Built in 1969, it was officially Commonwealth Avenue Cooked Food Centre 联邦大道熟食中心 but I always remember it as "Margaret Drive". At that time, when we say "let's go Margaret Drive", we mean the hawker centre.
This is a memory project - please help me improve this post by sharing your memories in the comments.
Street hawker stalls at Margaret Drive being demolished in 1962. The authorities had to mobilise the riot police, so I imagine it was a highly charged event.
Unlicenced mobile street food stalls were everywhere in pre-Independence Singapore.
After Independence in 1965, the Singapore government launched two massive programmes - homes for everyone and hawker stalls for every street hawker. Sixty years on, new flats and hawker centres are still built. These highly successful programmes are part and parcel of being proudly Singaporean.
Commonwealth Avenue Cooked Food Centre was one of the 100+ hawker centres built under this ambitious programme. Singapore must be the first and still the only country in the world to successfully housed and licensed all her street hawkers.
In 2020, "Hawker Culture in Singapore, community dining and culinary practices in a multicultural urban context" earned recognition as an UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Hawker centres like Margaret Drive Hawker Centre is at the core of Singapore's hawker culture.
Our hawkers have come a long way from a perceived public nuisance to national treasures.
The two-storey Commonwealth Avenue Cooked Food Centre housed about 80 hawker stalls and I remember a fairly big Chinese restaurant upstairs.
I remember eating dinner at the Chinese restaurant once or twice, but can recall nothing of it, except that it was the typical banquet type with lots of round tables. (Anyone who remembers, please help.)
In the 1980s, I worked and lived nearby, so Margaret Drive was one of our regular lunch, dinner and supper place.
There was a tiny car park for some twenty cars and it was always a challenge to find a slot, especially during lunch time. Parking here also demanded some skill to negotiate the tiny space.
I remember there were at least four chicken rice stalls. Three operated during the day. They were clustered at the front middle aisle (facing the shopping centre) - two white poached chicken stalls and one soya sauce chicken stall. I don't remember any deep fried chicken at that time (1980s).
That season of my life, I preferred robust strong flavours. So my favourite then was the soya sauce chicken.
Big meaty, juicy chunks, well browned smooth skin infused with robust savoury flavours from the braising stock and served in a watery pool of dark savoury sauce.
Another of my favourites was the Teochew fishball noodle stall 新路 at the ground level. The springy fresh tasting fishballs were handmade, served in steamy, scathing hot soup. I like the sound the ladle made when knocking on the ceramic cockerel motif bowls when cooking and serving the fishball noodles.
I also like their mee pok noodles - the broad noodles were light and thin but springy to the bite. I like the aroma of wheat noodles churning in the bubbling hot boiling water. The sauce was lardy with a sharp kick from the spicy sambal. There was a bit of balancing savoury tangy sweetness from ketchup, if my memory didn't fail me.
新路 is now at Mei Ling and Bendemeer hawker centres.
Back-to-back to the fishball noodle stall was a cheng tng and Chinese soupy sweet dessert stall. My favourite was sweet potato soup.
Night time, upstairs was the world of Sin Kee Chicken Rice. I remember they also sold porridge, chicken intestine and chicken feet. Yeah, my best memories were porridge, crunchy intestine and "glass chicken feet" 玻璃鸡脚 eaten with chunks of chicken at the side 🤭
But, they don't have soup, so we always got a big bowl of shrimp dumpling soup or Sichuan soup(?) at the auntie's stall next to Sin Kee. Most of the stalls were closed at night and I couldn't remember any of the others.
Sin Kee is now at Mei Ling by Niven and Holland Close by Benson. Niven and Benson are scions of the original Margaret Drive Sin Kee.
During the night, at ground level there's Hai Kee fried kway teow for supper. There was always a queue and uncle Peter always worked alone. I followed uncle Peter to Telok Blangah Crescent until he retired in 2024.
At the ground floor, there was also a small zhi cha stall ran by a young man whom I remember was very fast. I sometimes just order his fried rice or hor fun, if I was in a hurry or busy.
A ngo heang (Chinese five spice fried fritters) stall in 1975. I cannot remember this stall.
Commonwealth Avenue Cooked Food Centre was demolished in 2011 and this imposing building replacing it is officially Margaret Drive Hawker Centre.
Right next to the food centre was the Commonwealth Avenue Market. It was known to residents as the "coffin market" because of the shape of the building.
Commonwealth Avenue Market was given the name in 1971. It was known as Duchess Estate Market before.
The quaint building was conserved and is named Margaret Drive Market Place today (the supermarket, food and lifestyle hub is located right beside the new Margaret Drive Hawker Centre).
