Thursday, May 14, 2009

name the restaurant that was in this building



there used to be a popular chinese/cantonese restaurant in this building. i ate there once or twice. i remember the old fashioned lift with a collapsible gate. i think the restaurant was then on the second or third floor.

(1) what was the name of the restaurant?

(2) where is its present location?

(3) what was the dish that it claimed to have 'invented' in 1964?

(4) who were the four culinary kings of singapore?

14 comments:

Victor said...

Yg, did you do that red paint job on the pillar? Not as thorough as Michael Fay leh. Can still read the name of the restaurant as 麗華 (Li Hua).

yg said...

no, i did not do anything to the photo. i had realised that those who can read mandarin would have the advantage.
but the name you gave is not the same; spelling's not the same.

fr said...

Lai Wah, right? I think I saw it in Bendeemeer Road.

alex said...

Li Wah Restaurant is now at Bendemeer Road Blk 44.
谭锐佳、冼良、刘育培和许国威 are the four culinary kings of the scene.
Is the dish Raw Fish Salad?撈魚生?

Anonymous said...

the 4 kings of retro food, dont know their names only know their restaurants.

1. sin leong
2. dragon phoenix
3. red star
4. ?? i forgot

Betty said...

Is it Lai Wah, now at bendemeer Rd?
The 4 kings - Hooi Kok Wah, Tham Yew Kai, Sin Leong...........
The dish is Yu sang?

Unk Dicko said...

YG,
Lai Wah Restaurant was very popular with the Cantonese of old...which included my late parents, esp my late father. On his birthday, we would booked a few tables for him as it was his favourite place.
That meant that I had been there countless times, going up that most ancient lift. In the earlier years, they even had a "Bhai" to usher guests into the lift. That Bhai could speak Cantonese!
My father was always given a special discount on the bill. I can't really recall why. My guess is that one of the partners could be a fellow villager Yip as he seemed to address my dad by some honorific name.
I may have some old pics of that place in my archives.

Unk Dicko said...

Sorry, forgot to mention. That restaurant was at Maxwell Road.

Victor said...

Yg, Li Hua is the 100% correct hanyu pinyin name of 麗華. Lai Wah is the Cantonese phonetisation. Incidentally, the writing on the pillar is in traditional Chinese (繁體). In simplified Chinese (简体),it is written as 丽华.

yg said...

dick, the old restaurant was at jalan besar (where the photo was taken). it started at maxwell road?

yg said...

the four culinary kings of s'pore: tham yew kai, lau yoke pui, hooi kok wai and sin leong. you can find it mentioned heremaybe, alex got all the four names correct. i am not sure because i don't know how to read all the chinese characters.

yg said...

victor, thanks for enlightening me on the mandarin name of the restaurant. i look for the english nam and it has always been 'lai wah'. told you my mandarin is 'half past six' one.

yg said...

quiz answers:

1 lai wah
2 blk 44 bendemeer road #01-1436
3 yusheng (raw fish salad)
4 tham yew kai, lau yoke pui, hooi kok wai, sin leong

Unk Dicko said...

YG,
Yes, it was at Maxwell Road way back in the early 60's and 70's. I have not been to the one in Bendemeer as that one must have appeared much later. I'm surprised that the Bendemeer version also has "that kind of 1930 lift" system. As far as I can recall, that old L W restaurant at Maxwell was the only one with such a lift in SG back then.