[#sgmemory Project] Nostalgia Tour with My Home, My Library Project

Talking about #SGMemory, what is the first thing that come across your mind? Is it the old school "Zeropoint" game that you used to playing during recess time, 30 cents fishball noodles from the school canteen or trying to set record for the pokemon games on your "Gameboy"?  For me when I think about it, I could recalled many wonderful childhood memories which I would love to share with my kid.

Last Saturday, my kid and I were thrilled to join in the Nostalgia Food Tour (together with DanielFoodDiary, Keropokman, Camemberu and Melicacy) which was conducted by the Singapore Memory Project as part of this year event to capture and document precious moments and memories related to Singapore. During the nostalgia tour, we visited 4 heritage eateries and delicacies where our host Daniel (danielfooddiary) shared the history and food culture of these places.

Our 1st stop was at Singapore Zam Zam Restaurant which established since 1908 (about 104 years old). It is one of Singapore's best-known Muslim restaurants running by the 3rd Generation of  Mr Abdul Kadir (founder of Zam Zam). For your information, Zam Zam is named after the well that provides the water to billions of people from throughout history especially during the Hajj pilgrimage.

Zam Zam occupy a 2-floor dinning area where the second level provides air conditioning for customers who ordered their Murtabak and Briyani only.

They even put up a notice at the drinks counter showing the ordering requirements.

Friendly speaking it was my first visit to Zam Zam and I was surprised to see the large crowds even after lunch hours on a drizzling Saturday afternoon.  From a glance around the tables we could see most of the customers were having their famous Murtabak which comes in either beef, mutton or chicken fillings.

Personally I prefer their Murtabak more than the Chicken Biryani and I would like to drop by another day to try other items on the menu too.

Singapore Zam Zam Restaurant
697 North Bridge Road
Singapore 198675
Telephone: (65)6298 6320

Opening Hours:
8:00am – 11:00pm (daily)

As a cake love, I fell in love with these awesome soft, fluffy and delicious Kaya Swiss Roll from Rich And Good Cake Shop. This 20 years old bakery is managed by Mdm Lily Liu and the shop offers items like cake and biscuits but their specialty is on Swiss Roll which comes in a wide variety of flavors like strawberry, orange, durian, coffee, chocolate, kaya, green tea and blueberry @ S$7.50 each.

Alternatively you could try their Mango Swiss Roll which was not as sweet as compared to the Kaya Swiss Roll which I think is good for those who don't have sweet tooth. And I also happened to see one my Instagram friend, Celest bought their Chocolate Swiss Roll after we featured ours in the #sgmemory. Would like to try their Chocolate and Durian Swiss Roll during my next visit.

Rich and Good Cake Shop (裕佳西饼店)
24 Kandahar Street
Singapore 198887
Telephone: (65) 6294 3324

Opening Hours:
08:30am - 17:00pm (Mon - Fri)
08:30 - 16:00pm (sat)

3rd stop was at Seow Choon Hua Restaurant which is a 70 years old street food eatery located at Sultan Gate. And according to Daniel, their specialty is Red Wine Chicken and Foo Chow Lor Mee.

First time trying Foo Chow style stir-fry rice cake which consists of ingredients like chicken liver, fish cake and some Chinese cabbage.  For me this dish is has a very homely feel combination which I would like to try replicating it at home soon.

Another interesting and must try dish is their Foo Chow Fishball and Yan Pi. The fishball is made using four types of fish like; Ikan Parang, Grouper, Red Fish and Yellow Eel together with some seasonings, flour and mixed together to form a ball and then stuffed with minced meat.

Seow Choon Hua Restaurant
33 Sultan Gate
Singapore 198481
Telephone: (65) 6298 2720

Opening Hours:
10:00am – 10:00pm (daily)

Last stop we headed to Tiong Bahru Galicier Pastry where they have a wide varieties of homemade Nonya Kueh like Kueh Dadar (sweet nonya pancake roll with coconut fillings), Kueh Lapis (steamed layer cake), Layer Sago Kueh, Kueh Kosui, Lemper Udang, Ambon (honeycomb cake) and etc.

Other than Nonya Kueh, they also have pastries and bread which are worth trying too and my kid loves their milk bun which is so soft and fluffy. Aunty Jenny (shop owner) also mentioned that Galicier actually started as early as in 1975 near Killiney Road selling only western confectioneries and cakes. It was only when they moved to Tiong Bahru around 12 years ago when they started off with Nonya kuehs kuehs which was taught by their Uncle Tan’s Nonya grandmother.

Tiong Bahru Galicier Pastry
55 Tiong Bahru Rd
#01-39
Singapore 160055
Telephone: (65) 6324 1686

Opening Hours:
09:00am - 9:00pm (closed on Monday)

Other than the Nostalgia Food Tour, from 25 March to 29 April 2013, in conjunction with the Singapore Memory Project there will be a a My Home, My Library exhibition held across all the libraries island wide which you could find the location here.

At the exhibit area, there is a memory submission stand in the shape of our familiar carnation milk tin whereby visitor could penned down their memories on the special design postcard and depositing it into the tin too.

These Memories are split into 2 themes such as My Home and My Library featuring memories from residents who are living in the neighborhood which I am sure you already spotted them in the "huge" Tinbox during your recent visit to the library. If you have not being to the library recently, perhaps you could drop by anytime before 29 April and take a look on at the exhibition which might even bring back some old memories of yours or your family too. 

Apart for finding back those old memories, there is also a SNAP AND SHARE contest where visitors could snap a photo(s) of anything related to the exhibition, post the image with #sgmemory on Instagram or Twitter and stand a chance to win a weekly draw of S$200.00 worth shopping vouchers.

My collection of #sgmemory over the years...

Lastly, on top of the SNAP AND SHARE contest mentioned above, you could also do your part to contribute your #sgmemory thru Instagram Photos towards the Singapore Memory Project like what we have done above. The photos can be  from your past memory on Singapore food, heritage places, buildings, things or etc which you would love to keep it as part of #sgmemory gallery. So remember to hag tag your photos with #sgmemory and if you like you could also tag "@cuisineparadise" and share with me your photos as well.


Lastly I would like to thank Daniel (DanielFoodDiary) for hosting this tasting; Singapore Memory Project and Joy from DDB for the invite.