Please share your memories of Margaret Drive Hawker Centre.
Where are these former Margaret Drive hawker stalls now?
Hock Sin Kee Tze Char stall #01-02
Queenstown Dessert, Sugarcane Juices stall #01-16
Tong Kee Chicken Rice stall #01-25
Queenstown Popiah stall #01-27
Soon Huat Fried Kuay Teow, Fried Prawn Mee, Fried Carrot Cake stall #01-53
Nasi Padang stall #01-65
Tai Liok Clayton Chicken Rice stall #01-66
女皇镇生活公市 stall #01-72
Special Shanghai Tim-Sum stall #01-92
Tasty Barbecue stall #01-94
Hock Sin Kee
Xing Guang Vegetarian
Queenstown Poh Pia (Skin)
Purple Plate stall #02-13
Sing Heng Dessert stall #02-25
Xin Lu Teochew Fishball Noodle
Hup Kee Teochew Fishball Mee stall #02-38
Sin Kee Chicken Rice is now in two locations at Holland Close by Benson and Mei Ling by Niven
Written by Tony Boey on 3 Aug 2025
Who is Tony Johor Kaki?
There was a stall right behind Sin Kee chicken rice That sells Hakka cuisine
ReplyDeleteRan by an old lady with the help of her two daughters, They were a legend of their own at that time.
They serve the best fried beef with ginger and scallion
Their 莲藕汤was simply out of this world
One of the signature dish Was The ever popular Braised beancurd with minced pork.
One cannot find the salted fish with bean sprouts fried the way the old Auntie did, anymore.
Thanks for the memories. Tony.
The wanton noodles stall ran by a 'one-eye' lady? Simply ole skool taste . 😜
I missed the Peranakan lady who sold longtong and mee siam. The best I have ever tasted.
The best 白麥粥was found next to the Hakka stall
She included sesame seeds in hers. Terrific 👍🏻
One of the true blue Hakka Niang Doufu was also found on the upper level. Next to the dessert stall.
His was the real McCoy. 😜
The restaurant you mentioned probably Golden Crown above Tah Chung emporium. Tong Kee is still good at the new Margaret Dr food center … another chicken rice now operating at Telok Blangah Dr food center is doing very well serving chicken feet & Yong tau foo … there’s one petite Chinese lady selling lontong mee siam gado gado also very happening then
ReplyDeleteAs per my memory, the bak ku teh is on level 1 of Commonwealth Ave Market. As it faces the MRT track. Will really love to track it as my dad misses its taste. 😁
ReplyDeleteI grow up in this area. Can only rem this few stalls.
ReplyDeleteXin Lu Fishball noodle - At Meiling FC
Queenstown Famous You Tiao 女皇镇驰名油条 - At AV FC
Hai Kee Teochew Cha Kuay Teow - just retired
正新记驻名鸡饭 (Famous Chicken Rice) - now at Meiling FC unit 02-33
Tong Xin Ju Shanghai Tim Sum (dumpling) - at Maxwell FC
Hup Kee Teochew Fishball Mee stall #02-38 is at Mei Ling St FC, also #02-38 The young man at the cze char stall is most likely Anteus, he (no longer young) now runs the Claypot Small Vegetable Rice cze char 砂煲小菜饭 stall at Mei Ling St FC #02-13 There was a Ye Lai Xiang Tasty Barbecue which opens only at night, they're now at Maxwell Rd FC #01-94 Nasi Padang stall #01-65 is now at AV FC #01-66
ReplyDeleteTony, thanks for jolting my memory of Margaret Drive hawker centre. So you remember
ReplyDelete- Hai Kee charkwayteow. Lone guy who fries up nothing but charkwayteow in his minimalist stall under a naked bulb. He moved to Radin Mas? food centre and only retired recently.
- Chicken rice stall that dominated the upstairs level of the old food centre. They had extra tables and chairs laid out even outside the closed main door of the POSBank branch on weekends. Not sure which is the real McCoy, as there are chicken rice stalls in both the new Margaret Drive food centre and Mei Ling food centre claiming to be the original famous stall.
- 福星居 cherchar helmed by an old couple who are often at logger heads with each other but churned out yummy staples like harjeong chicken wings and sweet and sour pork etc
- Popiah stall
- You char kway stall
Thank you for sharing past photos as well as information. It's interesting to know about the coffin shaped market, etc. I only remember the exterior building of the hawker centre because I didn't dine there. I used to "lepak" around the area after school hours (year 2000 onwards) - Q'stown library and the NTUC ... NTUC probably closed down as there were not many customers
ReplyDelete