In December 2014, the food centre at Simpang Bedok reopened as The Bedok Marketplace, at 348 Bedok Road. It was no longer a conventional hawker centre. It was modelled on a hip café, and its stalls had facades styled like shophouses. Seven stalls led the line-up that month, from claypot frog porridge to ramen to mookata.
What the space was in 2014
The site had been Kampung@Simpang Bedok. It opened with much fanfare as a hawker centre run by a social enterprise, then closed the year before the reopening.
The new operators were a group of seven partners. The main owner was BC Food Concept, which also owned The Bark Cafe at Changi Chapel & Museum, together with an advertising arm, Creative Toolbox. One of the partners, a director at Creative Toolbox, had heard about the closure and wanted to develop the space with new concepts.
The partners spent S$700,000 on renovations. The stalls were cut from 32 to 15, and each occupied 280 sq ft. Eight stalls were open at the start, three more were due the following week, and the remaining four were meant to be filled by Christmas 2014.
The landlord was Far East Organisation, and the ground-floor tenants included a Giant supermarket. The new owners took a six-year lease and charged rents of S$2,000 to S$4,000 a month.
The centre could be reached only by stairs, which had long been a problem for diners and hawkers. The owners installed a stairlift for diners in wheelchairs.
The seven stalls to check out in 2014
Sheng Ji
This nautical-themed stall sold claypot frog porridge and barbecued seafood. Frog porridge started at S$8, and sambal stingray and sambal sotong started at S$12 a serving. The owner also ran Hong Chang Eating House on Braddell Road, which sold the same dishes.
Seng’s Wanton Noodles
This stall came from Dunman Food Centre. It sold wonton noodles, dumpling noodles, chicken feet and mushroom noodles at S$3.50 to S$5.50. Its owner said he liked how different the space was from the usual hawker centre, and hoped it would bring the crowds back.
Huong Que
A couple ran this Vietnamese stall, and the wife is Vietnamese. In 2014 the menu had classic beef noodles at S$5.50, braised meat rice at S$6 and grilled pork chop rice at S$5.50.
Hao Zhou Dao
This stall served comfort food: Taiwanese sweet potato porridge with a spread of meat, fish and vegetable dishes. A choice of three items started at S$3. It was one of two stalls run by a familiar face, a former partner in the social enterprise that had operated Kampung@Simpang Bedok. His second stall, The Crab Story, was due to open the week after.
The Chop Chop Selections
A meat-centric grill where diners picked sausages, steaks and other cuts, then chose how they wanted them cooked.
Ayutthaya Mookata
This stall served Thai-style grill-cum-steamboat. A set for two to three diners cost S$38.90 in 2014, and meats and seafood could also be ordered à la carte.
Menya
The ramen stall offered shabu shabu ramen at S$9.80, plus char siew ramen and miso ramen at S$8.80. Each bowl came with a runny egg.
The pitch to diners
The partner behind the project said the food was priced slightly above usual hawker rates but aimed at restaurant quality. He also said the format was not the typical one. The plan was to “market the place like a shopping mall”, with a campaign to promote the location.
Other stalls were still to come. One was to sell barbecued chicken wings and another a fruit stall.
The centre joined a growing food scene around it. A new mixed development, East Village, stood nearby, and so did long-standing favourites such as the supper haunt Spize and the halal dim sum restaurant Tang Tea House.
At its reopening in December 2014, The Bedok Marketplace was open from noon to midnight daily. It kept a Facebook page, thebedokmarketplace, for updates.
What a visitor can rely on today
The address is 348 Bedok Road, on the upper level above the ground-floor shops. Stall line-ups, prices and hours in a food centre like this change often. Everything listed above was as of December 2014 and should not be read as today’s menu. For current stalls and opening hours, check the centre’s own channels before heading down.