Food Bites Old and New

It's been a while since I featured any Katong eateries on this blog.  Partly because I lost my old Sony Ericsson K500i with its really excellent camera phone (nothing has been the same since) and partly because the food scene in Katong tends to shift so fast; all very well when new restaurants come in but then the old ones depart and my blog becomes out-of-date :-(  Anyway, thought I'd restart this again, with one old favourite and one newcomer on the scene. 

The time-tested favourite is Glory Catering, on East Coast Road (near the junction with Joo Chiat Road).  It's a small shop, distinguished by all the kueh kueh in front, and the jars of pineapple tarts and other goodies in the crowded entranceway.   Glory prides itself on its pineapple tarts, which are indeed pretty good (for bought rather than homemade tarts that is), and there are a number of newspaper reviews on the walls of the restaurant which serve as an endorsement of their prowess.

The cooking is pretty good - the tasty, lemak chicken curries (chicken rendang,  masak merah are my favourites), sambal squid and sambal goreng. It's amazing how fast the turnover is - food is served quickly (but don't expect beautiful presentation) and people eat and leave in a jiffy.  I also enjoy their soft drinks -- they serve Bundaberg ginger ale, root beer and others.

The new kid on the block is Makan Peranakan, also on East Coast Road (Telok Kurau Road junction).  Situated in "Food R Us", the corner coffee shop of the Peranakan Hotel, it is a little stall which sells selected peranakan dishes - old favourites like mee siam, laksa, and kueh pie tee and more unusual dishes like nasi kunyit, nasi ulam.  My favourites are the mee siam (savoury, with decent sized prawns) and the pie tee (tasty filling in a nice crisp pie tee shell).  It's a pretty new outlet and if you fancy the mee siam, go early because it runs out fast. The nasi kunyit (glutinous rice, coloured with golden tumeric) is served with a really tasty chicken curry, prawns and some omelette.  The most unusual dish here - the nasi ulam, full of herbs and (strangely) little bits of fish, is pretty tasty but tends to get a little dry. 

In general, however, the zhi cha at Food R Us is  pretty solid.  Good, tasty fare and friendly staff (who remember our preferences) make it the place we go to again and again (that and being right on our doorstep).  So if you happen to be around the East Coast Road area and looking for a bite to eat in the evening, give this a try.

Katong Shopping Centre

Katong Shopping Centre (KSC) has been a feature at the junction of East Coast Road and Amber/Haig Road for as long as I can recall. It is an old shopping mall - probably one of the first few in Singapore. In fact it was featured a few years ago in the Straits Times. I won't call it a beautiful building but I've always liked it for the characteristic circles down the length of the building (that's the car park floor). Not so long ago, the Rose Garden apartments were directly opposite KSC but they have just been emolished for en bloc development. I was probably about a week or two too late to photograph them before they went under the wrecker's ball. So I guess I need to step up the pace on this blog:-)

As a child, I remember my family going over to KSC fairly frequently. The old Emporium Holdings had a supermarket and a department store at one end of the building. We'd do the weekly supermarket shopping there and run other errands at the same time. There were a few boutiques there (my mum's favourite dress shop was there). I used to buy my school uniforms there. And something far more glamorous too (at least I thought so). There were also a number of textile shops there as well - so my friends and I bought the material for our JC prom dresses there and brought it up to the dressmaker on one of the upper floors to make it up into a dress of our own choosing. These were clearly before the days Daniel Yam started making pretty and low-cost prom and evening gowns for the teenage and young adult market.

Even today, KSC is my auntie's favourite shopping centre where she gets everything she needs and more besides. Some of the old shops are still there, plus a few food outlets, maid agencies, interior decor firms etc. Plus one ghostbuster - as I said earlier, you can get anything at Katong Shopping Centre! There have been attempts to refurbish and update the building. It is no longer a nondescript grey colour but a cheery blue and yellow (IKEA colours!) and there is a imitation Starbucks in one corner.

But KSC is indeed past its prime, outclassed and completely eclipsed by the nearby Parkway Parade. Rumour has it that it is slated for redevelopment. Admittedly, I seldom go there these days but when it goes, another little piece of Katong's history and heritage goes too.

Conservation Houses, East Coast Road

To me, growing up in the East Coast, I never knew there was anything particularly unique or wonderful about the shophouses in the area. They were there, and had always been there and that was that. Today, I find that I really appreciate the timeless charm and quiet prettiness of these old homes.

I took my cat for sterilisation today, at the Mt Pleasant Clinic on East Coast Road. Just alongside the clinic is a small, narrow little road, lined on one side with the most charming little single-storey houses. Like many old houses in this once flood-ridden area, they are raised off the ground by a short flight of steps. The front of the house is decorated with detailed plaster mouldings, the sort one would normally see on the ceiling of a stately home somewhere in England...

Going past the houses, it truly feels like yesterday once more.