When we think of City Hall, places such as Funan Mall and the National Gallery flash across our minds. However, just a 3-minute walk from the MRT lies a lesser-known Burmese enclave in Peninsula Plaza Singapore that deserves just as much attention.
Here, you’ll find a hidden slice of Myanmar repped by local dishes, traditional wear, and other interesting finds. There are a lot of things to see and do here, so bookmark this guide to stay in the know.
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For those going by MRT, you can either take the East-West or North-South line and get off at City Hall MRT. Then take a 2-minute walk to Peninsula Plaza Singapore. Alternatively, you can also take the Circle Line to Esplanade MRT (CC3)—the complex should be a 10-minute walk away.
If not, you can always hop onto any one of the buses that stop at Hill Street, St. Andrews Cathedral, North Bridge Road, or Grand Park City. These include buses 2, 12, 32,33, 51, 63, 80, 147, and 195.
Standing in front of the plaza, it’s hard not to ogle at the building’s amplitude and architecture – a staggering 32 office floors and 6 retail levels wrapped in Neo-Gothic columns and arches.
Back in the day, the complex was one of the more ambitious builds as it was the first in Singapore to feature outdoor escalators and car lifts. Construction cost a dizzying $110 million, which was impressively steep for the 1980s.
A decade later, as more and more residents from Myanmar began to live and work around the area, Peninsula Plaza became a hub for their community. Burmese specialty shops selling hard-to-get essentials from home soon populated the mall, earning it its title as the “Little Myanmar” of Singapore.
From authentic Burmese food to thrift shops, Peninsula Plaza offers plenty of affordable options that won’t bust your budget.
Head down to the basement for Burmese restaurants that serve authentic and popular dishes from Myanmar. Burmese cuisine is best described as a mishmash of Chinese, Thai, and Indian food, where the flavours are strong and the vegetables are aplenty.
You can get a Lunch Special from $8.90 at Inle Myanmar Restaurant or Fried Rice/Noodles from $6.50 at Mandalay Style Restaurant. Do note that you can only score the Lunch Special on weekdays from 11am-2pm, and you also won’t be seeing beef anywhere on the menu here – it’s considered taboo to eat beef in Myanmar.
Don’t forget to order a steamy bowl of Myanmar-favourite Mohinga from $11.50, which features rice vermicelli in a sour broth of fish paste, beans, and lime. Also, try the Pickled Tea Leaves Salad ($11) for a savoury mix that will give you both a spice kick and caffeine boost in one dish.
If neighbourhood teh pengs can’t satiate your sweet tooth, savour an ice-cold cup of Myanmar Milk Tea ($6.50) instead. It is said to be sweeter, yet less intense than your regular iced milk tea.
On the 2nd floor, you’ll spy Burmese locals flitting in and out of minimarts with bags of tidbits. Convenient stores such as Titan Intertrade sell everything from snacks and fresh produce to beauty products, all of which are flown in from Myanmar.
For dessert, look out for a popular Burmese coconut jelly called Kyawk Kyaw, or citrusy Tamarind Juice stocked with a ton of health benefits.
When we visited, the friendly shopkeeper also recommended the May Yi Cho Potato Chips and a Shwe Pu Zun Cake Rusk that screamed “No Fats! Good for health” starting from $3.
Unit: #03-18/19
Opening hours: 8am-10pm, Daily
Cathay Photo Store may look sleek and modern, but it has seen at least 60 years of operations.
This particular outlet spans 9 units and is popular among shutterbugs and big-time media companies. They carry store-exclusive equipment such as the 360 Kandao Conference Meeting webcam and a range of gimbal camera stabilisers.
There are multiple fashion and accessory retailers dotted around the mall, but these 2 stand out in particular.
Cherry Thrift Shop is a Burmese-run clothing store that sells upcycled womenswear starting from $5. They specialise in Y2K attire and host frequent sales on their Instagram page. The shop is located on the 5th floor with brightly coloured clothing racks arranged neatly outside their storefront.
Fashionistas with a little more money to jiggle should hit up Ashitagaaru for vintage jeans and leather jackets. They’ve got all the popular brands, including Levi’s and Carhartt, and a stockpile of archived designs.
Chatting with some of the male tenants brought our attention to the many hair salons around, which are loved for their cheap and professional hair services. For men, haircuts here rarely go over $10 and often come with a complimentary facial cleanse.
One of the hair salons that we chanced upon was Ma Ma Gyi Hair Salon, which had a grungy, steampunk aesthetic with vintage furniture and a raw concrete floor.
Other salons, such as Moe Kaung Kin Hair Beauty Salon, even extend services that include Ear Piercing and Facial Treatments.
For the uninitiated, longyi (pronounced “lon chee”) is a traditional skirt worn by the Burmese. It’s not only easy to put on – think post-shower towel wrap – but it’s comfortable and freeing.
The cylindrical cloth flows from waist to feet and comes in a variety of prints and fabrics for different occasions. For instance, cotton is usually worn as an everyday casual outfit, while silk is reserved for more fancy schmancy occasions.
There are a few longyi retailers on levels 3 and 4, we visited Cotton Comfort by Mal Thi, a small Burmese-owned label helmed by 2 sisters. They design and sell women’s longyi in traditional and modernised styles made entirely of cotton and expert embroidery. You can also snag the designs online on their Lazada shop.
Unit: #04-37
Opening hours: Tue-Fri 11am-8.30pm | Sat 10am-8.30pm | Sun 9.30am-8.30pm (Closed on Mondays)
Contact: 9672 7097
Yup, that’s all the different versions of currency Singapore has gone through.
Image credit: Carousell
Fellow numismatists – the fancy term for coin collectors – know that finding unique Singapore notes and coins can be quite limited to eBay auctions and the occasional find at a vintage market.
But if you want a place to browse a more extensive collection, Clifford Numismatics and Collectible Centre has old Singapore currency, as well as ones from all over the world. They also sell stamps, antiques, and even gold-plated country flags. Most of their catalogue is also listed on the Clifford Numismatics and Collectible Centre Carousell shop.
Image adapted from: Carousell
Their oldest item is a coin engraved with the Great Britain crown from 1879. You can snag these old but gold items from as low as $1, although prices can skyrocket to $9,000, depending on how rare the item is. You don’t have to worry about how legit these coins and notes are, as the owner has been a member of both the Singapore and American numismatics association for more than 5 decades.
Singapore is truly, as my Social Studies teacher would drill us into saying, a “melting pot of cultures”. We’ve got Little India, Chinatown, Kampong Glam, Golden Mile Complex, and now, Little Myanmar at Peninsula Plaza to prove that.
[Explorer section for Peninsula Plaza]
For more shopping:
Photography by Poh Jin Ron.
Originally published on 19th September 2022. Last updated by Syahiran Sean on 19th July 2024
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