Tiong Bahru. Revisited.

I wrote about Tiong Bahru not so long ago.

Remember that I told you that Tiong Bahru is hip and happening? Well, that means you might run into a cool car, like we did! No, not literally! ;-).

Still loving the architecture in this neighborhood.

But I was not ‘done’ with this neighborhood yet; I had only explored and covered a part of the many shops and outlets.

Plus there was a new and cool addition: large murals of roosters and fishes.

I read about them in a blogpost on Cheekiemonkies, a well documented article with a map of where to find each and every one of the murals.

To know more about this photographer and this series check out this url.

So I went back to Tiong Bahru, showing my friend Sylvia all the places I already was familiar with, searching for the animal murals and exploring shops and F&B outlets that I did not visit yet.

We started at Yong Siak street, with the wonderful Books Actually, the stylish Strangelets, yummie Plain Vanilla bakery, 40 Hands Coffee and children’s book store Woods in the Books.

Books Actually; even the front is cool!

Inside it is filled to the brim with books, magazines and other great stuff.

The store is so unique and nicely decorated that you feel right at home.

Lot of creativity in the decor.

DO check out the area behind the counter, which is the vintage and curiosa department, so to speak. Lots of fun finds there!

Aren’t these knifes the coolest ever?

They even have three ‘store cats’ roaming around.

I met one of them that day;-).

Great stuff, perfect for gifts, but soooooo expensive!

“Women loved me too much”. Isn’t that just hilarious. I would love this in my house! Instead I got me two of those fantastic african kitsch paper collaged bowls. To be precise: they were gifted to me by my friend Sylvia for my birthday. Thanks, girlfriend!

Last time when I was at Strangelets I bought myself three of these uber-cute dolls.

Temporary tat, anyone?

These insects in domes are very pretty. Tiny watch parts have been put IN the bugs!

See?! Very cool, but SGD 750???? Big bucks, man!

I don’t smoke, otherwise this gorilla ashtray would be a great asset!

What’s not to love?!

You can rent a bike per hour at Plain Vanilla bakery, and of course you van have a coffee and something sweet.

Semi-outdoor seating area.

Yummie…

They also sell gourmet F&B and handcrafted items.

40 Hands Coffee is a nice cafe, with funky murals and good coffee and all. Yet we do not visit it so often anymore, since the music is overwhelming and they refuse to turn the volume down. I think with the acoustics of the smallish space, the volume should be really low.

They also have a semi-al fresco area; great!

From around 20 shops and F&B outlets that we visited that afternoon, only Woods in the Books did not give permission to take pictures inside. They did offer to send me some pictures, but I still found it a bit strange and overly protective.

New kid on the block is Nest (is that the name of the shop? Not sure…), with Lazy Bags and wallpapers.

The shark beanie bag is funny, right?

The lamp is pretty, but the wallpaper is just drop dead gorgeous. WANT!

We also spotted bistro cafe Poteato, but did not have time to go in for food or drinks.

Around the corner is one of the well-known small shops from Nana & Bird. Their other outlet unfortunately was closed due to a photoshoot:-(.

We paid a short visit to tiny, cute flowershop One Olive.

Their cat was sleeping so sweet!

Too bad that Flea and Trees was closed :-(.

We paid a visit to the brand-new showroom of Dutch design blog Bloesem; a delightful, light space with gorgeous stuff. Irene, the woman behind Bloesem was not present, but we had a nice chat with her friend Anouk, creator of Time Capsule.

We explored The Orange Thimble, Tiong Bahru Bakery, The Dispensary, Drips Bakery Cafe, Two Face Pizza and TapRoom and Flock Cafe, but we did not buy, drink or eat anything there that day.
One day, peeps, one day….

The Orange Thimble presents itself as an art cafe. It has a number of intimate rooms behind each other. Cosy!

Mouthwatering!

Tiong Bahru seems The Area for someone with a sweet-tooth!!!

Very basic decor, but they have thin-crusted pizza. Have to check it out one day for myself!

Especially the front room looks beautiful. They have a small seating area at the back too, but when we went there was quite a penetrating food smell there.

I indeed found murals of two roosters and a fish and am happy to have seen them, but I was a bit disappointed.

See the peeling around the edges?

They turned out to be decals (wheat paste) rather then painted murals and the state they were in was not that good, even though they have not been there since such a long time. So if you want to see them for yourself, you better go now, as long as they are still there and not in a worse state.

Lot of damage and peeling…too bad:-(.

As you see this neighborhood is stuffed with cool places for shopping, eating and drinking.

And if you are not interested in that, you can always walk around along all the heritage architecture or do your groceries at Tiong Bahru Market or Foodie Market Place.

What’s your favorite spot in Tiong Bahru?