Effluvia of croissants, pains au chocolat and crispy loaves escaping from a bakery. Is it Provence in summer? Pumpkin gnocchi with spices and vegetables from a northern Japanese forest and sake included. The most cured cheddar and a truffled burrata at the cheese shop. Brooklyn, New York?
California menu and the best coffee, whose beans are being roasted behind the bar. Beer foam creates a microtsunami at a Texas-style Asian brasserie. Smoke and molasses. A Brazilian restaurant. another thai. A cider house. A Chinese bazaar.
The flavors smoke inside the premises and the colors shine on the facades of the stately homes. Smells and scents from around the world have come together on Joo Chiat Road, the jugular of the Katong neighborhood in Singapore.
Welcome to a street that recently turned a century old and is a world map of almost inexplicable sensations… Here’s the try. The city-state has its surprises, but this street and its capillaries surpass any category.
Joo Chiat Road and neighboring Geylang Serai are a mix of delicate architecture full of details, dragons, elephants, moldings and columns painted in acid tones; of elegant post-hipster shops with Nordic touches and a Mediterranean spirit; grocery stores with the finest delicatessen.
Joo Chiat is an almost inexplicable miracle, a scented corner of the city that redefines Asian luxury with high-flying establishments, ultra-refined restaurants, but also traditional rattan furniture boutiques of which there are not many left in the city anymore. and even hardware stores that give an authentic flavor to a street that, if it weren’t for these usual places, would seem totally artificial.
The modern places (talking about other places, Los Angeles, Sydney, Copenhagen…) that no longer charge with coins, breathe wall to wall with old traditional food restaurants, including the famous chili crab, where you don’t charge by card but instead with the country’s laminated banknotes. “Cash only, cash onlyâ€, the waiters repeat
“Do you want tea or coffee?†a guy asks just as one sits down at the famous and popular Fatty’s Wan Tan Mee… there are so many dishes to choose from that it’s best to choose haphazardly. Everything is delicious, although some flavors are very spicy. Gastronomic roulette.
The most fascinating thing about the beat of Joo Chiat Road is that the pedestrians are not troubled or in a hurry and respect the traffic lights. And all of this actually makes sense. The street has a continuous flow, but also that insistent humid heat that advises to walk it piano piano and, given the elegance of the place, with the most distinguished umbrella possible to show it off and protect oneself from the unrepentant sun or from the rain of thick and pearly drops that never They fall with notice.
Joo Chiat Road is not very long, and neither is its adjacent streets, such as Koon Seng, but if you want to explore them well, you need a morning and an afternoon, like a classic one-day cyclist, because to the shops, to the acid-colored houses, restaurants, temples, the Chinese Red House, the Sri Senpaga Vinayagar temple, the Lotus House. A little further on, in Geylang Serai, Islamic culture shines with its night bazaar.
In the City State of CIMO (Chinese, Indian, Malaysian, others), with its British heritage and that of the local culture, the Peranakan, this is a corner of the world that must be visited and tasted. Instagram images, without the smells, without the color and without the treatment of people, are a substitute.
The world is far from perfect, but Joo Chiat Road defies that idea with good vibes and a beaming smile, that of a very urban thoroughfare that retains its rural spirit, the way it looked a century ago. Here are a few recommendations from a street that never ends.
The Peranakan culture is typical of Singapore and Malaysia. It can be tasted in restaurants like Old Bibik’s. In the photo, the traditional Jiu Ceng Gao cake, made with steamed layers served on a square wooden plate and accompanied with chrysanthemum tea.
Natsu Cafe (photo) is a delicious and elegant venue: it’s a mix of cafeteria fine dining and international dishes with a Japanese twist. Instead, Coffee Common Roasters has a menu halfway between California and Australia. They do not accept cash. And yes, you have to venture out to eat at Fatty’s Wan Tan Mee, a popular beach bar: the number of dishes to choose from is endless.
Azzurra La Mantia runs a spectacular ‘vintage’ store that combines clothing, accessories, a wine and spirits bar and even a florist in a small and very well decorated space. It is one of the most spectacular establishments in Singapore for its new conception of luxury in which conversation and pause are as important or more than the value that is sold.
The modern world meets in this store: a stationery store that sells precious ceramics, books, accessories, plants and where cats roam freely. It is full of treasures. A few numbers away, for contrast, is Theong Theng Co, a traditional rattan furniture store.
