Lau Pa Sat; foodcourt and hawkercentre

We happen to live next to one of the largest and most famous foodcourts of Singapore: Lau Pa Sat.


We eat there often.

There are about 175 stalls, so there will always be soemthing that you feel for: Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, Malay, Japanese, halal, Korean, satay and even some western food.


It is open 24/7, although not all the stalls are open all the time.

The foodcourt resides in a beautiful historical building.

The history of the building begins in 1824, when a wooden building was placed, on stilts , partly over the water of the bay. That was easy for boats with food supplies,and after closing you could just sweep all the waste into the water.
Rest assured, it was a so-called “wet-market aka fresh fish market, so the waste was mainly of fish waste. Nothing chemical or polluting.

But the building was quite rickety, so in 1838 it was replaced by a solid stone building. Octagonal, it’s current outlay.

This building was not very strong either, so it was rebuilt in 1894, this time with beautifully ornamented, Victorian cast iron frames, made ​​in and sailed in from Glasgow!

And this is what Lau Pa Sat still is today.

Because of work for the MRT (subway) it has once been completely dismantled and rebuilt and restored though.

Hawker Centres aka food courts arose from individual street-hawkers of yesteryear. Men and women walking along the streets with a kind of tricycle and stove who made food on the spot.

Nowadays they are brought together under one roof in one of the food courts. They have a permanent stall there.
This clustering is very pleasant and easy for hungry customers. Going to one place gives you an enormous choice in food.

Where do you like to eat, in Singapore? What is your preferred food court, if any? And what are your favorite dishes?
We eat less often local food then we did the first two years. As is we got fed up a bit. How about you? Did your appetite for asian food remain steady?