Singaporeans are quite aware of history and heritage these days. Conservation is a topic of much national interest, and by and large, you see old landmarks and historic buildings being preserved, not least our new National Gallery, housed in the old Supreme Court and City Hall buildings.
Of course, timescales are much shorter in Singapore, and what passes for historic here might raise the eyebrows of people from more ancient countries and cultures. I wonder, for example, what our Italian friends in Rome think when we talk fondly about our old, "historic" National Library building, first built in 1960, and later demolished in 2005 to make way for a traffic tunnel. To preserve or demolish? Not always an easy question to answer. And let's not even weigh in on the ongoing dispute, in the news and social media this past week, between siblings over an old house in the Orchard area...
But this post is not about history on a grand scale: it is about a small piece of old Singapore which has somehow managed to stay largely unchanged over at least 50 years, probably longer. The fact that it involves our national past-time, the quest for good food, makes it even more cherishable.
Hua Yu Wee is a seafood restaurant at 462 Upper East Coast Road.
It is housed in a 1920's colonial era bungalow in Bedok, in Singapore's East Coast. (For an excellent account of the background and history of the Bedok and Siglap area, check out the NHB's excellent Bedok Heritage Trail website, here.) This stretch of Upper East Coast Road, all the way up to Bedok Corner, used to be home to a whole string of seafood restaurants. Now only Hua Yu Wee remains.
On the other side of Hua Yu Wee, beyond the tree-line in the picture above, used to be the East Coast beach front. Yes, the beach was right there. And beyond that, the sea. The land there has now been reclaimed to form East Coast Park, and part of the ECP towards Changi Airport.
But somehow, the restaurant has remained, and it still serves traditional local seafood specialities, including chilli and black pepper crab, at reasonable prices, to a packed house each evening.
To dine there is not unlike entering a time warp, back to Singapore in the 70's (Or earlier...). It is remarkable how little the menu or the service concept has changed since those days. As a restaurant, it is rough-around-the-edges, not at all trendy, and does not even make an attempt to celebrate it's storied history or heritage. The restaurant doesn't even have a website, for God's sake.
You don't go there to experience a Disney-fied version of history -- this is the real deal: authentic seafood and zi char served in a hot, sweaty and chaotic setting. In other words, a national treasure.
If you have fond memories of post-independence Singapore, as a struggling, developing country in the late 60's and 70's, you will find dining at Hua Yu Wee to be quite a trip down memory lane. On the other hand, if all you are familiar with is modern Singapore, with it’s freezing malls and attack-of-the-clones food courts, then Hua Yu Wee will be a eye-opening study in what we have gained, and what we have lost.
Of course, timescales are much shorter in Singapore, and what passes for historic here might raise the eyebrows of people from more ancient countries and cultures. I wonder, for example, what our Italian friends in Rome think when we talk fondly about our old, "historic" National Library building, first built in 1960, and later demolished in 2005 to make way for a traffic tunnel. To preserve or demolish? Not always an easy question to answer. And let's not even weigh in on the ongoing dispute, in the news and social media this past week, between siblings over an old house in the Orchard area...
But this post is not about history on a grand scale: it is about a small piece of old Singapore which has somehow managed to stay largely unchanged over at least 50 years, probably longer. The fact that it involves our national past-time, the quest for good food, makes it even more cherishable.
Hua Yu Wee is a seafood restaurant at 462 Upper East Coast Road.
It is housed in a 1920's colonial era bungalow in Bedok, in Singapore's East Coast. (For an excellent account of the background and history of the Bedok and Siglap area, check out the NHB's excellent Bedok Heritage Trail website, here.) This stretch of Upper East Coast Road, all the way up to Bedok Corner, used to be home to a whole string of seafood restaurants. Now only Hua Yu Wee remains.
On the other side of Hua Yu Wee, beyond the tree-line in the picture above, used to be the East Coast beach front. Yes, the beach was right there. And beyond that, the sea. The land there has now been reclaimed to form East Coast Park, and part of the ECP towards Changi Airport.
But somehow, the restaurant has remained, and it still serves traditional local seafood specialities, including chilli and black pepper crab, at reasonable prices, to a packed house each evening.
To dine there is not unlike entering a time warp, back to Singapore in the 70's (Or earlier...). It is remarkable how little the menu or the service concept has changed since those days. As a restaurant, it is rough-around-the-edges, not at all trendy, and does not even make an attempt to celebrate it's storied history or heritage. The restaurant doesn't even have a website, for God's sake.
You don't go there to experience a Disney-fied version of history -- this is the real deal: authentic seafood and zi char served in a hot, sweaty and chaotic setting. In other words, a national treasure.
If you have fond memories of post-independence Singapore, as a struggling, developing country in the late 60's and 70's, you will find dining at Hua Yu Wee to be quite a trip down memory lane. On the other hand, if all you are familiar with is modern Singapore, with it’s freezing malls and attack-of-the-clones food courts, then Hua Yu Wee will be a eye-opening study in what we have gained, and what we have lost.
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