TIONG Bahru is famous for another first, and it was one that helped launch Singapore as a foodie destination.
Not only was this Singapore neighbourhood home to one of the island’s oldest housing estates – it was established in the 1930s as an experiment in medium-density living with a collection of Art Deco apartment buildings constructed to accommodate the island’s growing population – but it was also the first district to have a hawker market.
These traditional food courts are now an iconic and a common sight around the Lion City, with at least a couple in each suburb, but the one in Tiong Bahru was opened as an experiment during the middle of the past century when hawkers were being hassled for selling food on the streets.
The market was set up during the 1950s when hawkers were living in constant fear of being arrested or chased off the streets because it was illegal to sell food on the footpaths, so the backyard chefs that worked in Tiong Bahru banded together and approached the government to find a solution.
They asked that somewhere be built where they could work, that could be regulated and supervised by the authorities, and they would be allowed to make a living selling a particular dish to the locals who preferred to eat out than cook in their own kitchens at home.
The Tiong Bahru Market was opened across a whole block in the centre of the low-rise apartment blocks, with gentle Art Deco curves decorating this structure just like the buildings that surrounded it, with the hawkers allowed to open stalls around the edge of the upper level.
Tables and chairs were put beside the outlets so the locals could sit down at any time of the day and eat the hawker dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Downstairs there was space for a traditional wet market where butchers, fish mongers and green grocers sold the fresh ingredients that the Tiong Bahru matriarchs shopped for at least once a day.
Downstairs there was space for a traditional wet market where butchers, fish mongers and green grocers sold the fresh ingredients that the Tiong Bahru matriarchs shopped for at least once a day.
Not much has changed at the Tiong Bahru Market today and while the hawker create delicious culinary treats upstairs the freshest food is sold downstairs with business starting well before dawn and continuing until late into the evening.
