SINGAPORE – FRIDAY MARCH 27 2009 ::: So, I’d been going to Kim Choo’s Kitchen way before the Little Nyonya Soap. And my visiting the Peranakan museum had nothing to do with the serial either – a friend of mine was tour guiding there that day. In any case, when I decided to spend an afternoon doing a neighbourhood walk with my Nikon D300, I hung out at the Joo Chiat area. Didn’t figure it would take four hours to walk a short couple of blocks from the corner of Marshall and East Coast Road to the colour Everitt Road.

First stop – Kim Choo’s Kitchen.

I’d been going there for dinner lots since I came back from New York. It was good – never THAT crowded, until The Little Nyonya anyway. The food never felt commercial or mass produced. Simple and homey, like my Ipoh grandmother’s cooking. That reminds me, I still have a jar of achar from Ipoh in the fridge.

Food downstairs, retail and museum – including sacks of spice – upstairs. What a combo.

Kopi done, I decided to see if the entertainment hostesses were out yet. Nope, too early, but got an interesting image nonetheless. Hotel 81 – pretty as icing on a cake – in a conservation shophouse.

Old style but not old fashioned

It was a strange contrast. A few minutes earlier, I had seen a newly restored shophouse /art gallery. And a GREAT old fashioned breadshop. I peered inside. It was dark with a highrise of bread trays. Smelled great. I need to go back this weekend.

If bread could talk

Next up, the obligatory residential conservation shophouse on Everitt.

Tiled like Malacca like Portugal

… as well as a very yappy resident.

Peranakan Pooch

Four hours and I hadn’t even scratched the surface yet.

I used to do walking tours in New York and I kind of miss doing that here. I think I’ll start up again. Found some walking tour PDFs on the URA site, to my surprise.

I’ll be spending more time in Joo Chiat. No Starbucks, no Gap, no Zara. 100% real. 100% authentic.