Exploring Tiong Bahru Market

We woke up bright and early on Saturday and made our way to Tiong Bahru to walk the streets of the little town, check out the bustling market, poke around the shops, and stuff ourselves silly at Tiong Bahru Hawker Center.

Tiong Bahru Market consists of a fresh wet market downstairs and an enormous hawker center upstairs. This was actually our first time properly exploring the downstairs market and it was so lovely! Fresh flowers, fresh fish and meats, and an array of small shop stalls adorn the ground floor. You can meander around for hours! I never knew there was such an abundance of fresh flowers there! I foresee myself returning most weekends to pick up a bunch!

The market downstairs is impressive but we were really there for was the food on the second floor. Walk up a flight of stairs and you are immediately transported into hawker heaven! Eighty-three stalls line the edges.

83!!!!!

You can really pick up anything you could possibly be interested in trying. You are not short of delicious options… but here’s what we chose:

Chwee Kueh – steamed rice cakes topped with chili sauce and diced radish

Oyster Omelette – pretty self explanatory and a Singy fave!

Char Kway Teow – a classic Singapore staple, stir fried noodles with meats, cockles, some veg and a dark soy sauce.

Hokkien Mee – seafood noodles! My fave!!!

and Nasi Lemak – a Malay dish consisting of steamed coconut rice, anchovies, peanuts, fried egg, fried chicken, and sambal.

As we ate, our eyes darted around checking to see if there was anything else we should throw on the table for Giove to try. We agreed we had a whole week ahead of us and decided to end this meal before we were too full to continue on through our day.

We spent the next hour or so winding our way through the historic streets of Tiong Bahru, one of the oldest and most historic housing estates in Singapore. Built in 1920, Tiong Bahru has morphed throughout the years into what it’s like now, a hipster neighborhood filled with brunch spots, instagrammable cafes, and art galleries.

Though we were stuffed, we couldn’t help but make a stop at Tiong Bahru Bakery, a famous establishment in Singapore known for their uber-flaky croissants and decadent pastries and desserts. We ordered a chocolate croissant, a danish, and a plain butter croissant to share at a table outside under the easily recognizable forest green awning.

We ate entirely too much in Tiong Bahru that morning and next hopped into a cab for the next part of our day, Jurong Bird Park!