History of Food @ Boat Quay Singapore. Born from the Belly of the Carp

Image credit: WikipediaBoat Quay today is chock-a-bloc with fine restaurants offering cuisines from around the world. It has always been a dining hotspot in Singapore. Here's a bit about its history to add to your food, giving it another layer of flavour which might make it even more delicious for you 😄 Raffles' landing site at Singapore River. Image credit: WikipediaRaffles of the British East India Company first stepped foot on Singapore at the north bank of the Singapore River on 28 Jan 1819. From where Raffles stood, you can see Boat Quay directly across the river on the south bank. (This statue of Raffles has his back to Singapore River, and his eyes looking in the direction of Fort Canning Hill.)

Jackson Plan 1822. Image credit: WikipediaBoat Quay was the eastern edge of the "Chinese Campong" or Chinese enclave in Raffles' town plan (also known as Jackson Plan) published in 1822. Chinese Campong stretches westwards to Kreta Ayer (today's Chinatown). Across the river from Boat Quay was the European Town where grand colonial administration buildings would be built.

An Orang Laut village in Indonesia in the 1990s. What Raffles saw might look something like this. Image credit: WikipediaThere was a small fishing village with dwellings on stilts at the Singapore River banks and sightly further upriver was an Orang Laut (sea gypsy) village. The two banks at the Singapore River mouth were swampy, unsuitable for berthing boats. Raffles ordered the swamps filled with earth from a small hill at today's Raffles Square to make embankments on both north and south banks.

Commercial Square 1900s. Image credit: National Archives of SingaporeCommercial Square (today's Raffles Square) was built on the flattened hill, and Boat Quay built on the reclaimed land over the swamp. Launched in 1822, this would be Singapore's first land reclamation project.

Screengrab from Google MapBoat Quay was known as the "belly of the carp" because Singapore River's southern bank looked like the bulbous belly of a well fed carp.

Boat Quay 1860. Image credit: National Archives of SingaporeChinese traders eagerly set up shops here as they believed this was auspicious with the "belly of the carp" promising wealth, luck and prosperity. Very good Fengshui according to Chinese geomancy principles. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Tony Johor Kaki (@johorkaki) on Feb 12, 2018 at 4:49am PST 👆Follow me on Instagram The carp is still an auspicious symbol to Chinese today.

South Boat Quay 1840s. Image credit: National Archives of SingaporeBy the 1860s, Boat Quay handled 3⁄4 of Singapore's trade. Large ships in the harbour would transfer their goods to bumboats (tongkangs) or lighters, which would bring them to Boat Quay. 

Boat Quay 1910. Image credit: National Archives of SingaporeCoolies (labourers) would carry the goods like tea, coffee, spices, rice, gambier etc. in heavy bales ashore from the boats berthed at Boat Quay to the traders' store houses and godowns. Image credit: National Archives of SingaporeThe view was majestic and the vibes invigorating but the smell wasn't so great. For 150 years, Singapore River was treated like an open sewer. There was a constant pungent smell stench of rotten eggs hanging in the air. It was the smell of rotting animal carcasses, human waste, and any and all rubbish simple thrown into the river. Who here is lucky enough to have smelled the old Singapore River? 🙋 I have 😂   By 1977, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew decided that enough was enough. He had a vision of Singapore River as a world class entertainment hub. Mr. Lee challenged the Ministry of Environment, "In 10 years let us have fishing in the Singapore River... ." And so, the S$170 million Singapore River clean-up was launched. Looking at the Singapore River today, it was a S$170 million very well spent.

Boat Quay just before the end of one of its past lives. Image Credit: National Archives of SingaporeBoat Quay's end as a bumboat hub came rather decisively in the 1980s when the Pasir Panjang container port opened in 1983. The bumboats and coolies hauling sacks of goods on wooden planks became history.They were displaced by container ships discharging goods by giant cranes assisted by computer technology. By 1983, Boat Quay's berths closed and bumboats were cleared from Singapore River.

Image credit: National Archives of SingaporeBy 1984, people could swim in the Singapore River again. Cleansed, the next stage in the life of Singapore River was about to begin. 

The last days of the old Boat Quay in 1983 before the demolition machines come. The once log jammed bumboat berths were empty, the shophouses mostly vacant and dilapidated, the old sauntered around with faraway looks in their eyes, the young wide eyed but oblivious to the changes awaiting them.

