Going down Food Memory Lane, Old Restaurants/Coffehouses of yesteryear

[Porfirio Rubirosa]

Did not know that. I recall Burger King first started across the road from Liat Towers, next to Shaw?

The chap who first started macs sure hit on a gold mine. I gather his father was a medical practitioner and when the son first went to the macs hamburger university in the states, relatives and friends thought he was nuts. Guess who is having the last laugh. Also I gather Jennie Chua missed on the opportunity to bring in KFC to Singapore, did too much probability analysis and missed the boat on that one.

Burger King started by Liat Towers owners who orginally leased the premises to the 1st Mac and saw how it became the most profitable outlet in the world at that time.

 

[Porfirio Rubirosa]

Another few nuggets Bro

Btw I recall Joe's case, did this involve some lawyer chappy named Abraham?

Some interesting sideline stories from Barberella and Xanadu.

The name Barbarella is now permanently banned for entertainment / niteclub etc. I believe there were 2 reincarnation with the last at Holiday Inn. It became the number 1 hot spot for drug trafficers and pushers. Despite closures, they returned everytime the name surfaced.Tree Tops took over from Barberalla and ended up having its first hanging case for drug trafficking. Weird as they had different owners but the name seems to be magnet.

Joe Chandran & the Experiments use to rule supreme at Lost Horizon, now Xanadu. Joe is now part of a religious christian cult which his wife set up and involves a number of families that live together in shared properties. The dress up in Turqoise blue. They sued SPH for defamation and lost for calling it a cult.

 

[Merl Haggard]

Pat now has quite beautiful kids too, married to a french chap and resides in france. Yes her dad David was with SPH for many years and long since retired.

Interesting side story on her brother Michael who is a lawyer. Years ago when Michael was apparently a local 'Rick Springfield teen idol' with the girlies:p, he was dating a vivacious sassy hawaiian looking gal called Winnifred Teo. Both of them were attending CJC at that time, anyways tragedy struck when one day Winnie was raped and murdered along the Old Holland Road track off Wilby Road while she was jogging, this was in the days when that area was not yet developed and there was a gravesite and secluded tracks. To this day the rapist/murderer has never been caught and rumours went around in the early days that it was 'hit job' of sorts to send a signal to her buisnessman father. Sad tragic story.

Sorry to interrupt, but Winniefred was not Hawaiian.

Her father Teo Joo Kim was the GM of Kuok S'pore. Pretty & brilliant Winnie had just finished her A level and waiting
to continue her studies at NUS. They were residing in their new double storey bungalow at 15 Maryland Drive off Old
Holland Rd where she was raped and strangled to death while jogging in the evening. Then Old Holland Rd was where
the oldest Chinese cemetery in S'pore was situated.

Devastated Teo Joo Kim was our fellow golfers and I was at Winniefred's wake.

 

[Porfirio Rubirosa]

Alamak now they need some light entertainment spin as well is it

Not sure if you are aware. Paik Choo now covers political beat in a freelance manner for SPH. She covered Reform Party and last PAP Cadre Meeting.

 

[yinyang]

The London Club was at the basement of the Marco Polo Hotel (the former Hotel Malaysia), and now The Grange. Used to dine at the Marco Polo French restaurant (later renamed The San Marco) and then adjourned to the London Club.

Was often there at LC when my ears were wet then, with my 1st gf (blxxdy expensive taste). Howler was the loo's urinal sign (above): "We aim to please, so you aim too" and "If you can aim this high, you are required by fire brigade"

Yeah, San Marco with occasional swedish themed dinners

 

[Porfirio Rubirosa]

Hey I use to really like the old old Celica's and Datsun 2000Z, also VW Karmann Ghia amd Triumph Spitfire.

Beyond my means then to have own wheels (to my detriment, as my potential dates vrooomed out:o). Yeah, AC was not standard.. so much so that next car generation told me predecessors had nothing between their ears to leave out same (no big, no small leh!!). C'mon, not even radio? Can understand cassette stereo extra PS: Was it Datsun 120Y, coke shaped model popular then? Oops, maybe yours was Toyota Mark III or Celica

 

[Porfirio Rubirosa]

Oh yes. What I recal about the old CK Tangs was the distinctive musty smell in certain sections of the store:p

Babyboomers would recall a cafe called Cosy Corner at the site of the old CK Tang Departmental Store along Orchard.
For S$1.80 you can have a set lunch with soup/bread and buter/main course/coffee or tea/ice cream dessert.

