Friday, April 20, 2007

Welcome To Serangoon Gardens!

....A Quaint Neighbourhood In Northern Singapore History
Serangoon Gardens Estate, one of the oldest estates in Singapore was built in the 1950s. It was originally built to house the British Soldiers based in Singapore. You will notice that the roads are named using British names. In the 70s, when the British Military left Singapore, Serangoon Gardens was a well known estate for the middle-upper class.


Upgraded in 2001, the estate was revived with 'covered up' roadside drains, new streetlights, widened roads and the various parks within the estate were spruced up.

Attractions
The estate's central area is a well-known food haven! At the centre of the estate is a circus known as Serangoon Garden Circus. Within this
vicinity, one can find cafes, pubs, restaurants, coffee shops, fast food restaurants, wine bars, a market, two hawker centres, a post office, a police post, chinese medical halls, banks, massage parlours/spas... All the roads radiate around the circus, and the houses are located within walking distance. The estate has a tennis and squash centre at Burghley Drive. At Kensington Park Road, there is a country club known as Serangoon Gardens Country Club.



Food and Beverage
There are two main food centres. Serangoon Gardens Market and Food Centre and the legendary Chomp Chomp Food Centre. The Serangoon Gardens Food Centre sells really 'shiok' and yummy food like roti-john, nasi lemak, nonya kuehs, char kway teow, dumplings, Teochew duck rice and also houses many stalls from the now defunct Taman Serasi Food Centre. The other food centre, "Chomp Chomp" is a 3-minute walk from the former. The legendary Chomp Chomp was opened in 1972. The hawkers nicknamed the place "Chomp Chomp" (probably because that was the sound of eating which many happy and satisfied customers made, while 'chomping' down their food!), and since then it has been fondly referred to as Chomp Chomp. The food centre is well known for its fried chai tow kuay, hokkien mee, satay, barbecued-seafood and satay beehoon.

Since the 1990s, restaurants and cafés serving food such as local delights, Japanese, Thai, Russian and Western cuisine, ice-cream parlours, Coffee Bean have opened in the estate.

Transport
The estate is served by public bus services. In addition, on weekday mornings from 7.30am to 9am, licensed private bus operators operate express services plying between Serangoon Gardens and the city centre.


Security
The area's popularity has also made it a popular location for counter-terrorism activities, with regular armed patrols by the Singapore Police Force’s Police Tactical Unit. On 15 January 2006, a public emergency drill called The Serangoon Emergency andPreparedness Day 2006, was conducted in the estate near the Chomp Chomp Food Centre. The exercise involved a simulatedvehicular explosion and casulties, the closure of roads and diversion of traffic, and casualty treatment and evacuation.