Seah Street, Purvis Street & Middle Road · History of Little Hainan · Birthplace of Singapore Chicken Rice

Three streets, Seah Street, Purvis Street and Middle Road once formed the historic Hainanese enclave of Singapore. This is the birthplace of Singapore chicken rice and other Hainanese hawker or coffeeshop staples which are now deeply engrained in Singapore hawker culture. Indirectly, the glamorous Singapore Sling was also conceived in these gritty streets.

Birth of the Hainanese Enclave in Singapore

Sir Stamford Raffles who founded Singapore for the British East India Company in 1819 was a quick and effective administrator (not to mention a shrewd geopolitical operator). Once he set his sights on Singapore, he moved quickly to sign the Singapore Treaty with Sultan Hussein of Johor and set in motion plans to develop Singapore into a British trading post.

He ordered Lieutenant Jackson to draw up plans for the city of Singapore. The 1822 Jackson Plan laid out the blueprint of Singapore from west to east, from Chinese Campong to port of Singapore (Boat Quay), administrative centre (Empress Place), European Town, Arab Campong, Sultan's Palace and Bugis Campong in the east. Today, if we take a walk from Chinatown to Kampung Glam we can still see and feel the enduring influence of the Jackson Plan on the Singapore cityscape.

To develop the port of Singapore, Raffles needed merchants and labourers. 

For merchants, Raffles and his deputy Major William Farquhar tapped on their connections with Peranakan Chinese from Penang and Malacca. The wealthy Peranakan merchants were settled in European Town together with colonial officers.

The 100 years before the Qing dynasty fell in 1912 was literally hell on earth in China. Millions wanted out of the wars, famine, and utter chaos. So, China was an ideal source of manpower for Raffles' port of Singapore ambitions. From the 1820s on, coolies from Guangdong and Fujian provinces came to British Malaya by the millions. They were Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese and Hakka language speakers and were settled into their respective enclaves in the Chinese campong (of the Jackson Plan). The Hokkien at Amoy Street area, Teochew at Boat Quay and Clarke Quay, Cantonese at Kreta Ayer and Hakka at Cross Street / Mosque Street. 

The Hainanese were not in this wave of immigration (from the 1820s) as the ports of Hainan island were not open for international trade or travel until 1858. The Hainanese were able to leave Hainan only after the port of Haikou was opened to trade and travel under the Treaty of Tienjin in 1858 (after the Qing dynasty was defeated again in the Second Opium War 1856 - 1860).

Map of Singapore 1913

By the time the Hainanese arrived in numbers in the 1880s, there was already no room in Chinese Campong. The Hainanese, therefore, settled in the "no man's land" between the edge of European Town to the Arab Campong. The area was bounded by North Bridge Road, Beach Road, Seah Street and Middle Road. Purvis Street ran through the centre of the enclave.

Middle Road became known as Hainan First Street, Purvis Street as Hainan Second Street and Seah Street as Hainan Third Street. Middle Road was also called Haikou Road after the main port city on Hainan island.

Today, there are some 220,000 Hainanese in Singapore making up 7% of the Chinese population and they live all over the island.

The Hainanese enclave, now a conservation district, have a more cosmopolitan character with boutique hotels, spas and restaurants / bars serving Italian, Japanese, Korean, and other international cuisines.  There are still remnants of its Hainanese past like chicken rice restaurants and Hainanese clan association club houses. 

Not only were the Hainanese locked out of Chinese Campong, they were also kept out of choice professions. Hence, many Hainanese ended up as domestic workers and cooks in the homes of Peranakan, British colonial officers, and in British military bases. Hainanese cooks were thus exposed to Peranakan and Western cuisine. Thanks to their ingenuity, it was the Hainanese who created Hainanese curry rice, Hainanese Western food and they brought Peranakan cuisine like Nyonya laksa into Singapore hawker culture. The Hainanese were also pioneers in Singapore kopitiam or coffee shop culture. Of course, the most prominent contribution of Hainanese to Singapore hawker culture is Hainanese chicken rice.

Middle Road, Haikou Road, Hainan First Street

Middle Road 1935

In the Jackson Plan of 1922, Middle Road was the dividing line between European Town and Arab Campong. Due to overpopulation in Chinese Campong, European Town was expanded northwards leaving a space between Raffles Hotel and Middle Road for new immigrants i.e. the Hainanese.

There was an Empress Hotel at Middle Road built in 1926 and demolished in 1986.

 

Empress Hotel had an Empress Restaurant famous for their handmade mooncakes.

When I was a child, Empress Mooncakes were considered among the best in Singapore 皇后月饼. It was called the empress of empress of mooncakes.

For food lovers, the landmark of Middle Road was, of course, Swee Kee chicken rice. Though not the first Hainanese to sell chicken rice, Swee Kee probably did the most to popularise the dish among Singaporeans and even regional tourists from as far as Hong Kong. 

Swee Kee chicken rice restaurant at 51 Middle Road was a destination for locals and tourists before it closed in 1996 for renovations but sadly never reopened.

The row of shophouses along Middle Road was demolished and completely rebuilt.

The historic 51, Middle Road (building on the left) is now occupied by Tom's Palette, an ice cream parlour.

