.... Kheng Luck was by the sea, double storey balcony, toilet must go out the long jetty, shit into the open sea below .....

 

[johnny333]

Do you mean the blind samurai sword fighter called Zatoichi? Or Wang Yu, the one arm swordsman?

Sorry can't remember the title but a few ago while I was channel surfing caught the ending of the very same movie. Could be Zatoichi.

I've got the DVD of the one armed swordsman Gramaphone at North Bridge(next to Capitol) used to sell many old classics.

 

[johnny333]

Do note that the said car park it is NOT next to Killiney Rd. The STB appeared to have made a mistake when they touted the wrong corner as THE place.

When our authorities can make simple mistakes like the location of a historic site, you know that the authorities don't keep good records & may indicate that they don't value our past

 

[postnew]

 

[johnny333]

For the sake of progress, everything was uprooted...I still recall the layout of Cold Storage Orchard, Fiztpatrick's Supermarket, CK Tang...and Orchard Rd from the days it was old with the cinema , shaw house to when it was all gone....
.

For years the only depatment stores was the long gone Robinsons(at Raffles) and CK Tang(Orchard Rd).


PAP might like to boast about being responsible for modern Spore but they forget the fact that they are also responsible for destroying Spore. Just look at all the parking lots & REITs properties owned by Temasek :(

I've talked to older Sporeans who remember when Spore was under the Brits & they think it was a better under the Brits

 

[halsey02]

The Orchard Car Park glutton square is where 313@somerset is now, next to the site of the old Specialist Centre. The fame car park is opposite Centrepoint where the Koek Rd food centre was. Too many good food stalls to mention here. But speak to some of your senior uncle friends to know more.

Do note that the said car park it is NOT next to Killiney Rd. The STB appeared to have made a mistake when they touted the wrong corner as THE place.

Not Glutton Square, just simply Orchard Rd Car Park, there was a car park next to Killiney Rd, but not for stalls, and there was also a Community Centre next to the Post Office also..which the should have preserved!!

Someone mention, the food prices at the car park was a rip off, many of us ate there, only if we didn't eat elsewhere before going to Orchard Rd.

The old wet market became a HDB built like wet market with food stalls, call Cairnhill Market?, right?

The food stalls holders were mainly from the Hawker Stalls along the river, at the back of Standard Chartere Bank & Bank of China area...

 

[halsey02]

Wah! brother!, you make me cry....!! that is where I have my weekly Chef's sandwiches...wash down with a glass of Tomato Juice or the triangular shaped magnolia fresh milk or just the curry puffs....with afternoon tea in a pot!..with cube sugar ( Taiko)...

Most of those having their afternoon tea were mostly the 'legal beagles' the clerks from the law firms...lawyers etc..

Thanks for the memory....wonder, where you dug up all these pictures...that was how Polar Cafe use to look like...

I think, their first shop they opened after high street was at the basement of OUB Centre Raflles place...where I would buy their chicken pie, until it was too expensive for me to pay for one...

Thanks again!!

 

[krafty]

Capitol Theatre, this is where my first group date with RGS girls was...
but of course it was in the eighties...

However,my favourite girls are from St Anthony's convent,bestest!

 

[halsey02]

For years the only depatment stores was the long gone Robinsons(at Raffles) and CK Tang(Orchard Rd).


PAP might like to boast about being responsible for modern Spore but they forget the fact that they are also responsible for destroying Spore. Just look at all the parking lots & REITs properties owned by Temasek :(

I've talked to older Sporeans who remember when Spore was under the Brits & they think it was a better under the Brits

I know Robinson's at Raflles Place...still can see the toy department in my mind, that's where I would be, admiring the train set with all the accesories, where I could never ever buy, but dream!...ha ha ha & John Little's across the street, the other side of Raffles Place, where Gian Singh Bldg was, & change Alley in between & the old Arcade building..

That was the major deparmental stores, before Metro @ High street opened, and Tay Ban Guan in Katong...

Later came the sensation, Oriental Emprorium Raffles Place...& Cortina Departmental Store at Colombo Court ( where the New High Court is!)...

 

[halsey02]

Capitol Theatre, this is where my first group date with RGS girls was...
but of course it was in the eighties...

However,my favourite girls are from St Anthony's convent,bestest!

Movies that come to my mind at Capitol would be, "Play Misty For Me", " MELODY aka SWALK", Love Story, ...all the Gu Long Sword Fighting films, the Wan Yu films. Cheng Kwan Tai, David Chiang movies..."..then ajdourn to the National Library, borrow a few books..tell mum I went to the library... ha ha ha

The Kar Chang putih Indian stall at the side...the popcorn & drinks at the lobby...and the zodiac signs on the ceiling of the cinema...cant but $1.50 seats, have to buy upstaitrs stall...and long queue, for popular movies..

Those days, no INTERNET Booking, or AXS machine, to buy advance tickets, one have to buy from wednesday for Sat etc..

 

[Gallego99]

My other question was that there is a restaurant now near dhoby gaut mrt station that purports to sell prata from the jalan kayu stalls and whether you have tried it.

yup, I tried the prata-kosong, telor and bawang and came away disappointed. they've kept prices reasonably low but it's the quality that matters-macam kayu jalan. the shiok factor is missing.

