Old Places and Old Romances had featured some of the nostalgic places at Balestier Road. I decided to have a real life experience and made a trip to Balestier Road on 28 December 2012, Friday before the arrival of 2013. This was to capture memories before the scenes disappearing in no time. The places that I visited were Lim Kay Khee Optical House, Lam Yeo Coffee Powder Factory, Loong Fatt Confectionery and Sin Hon Leong Bakery. I also took the opportunity visiting a few popular food stalls at Balestier Road. These eateries were not mentioned in the documentary.
Lim Kay Khee Optical House
This Optical shop was established since 1960 by Lim Kay Khee. The Optical shop had been here for 52 years. The interior decoration is still remained original. The shop is kept neat and clean. It had not been upgraded. To my surprise, the optical shop only receive cash for business transaction. They do not accept NETS or credit card payment. Most of their spectacle frames are of the old fashion type. I understood that many of their young customers were looking for the spectacle frames of the seventies design.
Lam Yeo Coffee Powder Factory - 328 Balestier Road
Lam Yeo coffee powder factory is also known as Nan Yang coffee powder factory (南洋咖啡）. The shop sells a wide range of coffee powders. I understood from the shop owner that the Bali coffee powder and Arabica Mendheling coffee powder are the most selling coffee powders. Bali coffee powder is sold for S$21/kg and Arabica Mendheling coffee powder is sold for S$25/kg. I am so use to the local coffee taste. So I bought a packet of 500 grams local coffee powder ($13/kg) for trial.
grinding of coffee in progress
Loong Fatt Confectionery - 639 Balestier Road
Loong Fatt Confectionery(龙发饼家) is famous for their Chinese green paste filling biscuits (豆沙饼). The shop front is a typical local coffee shop. The rear portion of the shop is where they hand made the Chinese green paste biscuits. The product is so popular that it is sold out by late afternoon everyday. There are other shops nearby also selling the same thing but the taste of the biscuits can not match the one sold at Loong Fatt confectionery.
Children Playground At HDB Estates
HDB architects had incorporated the children playground in the old housing estates. Merry-go-round, see-saw, swing were installed as standard equipment. These equipment were replaced with newer and modern design playground equipment in the new estates. My old house at Dover Road was en bloc recently. I went back to block 38 Dover Road on 31 December 2012 and noticed that the children playground plus the equipment had disappeared. HDB had no plan to redevelop the estate in the near future. HDB immediate plan was to touch up the vacant units and the surroundings to lease out as hostels. For other old estates, HDB en bloc and re-build the flats to the latest design to suit the needs of the young applicants. During the process, many of the old designs had been demolished and vanished forever. It is time for HDB to consider preserving some old estates just like the flats in Tiong Poh Road and Eng Hoon Street.
The lift lobby was upgraded
before being en bloc
You cannot find this letter box
design in new HDB estate
being demolished
window is above the pigeon
void deck kindergarten
Sin Hon Leong Bakery 新丰隆麵包场 - Balestier Road (opposite Whampo hawker centre)
Sin Hon Leong Bakery is one of the few traditional bakery shop left in Singapore that manufacturing hand made traditional breads. These were the breads that we ate when we were young. There were no Gardenia breads and Sunshine breads then.
Popular food stalls at Balestier Road
There are many eateries along Balestier Road. I had tried the Founder Bak Kut Teh. The 梁照记duck rice and Hoover Rojak. Be prepare for a long queue during lunch hour. But the food is worth waiting for.
