Maybe because Singapore is so small, it’s not uncommon to find food stalls – especially famous ones – to be associated with places in Singapore: Hill Street Char Kway Teow and Changi Village Nasi Lemak just to name a few. But there are a few foods that have become brand names in themselves that we don’t remember where they orignally came from anymore, such as is the case in ‘Old Chang Kee’. The brand, once synonymous with its famous curry puffs but now also to all sorts of deep-fried treats, has become a household name with franchises all around the island and beyond. But do you remember where to original OCK outlet was?

According to the Old Chang Kee website, the original outlet was a small coffeeshop stall outside the Rex Cinema in McKenzie Road. You might think that the OCK puffs might be colloquially known as the Rex Curry Puffs, but they aren’t – instead, yg remembers another stall selling curry puffs nearby which he and his friends referred to as the “Rex Curry Puffs”.

Of course, in the event that the Rex Curry Puffs ran out, they could still enjoy an alternative curry puff nearby – what we now know as the original Old Chang Kee. The stall is no longer there, but the franchise took off in 1986 – and the rest is history. As for the Rex Curry Puffs, you can read about them here. It’s funny to think that in some alternate reality, we might be enjoying Rex Curry Puffs instead of the familiar ‘Old Chang Kee’.