Friday, January 11, 2013

Old Places / Old Romances by Royston Tan


Royston Tan, Eva Tang and Victric Thng had co-produced a documentary films that features the old history of Singapore. The Chuan production picture presented the old memories Singapore places from the past. The documentary was filmed two years ago. Some of the places had faded with time and can only be found in our memories. I hope these amazing old trades and old places will remain forever. There were some features had already disappeared from the scene after the filming. One good example is the old dentist at Balestier Road. The dentist shop had closed. Another example is the railway station at Tanjong Pagar. The railway station had been closed and moved to Johor Bahru, Malaysia. It is important for the Government to preserve the railway station building and some of its fixtures for remembrance.
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.


                                    Lim Kay Khee Optical House                                      


                                                           Lim Kay Khee Optical House 
                                                  
                                                          

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.



                                                                      Shop display

                                                              
       

                                                              Decided to try out the $13/kg coffee

                                           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.


                                                                          Loong Fatt coffee shop
             

                                                                         Loong Fatt neon sign


                                                                       Loong Fatt old sign board
                                                   
                        


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 children playground has disappeared




                                                                Block 38 Dover Road lift lobby
                                                                The lift lobby was upgraded
                                                                before being en bloc



                                                                  #07-263 Dover Road letter box 
                                                                  You cannot find this letter box
                                                                  design in new HDB estate
            


                                               The wet market and the hawker centre
                                               being demolished                              


                                                   #07-263 Dover Road the unit kitchen
                                                   window is above the pigeon
                              


                                                              Block 38 Dover Road


                                                       Block 37 Dover Road with deserted
                                                       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.



                                                               Sin Hon Leong Bakery

                                       


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.




                                                                    Bak Kut Teh and pig trotter


                                                            Satisfied customer






                                                          Always long queue for both stall

                                                                                                                  


                                                                    







                                                                          Rojak


                                                                       Stewed duck





                                                











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