Today for that price it is difficult to get just a cup of coffee in a cafe.

 

[Merl Haggard]

Did not know that. I recall Burger King first started across the road from Liat Towers, next to Shaw?

The chap who first started macs sure hit on a gold mine. I gather his father was a medical practitioner and when the son first went to the macs hamburger university in the states, relatives and friends thought he was nuts. Guess who is having the last laugh. Also I gather Jennie Chua missed on the opportunity to bring in KFC to Singapore, did too much probability analysis and missed the boat on that one.

The chap, Bob Kwan started as a books-salesman and his father was a Professor, once an
Ambassador to the US and later lectured at the S'pore U.

About eight years ago, Bob sold his interest in S'pore McDonalds and is enjoying his retirement.

He is currently residing at King Albert Park.

 

[Porfirio Rubirosa]

Ah yes, that is the one Bro..."Flight of Dragons I command it" My goodness I can still recall that evil being, who exploded when the boy used his magic of logic to defeat him, gave me the creeps then I think the voice of the evil being was the noneother than James Earl Jones who was the voice of Darth Vader amongst many other famous characters

Flight of Dragons is about the need to balance the power of logic with the wonder of magic and about how when the world loses one (magic in this case) it becomes susceptible to evil. The boy (Gordon, I think) is drawn from the world of logic (ours) into the equation because of his fascination with dragons (magical creatures of course) - he becomes a dragon and takes on the task to restore the balance.

I've tried to get it on DVD but apparently there're no legal versions available.

 

[Porfirio Rubirosa]

No worries Bro, but I did say "Hawaiian looking" not Hawaiian I can still recall her with an orchid in her hair wearing a sarong, quite a beauty:(

Small and funny old world Bro, as we may well have crossed paths at her wake

Cheers

RIP Winnie

Sorry to interrupt, but Winniefred was not Hawaiian.

Her father Teo Joo Kim was the GM of Kuok S'pore. Pretty & brilliant Winnie had just finished her A level and waiting
to continue her studies at NUS. They were residing in their new double storey bungalow at 15 Maryland Drive off Old
Holland Rd where she was raped and strangled to death while jogging in the evening. Then Old Holland Rd was where
the oldest Chinese cemetery in S'pore was situated.

Devastated Teo Joo Kim was our fellow golfers and I was at Winniefred's wake.

 

[Porfirio Rubirosa]

That was a good one

Howler was the loo's urinal sign (above): "We aim to please, so you aim too" and "If you can aim this high, you are required by fire brigade"

 

[Zeitgeist]

Sorry to interrupt, but Winniefred was not Hawaiian.

Her father Teo Joo Kim was the GM of Kuok S'pore. Pretty & brilliant Winnie had just finished her A level and waiting
to continue her studies at NUS. They were residing in their new double storey bungalow at 15 Maryland Drive off Old
Holland Rd where she was raped and strangled to death while jogging in the evening. Then Old Holland Rd was where
the oldest Chinese cemetery in S'pore was situated.

Devastated Teo Joo Kim was our fellow golfers and I was at Winniefred's wake.

My mind always recalled this tragic incident every time I took a short cut through from Bt.Timah Rd to Holland Rd and vice versa to avoid Sixth Avenue.

You see, I served my NS in 3rd Brigade opposite Pandan Valley years before the incident and could visualise the entire Old Holland Rd as we did our platoon runs there regularly. When the case was reported in the papers and I saw her photograph in the obituaries, I remembered the sense of waste, pity and anger at the same time. As usual it was reported that the police interviewed construction workers nearby but nothing came out of it. I believe those were the days before DNA testing was used. Why would a pretty girl go jogging alone on that stretch escapes me till today.

Thr cemetery is no more and the road had been re-aligned in a way that there's no longer any trace of that stretch. Well maybe it's better this way.............................. :(

 

[Merl Haggard]

My mind always recalled this tragic incident every time I took a short cut through from Bt.Timah Rd to Holland Rd and vice versa to avoid Sixth Avenue.