 The demolition machines came in in 1983. Fortunately, many of the heritage buildings were gazetted by the Urban Renewal Authority in 1989 for conservation.

Boat Quay 1990s. Image credit: WikipediaIn the mid-1990s, Boat Quay was born again. The once lorry lined Boat Quay Road returned as a pedestrianised mall. The once squalid riverfront shophouses dressed up as pubs, restaurants, cafes and trendy all-night watering holes. According to Boat Quay's official webpage, their main clientele are "professionals, expatriates, tourists and families". The bumboats are gone for good, but one thing about Boat Quay never changed. From the beginning till now, Boat Quay is still one of Singapore's dining hotspots. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore Image credit: National Archives of Singapore Image credit: National Archives of SingaporeImage Credit: National Archives of SingaporeStreet food stalls before they were moved into Boat Quay Food Centre and Empress Place Food Centre. It was part of the government's concerted efforts between the 1960s to 1980s to move all street hawkers into purpose build hawker centres for hygiene, order and licensing purposes. Boat Quay Food Centre. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore Truth be told, I've been here only a couple of times as I don't live or work near here. Boat Quay Food Centre. Image credit: National Archives of SingaporeYou've heard people say how they miss the old hawker centres. Here's two I missed a lot - Boat Quay Food Centre and across the Singapore River, Empress Place Food Centre. Image credit: National Archives of SingaporeLooking across Singapore River from Boat Quay Food Centre we can see Empress Place Food Centre. Empress Place Food Centre (often mistaken for Empress Road Food Centre off Farrer Road) was at the north bank of Singapore River near to where Raffles first stepped foot on the Lion City. This site is sometimes referred to as Lower North Boat Quay. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore Both Boat Quay and Empress Place food centres opened in Sep 1973, resettling some 150 hawkers that operated around Boat Quay and Hallpike Street including its side and back lanes. Cheap and good food, clean and cool environment, river view and just a short walk from the office, it was a boon to financial district workers. In 1983, the hawkers from both food centres were temporarily moved to Empress Place Transit Food Centre. Many people were sad when both hawker centres were eventually demolished in the 1993.

Boat Quay 1990s. Image credit: National Archives of SingaporeFor a while in the early 1990s, the riverfront Boat Quay Road hosted a pasar malam (night market) before it gave up it last breath to the demolition squad. Empress Place Beef NoodlesOf the food stalls here, I know only Empress Place Teochew Beef Kway Teow. I have eaten at other stalls here before but it was too long ago and I cannot recall them now. Even for Empress Place beef noodles, I tried them only long after they have left Empress Place. Empress Place Teochew Beef Noodles was opened by the granddaughter of Tan Chee Kok, the man who brought Teochew beef noodles to Singapore in the 1920s, and the founder of Hock Lam Beef Noodles. Empress Place Teochew Beef Noodles is no more - it was last operating at Maxwell Road Food Centre by Tan Chee Kok's great granddaughter Melissa but closed in Apr 2020 (no thanks to COVID-19 pandemic social distancing measures) . But, Hock Lam Beef Noodles lives on at Old Airport Road Food Centre by Lee Chee Kok's grandson Francis and by his great grandson Edwin at North Canal Road. Yes, that's just the second street behind Boat Quay. More on the history of Hock Lam Beef Noodles 👈 click My Little Spanish PlaceMenya SakuraMy Little Spanish Place

When Boat Quay re-opened to the world in 1995, most of the cuisine were not the Nanyang flavours and aromas of its past heydays. That signature smell of Singapore River was also gone.  The reincarnated swanky Boat Quay is now where people look for enjoyment, put on happiness but I wonder who can say they belong here. Boat Quay became a tourist trap with the usual tourist trap issues. In a way, things have not changed at Boat Quay. It was the chance to be rich that brought traders jostling for a piece of the Belly of the Carp. I will be surprised if doing business at Boat Quay wasn't even more cut throat back in its bumboat, tongkang days. Image credit: National Archives of SingaporeBut, this is far from the end of the Boat Quay story. Like Kucinta, the Singapore River cat with nine lives, who knows what the next life edition of Boat Quay will be like? Stay tuned. May I warmly invite you to share your memories and insights on Boat Quay in the comments, please. Thank you. Date: 22 Jun 2020