21/03/2024

Singapore's Lau Pa Sat, Indonesia

Food centre similar to S'pore's Lau Pa Sat to open in Indonesia by end-2025

A food centre similar to Singapore's famous Lau Pa Sat is set to open in Indonesia. The food centre will reportedly have over 50 stalls and its own Satay Street, when it is ready in 2025.

The food centre is part of a mixed development named "Rukan Lau Pa Sat" situated in the up-and-coming Pantai Indah Kapuk (PIK2) township. PIK2 has been dubbed "The New Jakarta City" and is located in the northern part of Indonesia's capital, Jakarta. It is a joint venture between property developer Agung Sedayu Group and Salim Group, Indonesia's biggest conglomerate.

Agung Sedayu Group will be recreating Lau Pa Sat's colonial-themed architecture and orange roofing for the food centre in PIK2. Stalls at the food centre will mostly serve Indonesian cuisine, as well as food from the region, The Straits Times (ST) reported. There will also be different types of sate from different parts of Indonesia because people love to "have satay and chill", Agung Sedayu Group chief executive Steven Kusumo told ST.


Indonesia to Build Food Centre Modelled after Singapore's Lau Pa Sat
An artist's impression of the Lau Pa Sat food centre to be built in the Pantai Indah Kapuk township outside Jakarta. PHOTO: AGUNG SEDAYU GROUP

By the end of 2025, Indonesia will have a food centre in the capital city modelled after Singapore’s Lau Pa Sat, complete with dozens of stalls offering various regional delicacies as well as an open-air Satay Street.

Property developer Agung Sedayu Group will be constructing the food centre, complete with signature colonial-themed architecture and orange roofing, in the Pantai Indah Kapuk (PIK) area.

We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here.


Lau Pa Sat

Lau Pa Sat (or “old market” in the Hokkien dialect), this beautifully restored cast iron heritage site was Singapore’s first wet market that dates back over 150 years ago to the time of Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore.

It was subsequently converted into a famous gourmet paradise and has been gazetted as a national monument since 1973.

Today Lau Pa Sat Festival Market is one of Kopitiam’s most well-known outlet offering Singaporeans and even tourists the best of authentic local and international cuisines.


Lau Pa Sat

Lau Pa Sat (Chinese: 老 巴 刹; pinyin: Lǎo Bāshā; lit. 'Old Market'), also known as Telok Ayer Market (Malay: Pasar Telok Ayer; Chinese: 直 落 亚 逸 巴 刹), is a historic building located within the Downtown Core in the Central Area of Singapore. It was first built in 1824 as a fish market on the waterfront serving the people of early colonial Singapore and rebuilt in 1838. It was then relocated and rebuilt at the present location in 1894. It is currently a food court with stalls selling a variety of local cuisine.

The market remains one of the oldest Victorian structures in South-East Asia and one of the first structures built in pre-fabricated cast iron in Asia. It is also the only remaining market left that served the residents in the central district of early Singapore. Telok Ayer Market (Malay: Pasar Telok Ayer; Chinese: 直 落 亚 逸 巴 刹) is named after Telok Ayer Bay. In the early nineteenth century, the market was a simple wooden building located on piles just over the waters of Telok Ayer Bay before land reclamation work filled in the bay. The Malay name Telok Ayer means "bay water", and the then coastal road Telok Ayer Street was located alongside the bay before land reclamation work started in 1879.

Lau Pa Sat (Chinese: 老 巴 刹; pinyin: Lǎo Bāshā) means "old market" in the vernacular Hokkien Chinese of Singapore. Lau (老) means old; pa sat is the Hokkien pronunciation of the Persian loanword "bazaar" (market) which is pasar in Malay. The original Telok Ayer market was one of the oldest markets in Singapore; a new market called Ellenborough Market was later built along Ellenborough Street (now the site of The Central shopping mall, next to Tew Chew Street), and that market became known to the locals as the "new market" (Pasar Baru or Sin Pa Sat, Ellenborough Street was known as Sin Pa Sat Kham meaning "the mouth of the new market"), while the Telok Ayer Market in turn became known colloquially as the "old market" or Lau Pa Sat. Because of its Victorian iron structure, the market is also referred to in Malay as pasar besi (market of iron).


The "Raffles City" of Chongqing, China

Raffles City Chongqing, designed by renowned architect Moshe Safdie, is developed by Singapore’s own CapitaLand, whose president and group CEO calls it the “largest and most complex integrated development” ever undertaken by the real estate company by far. The project will hold a shopping mall, residences, offices and a hotel.

Complicated, indeed. The megastructure consists of four 250m-tall skyscrapers topped with a 300m-long curved horizontal sky bridge, which will feature an outdoor patio with see-through glass flooring as a viewing deck. The enclosed structure — longer than Singapore’s tallest building laid on its side — will also have swimming pools, sky gardens, and dining facilities.

If all this sounds familiar, it should be. Raffles City Chongqing is what happens when someone one-ups Marina Bay Sands by taking the original concept wholesale and adding more parts to it. CapitaLand’s description about their development says nothing about the similarities to MBS, but noted that Safdie drew inspiration from Chongqing’s “thousand years of waterway transportation culture” to create “an image of powerful sails upon the river”. To be fair, Safdie did design MBS after all, so he’s at liberty to replicate the same thing somewhere else. The construction is expected to be completed by the middle of 2018 and will open in phases next year.



video of a neighbourhood in Indonesia has made the rounds lately due to some unusual features, including a merlion and Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) gantries.

The residential area is called the “Singapore of Medan” and can be seen in this video from 2020. Singaporeans will definitely find some familiar sights. Whoever thought of the neighbourhood’s design must be a huge fan of the Little Red Dot.

The developer of the residence is CitraLand Gama City (which explains the CLGC on the gantry), and it will occupy 211.57 hectares of land, including a shopping district called—you guessed it, Orchard Road. In response, Singaporean netizens appear to be having a lot of fun with the “Singapore of Medan.”


Lau Pa Sat 130th anniversary

Lau Pa Sat, one of Singapore’s most beloved landmarks, marks its 130th anniversary in grand style with a series of captivating collaborations with renowned local artists. Today, the iconic hawker centre unveiled a stunning 10-metre-long heritage mural by visual artist Yip Yew Chong, alongside a collection of merchandise featuring enchanting watercolor illustrations by local illustrator Ah Guo.

As Lau Pa Sat commemorates its rich history and evolution over the past 130 years, these collaborations pay homage to its status as a cherished monument in Singapore. The works of art vividly depict Lau Pa Sat’s journey through time, capturing its transformation from the first Telok Ayer Market in 1824 to the bustling culinary destination it is today.

The unveiling of these artistic endeavors coincides with World Art Day, underscoring the vital role that local artists play in preserving Singapore’s heritage and culture. Managed by Kopitiam, a social enterprise under FairPrice Group, Lau Pa Sat has long been a beacon for both locals and tourists, offering a tantalizing array of local culinary delights and unique experiences.