December 2016

HOME & PROPERTY

WHAT'S THE WORD ON YOUR STREET? Whether they’re newcomers or “old hands”, we’d love our readers to get to know your neighbourhood. Help us by sending an email to contribute@expatliving.sg with “Street Talk” in the subject line. Include your name and street, and we’ll be in touch.

THE SUPERLATIVES

Your hands-down favourite neighbourhood joints are:

We love a good bargain. The best deals in your neighbourhood are: 1. Property: Even with prices rising, the rental rates in this area are still some of the best value around. 2. Appliances: Lucky Store on Tanjong Katong Road will get you anything you want, at the lowest price possible. 3. Hardware: There is a hardware store on Joo Chiat Road that doesn’t have a single spare square-centimetre on its walls or ceiling! You can bet they have what you need, and the prices (and price tags) are straight out of 1997. Delicious homemade ice cream or sorbet at Scoop Therapy, just a quick stroll along our park connector. One thing you’d never change is: The mix of kampong and city. Many of the older shops, with Uncle or Aunty manning the cash register, are being pushed out due to higher rents. “ Noooooo! ” I say. I love that the traditional side of Singapore still abides here. The guiltiest pleasure in your area is:

Bangku Bangku, an exquisite furniture, antiques and curio shop on Joo Chiat Road that has something new every time you visit. Two Pigs Fly is our favourite family dinner venue – casual and friendly hawker-style dining with a wide range of menus and cuisines. Carry On Café on Tanjong Katong Road is my husband’s unofficial office and a delightful hangout that sells fresh, nutritious food and up-cycled backpacks. Then there’s Merchants Wine Cellar. (Wine. Cellar. ’Nuff said!) Also, the HaigWalk park connector that runs the full length of Haig Road is a people-watcher’s paradise! Youwon’t findbetter local food than at: Ponggol Nasi Lemak Centre on Tanjong Katong Road. The queue it generates is almost as impressive as the food it serves! The strangest thing you’ve ever seen on your street is: Crowds of squealing schoolgirls waving as Olympic gold medal winner Joseph Schooling paraded by on an open-top, double-decker bus.

But one thing you wouldn’t mind seeing go is: The traffic. It’s getting popular (read: busy) around here. The city gives you $5 million to soup up your street. You use it to: Build a soundproof, indoor auditorium for the TK Secondary School band. I’d love for more people to experience our wonderful neighbourhood. Thanks to the likes of Lonely Planet andTripAdvisor, more andmore tourists are wandering the streets, and it would be nice if expats also came to enjoy the buzz. It truly is old-meets-new. And it’s changing quickly. So get here now, while the old-world charm still holds firm against the (inevitable) gentrification. Why should your neighbourhood be featured in a guidebook?

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DECEMBER2016