Sure, Singapore’s a small country, but without the ease that transport brings, there really is very little incentive to get to some out of the way places. Beauty World in Bukit Timah used to count as one of those far-out places. Then the Downtown Line opened, and what was once an hour long journey shortened to half an hour. Beauty World didn’t look that far flung.
The most popular type of articles to be written after the opening of the downtown line was the kinds of food to be had along the downtown line.
One of the areas suggested was Beauty World Food Centre.
Unlike the newer food centres, located at the basement of the shopping mall, the Beauty World Food Centre is located at the top floor. Layouts like these were ubiquitous in the 1960s to early 1980s. I personally think its brilliant in its simplicity. To get to the food (which you probably will want to), you would have to take the escalator and pass by a good majority of the shops, you might in that process find something that you never knew you wanted or needed.
Build it and they will come
Like Beauty World, local hawker fare is thought off as a cultural icon in its death throes. Many hawkers have provided for their families by slaving away, baking in the hot oven of their store fronts without rest. Now that they have provided their children with a better future, it’s no surprise that few want their children to take up the wok and ladle and be hawkers themselves. With most young Singaporeans brought up on the mindset that an air-conditioned, desk-bound job is the most respectable and dignified career choice for them, it’s no surprise that Singapore’s younger generation would shy away from working in blue-collar jobs and working as hawkers.
Even within the culinary world, while Michelin-starred chefs come to Singapore’s hawkers for inspiration, young Singaporeans look to the Michelin-starred chefs as inspirations.
But all is not lost. Just as Beauty World has awakened with the new train station, Singaporean street food will survive, albeit in a different form.
Singaporean street food may be struggling to find its next generation of successors, but as a visit to the food centre shows, the young still want to enjoy food at the hawker centre.
What’s going to happen to Singapore food in the future? Look at the rise of her cut-throat cafe culture. While once simply places for coffee, cafe’s are today fueled by young people wanting a complete dining experience – cafes thrive not just on food but on their themes, ideas and the experience they give their customers. I’m guessing that as hawker food gets more and more endangered, cafes will step in with their unique take on local food (there is a market for it, and as suppliers get less in number a new group will arise to fill it)
Singapore food will survive but it will be updated.
I’m certain though that when the time comes, the food is going to be more than 5 dollars.
So if you don’t mind, I’ll get on with my not more than 5 dollar meal.
You should too.
How to get there
The Heartlander Tourist 
Hey! I’m a writer at Discover SG and I was wondering if you could grant me permission to use one of your pics in my article. It will be fully credited. Thanks for your time!
Hi Priscilla, please feel free.
Thanks a zillion!