You see, I served my NS in 3rd Brigade opposite Pandan Valley years before the incident and could visualise the entire Old Holland Rd as we did our platoon runs there regularly. When the case was reported in the papers and I saw her photograph in the obituaries, I remembered the sense of waste, pity and anger at the same time. As usual it was reported that the police interviewed construction workers nearby but nothing came out of it. I believe those were the days before DNA testing was used. Why would a pretty girl go jogging alone on that stretch escapes me till today.

Thr cemetery is no more and the road had been re-aligned in a way that there's no longer any trace of that stretch. Well maybe it's better this way.............................. :(

According to our friend, Asst Commissioner of CID, Jagjit Singh it was the job of foreign worker/workers and at the
wake he promised to use whatever resources available to hunt him/them down, but the case has not been solved.

 

[HTOLAS]

Ah yes, that is the one Bro..."Flight of Dragons I command it" My goodness I can still recall that evil being, who exploded when the boy used his magic of logic to defeat him, gave me the creeps then I think the voice of the evil being was the noneother than James Earl Jones who was the voice of Darth Vader amongst many other famous characters

You got James Earl Jones right. I got the protagonist's name wrong - it is Peter. The movie is the result of a combination of two novels, one by Gordon Dickson and the other, Peter Dickinson. The character in the movie takes his name from the latter.

It was really good film-making.

 

[halsey02]

According to our friend, Asst Commissioner of CID, Jagjit Singh it was the job of foreign worker/workers and at the
wake he promised to use whatever resources available to hunt him/them down, but the case has not been solved.

This started as a makan thread..and seems to have gone into the back lane!!

 

[johnny333]

Franchise owned by the Jumabhoy family, first outlet at Cathay near Tat Chuan and the 2nd at old Uni at Bt Timah Road Divider.

Family into too many things to concentrate and then falling out.

I remember often going to the Dhoby Ghaut branch. I think the 1st A&W was at Robinson Rd. The one in Bukit Timah predates the Dhoby Ghaut branch,

Didn't know the Jumabhoys owned the franchise. Had a classmate who was a Jumabhoy.

 

[johnny333]

If I am not mistaken some even gave out tickets! Can't recall what it said though

Those Avery weighning machines would give out cards with a print out of the weight.

 

[johnny333]

Troika, Tivoli, Copper Kettle, Magnolia Bar, Pavillion Restaurant at the old Specialist Centre , coffee house at the old Robinsons in the old Specialist Centre (served very tasty local pepper chicken curry hailam style!), coffee house at the old Ladyhill Hotel, coffee house at the old YMCA along stevens road (tasty Malay/Indonesian food), Mont D'or (loved their milkshakes served in those aluminium containers!), original Polar Cafe along High Street...aiyo getting hungry just thinking about those old days!!

Strange that people don't remember Batik Inn, which was located behind cozy corner?

They operated at night, each table had a white table cloth & servettes, oil lamps at each table & the chicken satay was very unique. Really miss the satay & nasi goreng. :(

 

[snrcitizen]

Yeah, AC was not standard.. so much so that next car generation told me predecessors had nothing between their ears to leave out same (no big, no small leh!!). C'mon, not even radio? Can understand cassette stereo extra PS: Was it Datsun 120Y, coke shaped model popular then? Oops, maybe yours was Toyota Mark III or Celica

Also, ALS sticker > multi entry. And those who jump in (near Cuppage entrance) to make 4. Short of making some dummy cut outs in car hehehe:p

Had to install my own AC when importers started bringing in after market car products. Bought whole set of electrical window winder from a car accessory exhibition and installed myself. Not too professional job but most important, it worked. Car radio with cassette tape player was added at a car audio accessory store, paid for from my own pocket. The aerial was those telescopic type with a motor in the trunk.

Never liked Datsuns (now Nissan). Have never bought one. Don't know why. I am the saloon model kind of guy (square, huh?) so that rules out Toyota Celica which many called it "Silly Car", those days.

Yes, remembered the service providers to beat ALS, but never made use of them.

 

[snrcitizen]

Babyboomers would recall a cafe called Cosy Corner at the site of the old CK Tang Departmental Store along Orchard.
For S$1.80 you can have a set lunch with soup/bread and buter/main course/coffee or tea/ice cream dessert.

Today for that price it is difficult to get just a cup of coffee in a cafe.

Yes, Cosy Corner at Tangs is one of those places I remembered.