(There are many unrelated chicken rice restaurants using the Swee Kee name. The only Swee Kee that is using the brand with Mok Lee Swee's permission is Swee Kee in Senai, Johor. This is operated by former workers and descendants of Mok Lee Swee's nephew who once worked in the 51, Middle Road restaurant.)

Legend has it that back in Swee Kee's heyday, the chicken rice restaurant kept their live birds in this back lane between Purvis Street and Middle Road. In the morning, a lorry load of live chicken will come to this back lane where boss Mok Lee Swee would personally hand pick the live birds one at a time. The chosen birds were stored in cages here for up to a week. The chicken were slaughtered as the cooked birds were sold, thus ensuring that customers get only the freshest chicken.

Mok Lee Swee was actually the helper / apprentice of Wong Yi Guan, the man credited with pioneering Hainanese chicken rice as a hawker dish in Singapore. After the Second World War, jobs were scarce. Hainanese cooks were also displaced in Peranakan and colonial homes by female domestic workers known as Ma Jie from Shunde, Guangzhou. So, many Hainanese men had to look for alternative employment. Some became two-basket street hawkers. One of them was Wong Yi Guan - he took a dish eaten in Hainanese homes to sell in the streets. Naturally, Wong Yi Guan plied his Hainanese chicken rice first in the Hainanese enclave, mainly along Middle Road.

Purvis Street Hainan Second Street

Soon, Wong Yi Guan was invited to set up a hawker stall inside a coffee shop at Purvis Street. It was very popular and inspired other Hainanese to set up chicken rice stalls and restaurants here.

One of them was Yet Con chicken rice restaurant at 25, Purvis Street established in 1947. Yet Con was operating until 2020 when it closed after the second generation owner passed on.

Chin Chin Eating House at 19, Purvis Street opened in 1934 as a Hainanese kopitiam serving Nanyang kopi (coffee) and kaya toast, etc. In 1959, Chin Chin Eating House also jumped on the Hainanese chicken rice bandwagon. Chin Chin closed briefly in the 1990s when the owners migrated to Australia. They returned to Singapore two years later and re-opened Chin Chin Eating House. Chin Chin Eating House is, hence, the oldest Hainanese restaurant still operating in Singapore, except for the two year break in the 1990s.

Besides chicken rice restaurants, Purvis Street was also famous for traditional Hainanese bakeries and confectionaries. Nam Fong traditional Hainanese confectionary was located at 3, Purvis Street.

Nam Fong made these big sesame balls the size of soccer balls known as Zhen Dai 珍袋 in Hainanese, very rarely seen in Singapore now. According to Hainanese custom, the bride's family is supposed to gift a pair of 珍袋 to the groom's family.

Zhen Dai is also served during Chinese New Year and house warming to symbolise prosperity and good fortune.

Today, 3, Purvis Street is occupied by a salon.

At 13, Purvis Street there was Nam Tong Lee 南同利 confectionary. Nam Tong Lee no longer exists but one of their products, Hainanese Flaky Biscuit known as Su Yan Bing 酥盐饼 is still made by a third generation descendent at Chuan Ji restaurant located in MacPherson Mall. In Singapore, the Hainanese consider Su Yan Bing 酥盐饼 as the "Hainanese mooncake" as most could not afford the Cantonese style mooncakes (like Empress mooncake from Middle Road) at that time. Nam Tong Lee was also famous for their Zhen Dai 珍袋, the big sesame ball.

Today, the former Nam Tong Lee premises is occupied by a boutique hotel.

Seah Street Hainan Third Street

Raffles Hotel is right at the edge of the Hainanese enclave. Its eastern wing stretches along more than half of Seah Street. Naturally, many Hainanese living in the enclave worked in Raffles Hotel as waiters, cooks and bartenders.

One of them was Ngiam Tong Boon, a bartender in Raffles Hotel's Long Bar, who created the Singapore Sling in 1915. The idea was to serve an alcoholic beverage for ladies at a time when it was considered not proper for ladies to be seen drinking alcohol in public. Ngiam Tong Boon's original recipe was passed down verbally by bartenders. Hence, there are variations of the "original" recipe. Typically, Singapore Sling would have gin, cherry brandy, orange, pineapple, and lime juice. More complex renditions have D.O.M. Bénédictine and grenadine.

Role of Hainanese in Singapore hawker culture 👈 click

Nyonya laksa was brought to us by Hainanese? 👈 click

History of chicken rice in Singapore 👈 click

History of Hainanese curry rice 👈 click

Yet Con Chicken Rice Purvis Street 👈 click

Chin Chin Eating House Purvis Street 👈 click

    

Written by Tony Boey on 7 Mar 2022

References:

BiblioAsia Vol 2, Issue 2, July 2006

Permissions:

Image of Peranakan courtesy of National Archives of Singapore. Map of Singapore 1913 courtesy of National Archives of Singapore. Image of Empress Hotel courtesy of National Archives of Singapore. Image of Empress Restaurant courtesy of National Archives of Singapore. Image of Nam Fong signboard courtesy of National Archives of Singapore. Image of Swee Kee courtesy of National Archives of Singapore. Image of Middle Road courtesy of National Archives of Singapore. Image of Empress Mooncake courtesy of navalants.blogspot.com. Image of Singapore Sling courtesy of Wikipedia. Image of Chinese courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.