A short ride from the Botanic Gardens' Tanglin gate, Dempsey's old barrack blocks have swapped soldiers for diners, with restaurants and bars where troops once mustered.
Dempsey began as Mount Harriet, a nutmeg estate co-owned in the 1850s by Colonial Treasurer William Willans and the merchant Hoo Ah Kay, known as Whampoa. The British military bought it in 1860 and built Tanglin Barracks. Under the Japanese Occupation, British and Australian troops assembled here before marching to internment at Changi, a story told today at the Changi Chapel and Museum.
Singapore took the barracks over in 1971, and from 1972 to 1989 they housed the Ministry of Defence headquarters and the Central Manpower Base. Since 2006 the Singapore Land Authority has revived the area as Tanglin Village, in three clusters, Dempsey, Minden and Loewen, with the old barrack blocks turned into restaurants and bars.
The best-known table is Candlenut, at 17A Dempsey Road, whose Peranakan cooking, built on the chef's family recipes, has held a Michelin star in every Singapore edition since 2016. Share dishes à la carte or choose the tasting menu, which changes every three months.
