14 & 15 Jan 2006 — William and I are constantly awed by the speed at which new buildings seem to sprout up around the island. Every trip back, either a new shopping centre has been built or a whole area has been restored. The latest of which that took us by surprise is the whole Arab St area. This sleepy laid-back place where I used to go only for Social Studies projects or to makan with the family at Zam-Zam is now a hip, thriving spot for tourists and locals alike. And it’s good to see that the buildings and architecture around the place still retain its flavour and authenticity.

So who should be the ones to reintroduce the area to us? None other than Jeff and Serene of course — they seem to have a knack for sussing out these strange, quirky places to hangout. But tonight we started at Geylang Lorong 9, where we first had the usual beef horfun, then proceeded to Yong He next door for tau-huay and you-zha-kway.

Come Geylang of course must come here right? Somehow I never tire of it! Haiyah, and if not for the fact that I’m oredi so full, I’ll have the carrot-cake and mian-xian as well! One thing about the place though is that it’s so busy you’re not really allowed to loiter. Even before we finish our food, they already came with the bill and started hinting for us to leave, so how? Look for hangout #2 lor…

Haha! And that’s when it struck J&S to bring us to Arab St. Actually we have had a glimpse of it during our previous trip back but didn’t actually stop at any of the restaurants/cafe. The plan tonight was to go to Cafe Ambrosia. But first whilst on Bali Lane, we ran into the owner of Blu Jaz Cafe, who had recently opened the branch here. J&S are regulars at their other branch in Little India, 71 Dunlop St — not bad, they do pretty good drinks at really decent prices. Found out their funky decor was done by the design company right next door, who supposedly also make props for Zouk and Chingay, etc. Unfortunately they were closed, but from the exterior of their shopfront alone, you can see they are definitely not 简单!

Their make-shift fountain…

A bit mad right these people?!? It’s a good thing, especially when they’re designers.

We made our way past the little alleyways to Ambrosia.

Doesn’t it look quaint? The food is Mediterranean and business is brisk. For an even more authentic experience, one can head up to the second level of the shophouse where tables are low and customers actually sit on the floor instead of chairs. And not to worry, it’s pretty clean since everyone has to leave their shoes by the door. But tonight being a Saturday night, the place was already packed, and their other branch a few doors away was holding a private function, hmm… no luck. Oh well, another time, perhaps one of their belly-dancing nights…

Not to worry, the night is young yet. This time we made our way to Samar, another restaurant cum cafe. Also very nice, the hanging Moroccan lamps stole the limelight of course. The shadows they casted on the walls, together with the whiffs of fruity tobacco from the shisha pipes did well to lull us all into a dreamy laypak mood.

L: Serene’s artsy shot of Wil
R: Wil’s idea of an artsy shot of Serene & Jeff

Mucking around. That’s supposed to be my “Mr Bean” impression.

When it came to drinks, the menu was just as enticing as the decor was enchanting. There were prolly over 100 items to choose from, many comprising of atypical ingredients like cinnamon, cardamon, dates, fennel, mint, etc. Hey, we’re talking about drinks here remember… in the end Billie ordered their almond milk, and I had some fennel and mint concoction. We initially also ordered a pretty “exotic”-sounding dessert to share, one of those fear-factor ones, if you know what I mean… but it didn’t come for a long time. When we asked to cancel it, the lady-boss actually came over to apologise and even gave us another dessert on the house:

Some custard-semolina thing I think. Pretty yummy actually… and if Jeff had had his way, he would have gasaked the whole thing I’m sure!

So that was Saturday night. Just when we thought we were done with Arab St for a while, the very next day, we were back! This time with Peiling and Weiling…

So this time we met up to go eat Bak-Chor-Mee, yes, the infamous one that Peiling and Fukky keeps talking about. Aiyah I keep forgetting to get the proper address, will find out and let you know the next time we go ok? I’ve had the noodles once and it really is very tasty, so it’s quite exciting that Billie finally gets to try it too.

And whoa! Look at the queue today! According to Peiling, this is nothing! Back in the days when they used to be at the Marina Square foodcourt, people were queueing for over an hour at least, and happily too, or at least willingly.

Before & After. Judging from how clean our bowls are, you can guess how good the standard of the mee was lah!

And for dessert, there was this pandan swissroll place that Peiling wanted to bring us to, but the place is usually closed on Sundays. But apparently it’s so “to-die-for” that she thought we’ll just go and try anyway. With some luck, they may actually be open? As it turns out, we were headed back towards Arab St, somemore exactly Kandahar St, where Samar Cafe was the night before.

Wao lao! Guess what? Got chance to strike lottery oredi, the place is actually open! Prolly ‘cos it’s getting close to Chinese New Year, so the owner, Auntie Lily, give her customers a chance, Sunday oso open. And got see the name of the shop anot? “Rich and Good Cake Shop”! With such an ambitious-sounding name, how to go wrong you tell me?!!

Us girls never waste time when it comes to freebies. Here we are tucking into the prawn rolls… umm… so crispy…

…then the ginger snaps, also not bad…

Wah that Weiling, still not enough?!? Still looking for some more things to try…

Heh heh not forgetting the swissrolls that we came specially to buy. The pandan one that Peiling recommended is very yummy of course, the kaya filling is very fragrant. But the durian one, THE DURIAN ONE, for all you true-blue DURIAN LOVERS, this is absolutely unpassable!!! Get yourselves down to Kandahar St ASAP, no regrets! Somemore mai xiao xiao! Lily says she only uses D24 durian ok!? And I’m not the only one who says so. This week’s episode of Makan King (the Adrian Pang one) also featured Rich and Good, and also raved about the durian roll. Now still $6 per roll. Huh! If you still don’t come, with all that media exposure, next time increase price oredi then you know!

With lunch and dessert to walk off, we decided to tour the area a bit. I say “tour” ‘cos I really felt like a tourist, haven’t been here in the day for ages! And it’s changed so much!

With its massive golden dome, the Sultan Mosque is a sight to behold. Built in 1928, it still looks as beautiful and majestic as before.

The renovated shophouses along Bussorah St that lead up to the mosque are also a treasure trove in themselves — check out this little shop that sells all sorts of retro stuff…

… including these old gor-li (marbles) and groovy glasses

Ok, with that, we have truly come to the end of our Arab St 之旅. Wah… turns out this place is so fun and exciting one right?… And I haven’t even mentioned “Sabar Menanti” yet, but that’s another story… So come, come, by day or night, Arab St is just as charming and delightful! And in the future, if you need to sakar me for any rhyme or reason, let me give you a hint now: 24 Kandahar St

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