 

[halsey02]

>Funan Centre itself was born in the early 80s & undergone at least 3 major renovation & facelift. Remember when Sim Wong Hoo was starting out at Funan, the 6th Floor was where the non-aircon food centre was ....Connected by overhead bridge to the Hock Lam Hawker Centre next to Central Fire Station .... good food galore....>

The original Funan before it became Leisuremall or something...the food court used to be at the ground leverl. I remember there was a curry chicken stall there, you either have it with French Loaf or rice...was very good..and then came Cortina Chicken..it was yummy back then, NOT NOW!.

Then the foodcourt went upstairs...

 

[elephanto]

....the triangular shaped magnolia fresh milk....

Like tis type of packaging from nong nong ago .......

 

[halsey02]

Like tis type of packaging from nonog nong ago .......

YES!....

Magnolia Fresh Milk....I am lactose intolereance...but I got to have that MAGNOLIA FRESH MILK...the milky taste, not the ones today..what cows they use I dunno? cut the corners, cold from fridge, drink with straws....and half hour later ...run for......the JAMBAN!!:p but worth it!

 

[elephanto]

Cortina Departmental Store at Colombo Court ( where the New High Court is!)...

Yes, Colombo Court....
My uncle wedding dinner held at the 5th level restaurant, rooftop open balcony so nice at night....

Cortina dept store, holiday do part-time sales assistant...

The 3rd floor with windows overlooking street outside got a row of audio visual shop .... in 1978 bought those big cassette recorder national Panasonic with LED lights ok $550 !

Then retail all left Columbo Court ... became office for Legal Aide Bureau & other govt offices .... then boom .... make way for spaceship to land !

sigh.... remember went empress press to replace old ic, beside the river got a small cluster of hawker centre, mee goreng veri nice.... later they were shifted to a makeshift warehouse type hawker centre directly opposite high street centre then ... poof ... gone ....

Those hawker stalls behind Bank of China, UOB Building also.... even as late as the late 80s, wah, after 5pm, quickly go grab a bite before continue OT, lunchtime crowd eating by the river ........ now Poof !

 

[elephanto]

Raflles Place...
change Alley in between & the old Arcade building..

That was the major deparmental stores, before Metro @ High street opened, and Tay Ban Guan in Katong...

Later came the sensation, Oriental Emporium ............

Raffles Place, my father brought us there as kids, car parked in basement carpark, go up to the garden park above car park, got clock face flower plot, watching the giant hands move .....

Change Alley ... schooldays, visit the British Council Library at the Rubber House, before all the rebuilding & new buildings take over ...

Emporium Holdings took Singapore by storm - largest chain all over Singapore ....东方(high street / bt merah / bedok....)，东风，友谊 (orchard opp orchard cinema)，大巴窑...... then 80s all cashflow problem & disappear ....

Back to FOOD, as late as the mid-nineties, the Rasa Singapura at Old STB HQ next to the defunct Atlantis was tops as a local food showcase ... some waterloo sarabat stalls & esplanade satay stalls were relocated there (not all but some), then when Rasa Singapura with its unique architecture was clsoed down, heard the hawkers moved to Turf Club then all dispersed ....

National Library Hawker centre - another nostalgic haunt .... the icekachang man stingy with carnation milk, the fantastic wanton mee stall (highlighted by Gurmit SIngh in makan Places Lost & Found - now wanton mee stall moved to Far East Sq ), the Malay stall with its tasty nasi padang ....

Time & Tide wait for no man ........ sigh

 

[halsey02]

Yes, Colombo Court....
My uncle wedding dinner held at the 5th level restaurant, rooftop open balcony so nice at night....

Cortina dept store, holiday do part-time sales assistant...

The 3rd floor with windows overlooking street outside got a row of audio visual shop .... in 1978 bought those big cassette recorder national Panasonic with LED lights ok $550 !

Then retail all left Columbo Court ... became office for Legal Aide Bureau & other govt offices .... then boom .... make way for spaceship to land !

sigh.... remember went empress press to replace old ic, beside the river got a small cluster of hawker centre, mee goreng veri nice.... later they were shifted to a makeshift warehouse type hawker centre directly opposite high street centre then ... poof ... gone ....

Those hawker stalls behind Bank of China, UOB Building also.... even as late as the late 80s, wah, after 5pm, quickly go grab a bite before continue OT, lunchtime crowd eating by the river ........ now Poof !

Kwang Sia Record Shop at Colombo Court before it became Colombo Court Post Office...bought many LP's from them & Da Da at Hight street ( Patrick the boss)...

You mean the cassete deck or the reel? it was TDK or Akai Decks...and you can afford the best was Nakamichi...then I had one of thos open reel REVOX open reel deck.....

ahh...the days of old, an analogue...

After 5pm along the river, you still have some stalls selling food, especially the ones at the back of Empress Place ( the old IC office), you have the char kway teow..the desssert stall and the what ever ji char stalls...

all these poof gone...

 

[johnny333]

I know Robinson's at Raflles Place...still can see the toy department in my mind, that's where I would be, admiring the train set with all the accesories, where I could never ever buy, but dream!...ha ha ha ...

They always had nice toys, very different from those cheap plastic toys from HK that were at the corner indian store