Private Tour Eat your way through Chinatown

3 hours

Group

English

What you’ll do

We will not be taking you down "food street" or to any of the tourist places that Chinatown has a lot of. At Singabites we believe that the best way to explore an area like Chinatown is by trying local food, made by local vendors for locals to enjoy. As a private tour we will be experiencing Chinatown at your own pace. On this tour we'll explore the real Chinatown and see how the different Chinese communities have made Singapore their home. We'll see the old opium dens and hear the stories of how life was for the workers who came here from China in the 19th century. We'll try dishes from Teochew, Cantonese, Hainanese and Hokkien hawkers. We'll get a chance to learn about hawker life and to get some tricks and tips on how to order the right thing. We'll explore a wet market and learn about the unique way that people live in this part of Singapore. Our guides have mapped out their favourite hawkers and vendors that will tell you the real story of this area.

Itinerary

The meeting point of the tour is a stunning historical Chinese temple. This is the oldest temple for the Hokkien population of Singapore. The road that the temple is on was once the shoreline of Singapore. The temple itself worships the goddess Mazu who is a sea goddess.

We will take a quick look inside the temple and see how old and new are sat right next to each other in typical Singapore style.

This is a food tour so we will also get the chance to try a unique snack in the grounds of the temple itself. A great experience to learn about the Hokkien community in Singapore and to see their way of life.

At one time this street and the surrounding shophouse streets were the shoreline of Singapore. They were a hive of activity with traders loading and unloading their cargo. The old shophouses, some built in the early 1800's still stand today and have been expertly restored to their former glories.

The street used to house Chinese clans who came to Singapore to work on the ships. Many of the shophouses have information plaques telling the stories of their old residents. Opium dens were also found around this area in what was at the time a very rough place to live.

Today the street is one of the trendiest places to eat and drink in Singapore. A plethora of hip and happening bars and restaurants line the street and make it a great place to start the food tour.

An Siang Hill and Club street was where the old Chinese clubs and clan houses used to be. The street is lined with old shophouses that today house design and PR companies. Some of the old charm has remained though and you can sometimes still hear the old folks playing mahjong at one of the remaining Chinese community clubs.

This is now a popular place for the after work crowd to gather. We will take a walk down the colourful street and head to a nearby hawker centre.

One of the most popular hawker centres in Singapore is Maxwell. One of the reasons for this is that it is home to the world famous Tian Tian chicken rice. Made famous by Anthony Bourdain this place always has a queue. We'll take a seat and learn about hawker culture here in Singapore and how we are trying to get UNESCO heritage status for it. We'll sample a few local delights and get to watch hawkers in action preparing our food. And yes, you'll get to try the Michelin recognised Tian Tian chicken rice.

Sago street or street of the dead is along our route. We'll pass by the huge Buddha tooth relic temple and walk along the narrow side street. It is here where the old workers who had come from China came to die. They worked hard all of their lives and sent every penny they could back home. When it was their time they would make their way to the death houses along this street and wait to pass on to the next life. Now this practise is no longer but the many stories and legends about this street remain. One story involves one of our guides who as a school girl used to come to her uncles shop and paint the faces of the dead before they were cremated.

Chinatowns history here in Singapore is a fascinating story. It is one of the first known Chinatowns and dates back to the 1820s. Chinatown is home to Singapore's many different Chinese communities. The biggest are the Hokkiens. They were the first to arrive here and became powerful business owners. The Teochew are another big community in Singapore. They specialised in agriculture and fishing, Teochew cuisine is very popular here. The Cantonese and Hainanese also have their bases here.

The narrow streets are a walk in history book. Old shophouses have been preserved and now contain some fantastic places to eat and drink. Your guide will tell you the story of how this one time opium den transformed into the melting pot of mainland China in the heart of Singapore. From the trendy Telok Ayer district through to the "real" Chinatown of People's park you'll get a flavour of life here for the many that call it home.