Walk around East Coast/Katong

One of the most famous streets near where we now live is Joo Chiat Road, named after a generous benefactor who granted the land to the state and thus came into being Joo Chiat Road. It runs from the beach, north to Geyland and has the most wonderful aray of shops and bars every step of the way, serving fantastic peranakan foods and a suitably sleezy neon-glowing karaoke scene.

We walked through the small back streets off Koon Seng Road, remarking at the mix of old and renovated peranakan style shop houses dating back to pre-war times. Their individually tiled fronts and small but compact gardens are a welcome contrast to the concrete and glass condos of River Valley Road or Holland Village. Even a street away from the busy Joo Chiat, the streets are quiet and calm and people have set up small tables outside their houses and sit chatting happily with a glass of wine or a beer.

At the cross-roads of Dunman Road, Koon Seng and Joo Chiat is the Dunman Hawker Centre and we stop in for some food as dusk settles. The stalls offer predominantly fish and seafood based menus which isn’t so good for my Lady who is still in her first few months of pregnancy, so we work hard to find some chicken and rice for her. It’s an alright centre, nothing flash, but if you like seafood, give it a whirl. There’s also a nice little dumpling seller who serves beautifully crafted glutinous rice dumplings. At 70c a go, you’d might as well try one.

Also up by this corner is the treasure-trove of an alcohol store called East of Avalon Wines.  It's just below this wonderful old corner-shop at the corner of Koon-Seng and Dunman.  It’s full to the brim of other-world beers and wines from no where that most people have ever heard from, but I assure you it’s worth taking a punt on some and seeing what you think. Ask for George, he’s wonderfully english, and he’ll walk you through.

However, it’s at night that the real gems of Joo Chiat open up and a good mile of street becomes lit with neon and blasted with noise and crooning from the endless KTV bars. You can hear male voices coming from what must be only a few paces behind the black tinted front doors and many young women we see have started to parade the streets in shockingly short skirts and toweringly high heels. The food courts have filled, with their fluorescent lights showering the diners in a weak orange glow while dusty fans blow equally dusty air around the venues. And suddenly it’s all got a little seedy, the girls are fawning about the much older gentlemen, the men are touching the girls and giving them what my old swim coach would have called “inappropriate hugs” and everyone seems to be a little heady on the night air. That will be the Geylang factor that has spread from the northern end of the street.

Behind Joo-Chiat we stumble upon a multi-purpose hall where an Indian family was celebrating a wedding. Around the corner of the same hall we find a Chinese festival happening. Across the street we find a Georgian wine importer and on East Coast Road we find Vic’s Place which is an Western Australian wine importer.

To the west of Joo Chiat and on the corner of Ceylon Road and East Coast Road is the famous and exceptional 328 Katong Laksa, serving the best laksa in Singapore. Simple, no nonsense, authentic creamy spicy goodness, but don’t have it too often; your doctor will have a fit as you have a coronary.

It really is a great area to be living in and there’s so much history hidden in back streets and tucked between shop-fronts to live amongst that you’re never going to be short of things to see, or things to eat for that matter!

Shovel