Completed in 1973, Old Airport Road is one of Singapore's earliest purpose-built hawker centres, and some of its cooks have spent decades perfecting a single dish.
Independent Singapore chose to house its street hawkers rather than banish them, moving them from 1971 into purpose-built centres with running water and proper waste disposal. Old Airport Road Food Centre, completed in 1973 at Block 51 Old Airport Road, is one of the earliest, with more than 160 cooked-food stalls under one roof. Each stall is its own business, with its own number, prices, hours and rest day.
Nam Sing Hokkien Fried Mee (#01-32) has cooked one dish since 1960, and Lao Fu Zi Fried Kway Teow and To-Ricos Kway Chap hold Bib Gourmands. There are no waiters or bills: find a seat, walk the aisles, read the signboards and join the queue that looks right. Share a few plates and you taste several communities in one sitting.
