Business As Usual At Maxwell Road Centre

The main entrance (front) of the Maxwell Road Centre is under upgrading construction, but business as usual.

The upgrading of the back entrance via Kadanayallur Street is now completed.

The Maxwell Market dated back to pre-war days as a wholesale vegetable market for distribution to vegetable sellers in the vicinity of Chinatown.

In 1986, it was converted into a food centre, housing hawkers from famed street, China Street.

The archived photos of China Street and Maxwell Market are curated on this blog to share with heritage and Singapore Memory Project friends, with thanks to the courtesy of the National Archives of Singapore and the National Library Board, Singapore.

My personal nostalgic memories of this place in Chinatown are reposted on the blog here .

The former Keppel Bus No. 1 which ply as a loop service between the bus terminal beside the Maxwell Market and Kampong Bahru Road.  The location of the Maxwell Market with the external building, the high steel-frame ceiling and the roofs are recognised by it unique design and architecture.

Hawker centres sprang up in urban areas following the rapid urbanisation in the 1950s and 1960s.  In many cases, they were built partly to address the problem of unhygienic food preparation by unlicensed street hawkers.

Then and Now juxtaposed photos in the Maxwell Market (above and below).

More photos of the old Maxwell Market with the food stalls at the front main entrance.

The fruit stall at the entrance of the Maxwell Market in 1970.

Maxwell Food Centre Today.

Traditional Heritage Food at the Maxwell Road Centre

The “Foochow Oyster Pancake” is one of the traditional heritage food at the Maxwell Market for decades.

John Walters said: “The only think I like better than talking about food is eating”.

The century-old proverb “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”.

Personally speaking, it is the individual person’s freedom and preference to eat and enjoy whatever we like.

I wasn’t born in an era of “fast food” which are the favorite of my children.  They grew up faster physically than our pioneer generation friends.  Taste of various heritage food over the generations in Singapore have evolved.  With the major ethnic groups of Chinese, Indian and Malay cooking with varieties to enjoy in Singapore.

Mr Ng Kok Hua (Ah Hua) of the China Street Fritters, Stall No. 64 at the Maxwell Food Centre was voted by members of the public as their favorite hawker centre and awarded the 8th City Hawker Food Hunt on 8th November, 2015.

Ah Hua and his brother, Richard Ng (photo below) have been selling handmade Hokkien “ngoh hiang” since they took over their father, Ng Eng Tuan’s stall at 16.

According to Ah Hua, the family business, which he runs with the help of four other siblings, is about 70 years old.

“We deserve it (the award).  We’ve worked for so long and gone through hardship, (sacrificing time with) friends and family.  We’ve kept this traditional food until today”.  (Source:  The Straits Times).

Photo Credit: The Straits Times