Growing up in Ang Mo Kio: Tip Top Curry Puffs

One of the things that I remember about my growing up years in Ang Mo Kio was that I had enjoyed the occasional treats to Tip Top Curry Puffs. The stall that is located at Block 722 Ang Mo Kio Ave 8. It is quite interesting to take a closer look at how this food establishment has changed over the years. Afterall, Tip Top Curry Puffs stall has withstood the tests of time, and has been operating in Ang Mo Kio for more than two decades.

My mother told me that Tip Top Curry Puffs was already operating in Ang Mo Kio in the early 1980s when my family first moved in to Ang Mo Kio. Back then, one piece of Tip Top Curry Puffs had cost 35 cents. I vaguely remember that when I was at Primary-school-going age, each piece of Tip Top Curry Puffs would cost about 50 cents.

As a child, I was quite delighted to receive occassional treats to the curry puffs. I like the crispy crust of the curry puffs. In addition, each curry puff would have a very generous helping of chicken chunks and a fairly large slice of hard-boiled egg. I am biased (and possibly nostalgic). My tastebuds seem to prefer the Tip Top Curry Puffs that I have eaten when I was a child, than the curry puffs from this same stall that I would get today.

Today, the curry puffs from Tip Top Curry Puffs are halal-certified. In fact, perhaps because of the popularity of the curry puffs, the moment that the curry puffs are made, there would be customers to ready to buy them. As such, customers can get piping-hot curry puffs freshly made at the stall nowadays.



Back in the 1980s, Jubilee Cinema was located very nearby the Tip Top Curry Puffs stall, and one of the favourite stalls for me to ask my parents to bring me to after watching a movie at Jubilee Cinema was Tip Top Curry Puffs. I would also be quite fascinated with watching how the stall-assistants of Tip Top Curry Puffs make the dough, shape the dough, put in the fillings and cook the curry puffs. It was exciting to see how the curry puffs were made by hand, with tender loving care.

By the way, nearby the then Jubilee Cinema and Tip Top Curry Puffs was a playground. If you have guessed it, yes, I was guilty of asking for Tip Top Curry Puffs many of the times when I had played at that playground.

If a resident of Ang Mo Kio wishes to have an appreciation of how the costs of living have increased over the years, one way to do so would be to look at how the price of one piece of Tip Top Curry Puffs have increased from 35 cents in the early 1980s to $1 in the year 2007. Well, the price won't stop me from treating myself to one of its curry puffs occasionally. I still like to enjoy the sense of nostalgia that eating the curry puffs may bring.

Also read Hawkers - Curry Puff (By the ST Foodies Club) for information on where to get good curry puffs in Singapore.

Growing up in Ang Mo Kio: a toy from the early 1980s

My family moved to live in Ang Mo Kio in the early 1980s when I was about one years old. According to my mother, the shape-sorter in the above photo was a present to me from my father when I was about one years old. It was one of the very few toys that my parents have still managed to keep and have not thrown away over the decades.

Did anyone who read this post play similar shape-sorter when you were a child?

As I write about a toy that was given to me in the early 1980s, I began to wonder how Ang Mo Kio had looked like in those days. I had not been a child who have actively taken photographs and I don't have readily available photos of Ang Mo Kio in the 1980s to share.

In hope to find photographs of Ang Mo Kio that were taken in the early 1980s, I searched Access to Archives, and selected the following photo:


Photo credits: National Archives of Singapore, http://www.a2o.com.sg
A TEMPORARY WAYANG STAGE AGAINST A BACKGROUND OF HIGHRISES AT ANG MO KIO AVENUE 1.
PhotoCD Number : 19990007547
Image Number : 0056
Taken in the year 1980.

Having realised that I actually do not have much clue how Ang Mo Kio had looked like in the past, I began to appreciate how invaluable an exercise it can be to take photographs of the surrounding neighbourhoods where one grew up in. I am sure having such photographs would lend one insights to how the environment has changed ever since one was born.

If you care to, start taking a few photographs of the places nearby your place of residence and then schedule to look at these photographs a few decades later to see if there would be any difference.

Below is a photograph of a part of Ang Mo Kio taken in the year 2006. Shall we schedule to look at this photo twenty years later?

Growing up in Ang Mo Kio: A place to take a ride

Several weeks ago, I walked past a part of Ang Mo Kio central and saw children taking rides. In the above photograph, the building in the background used to serve as a cinema (Broadway Cinema).

Right below is a photo of Broadway Cinema which I have found from Access to archives that was taken in 1984.


Photo credits: National Archives of Singapore, http://www.a2o.com.sg
BROADWAY CINEMA AT ANG MO KIO AVENUE 6
PhotoCD Number : 19980005811
Image Number : 0039

There used to be a park that looks like a mini road-safety park just next to Broadway Cinema. Its approximate location is to the right of the second photo, and exactly where the children were seen riding the motor-carts in the first photo.

I vaguely remember that when I was a child, I would occasionally get a treat to a ride at that park. There was a vendor that would rent out bicycles and carts that look like mini-cars to children. There was a zebra crossing at that park and children who were riding in the park were expected to observe the road safety rules. At times, the children would compete with each other to see who would be the first to complete one round of the road-circuit. In the middle of the park were seats, usually occupied by parents who wish to supervise their children.

I do not have and could not find any photo of that mini road-safety park. I could only vaguely remember that I have had some fun cycling and taking rides there. The park was nearby the hawker centre, so I would usually ask to buy a drink after taking my rides.

Interestingly, even though that mini road-safety park has been demolished, that very same site seems to continue performing similar function today, as seen on the first photo. It seems that children do generally enjoy taking rides and exercising their limbs? Were you one of those who have enjoyed taking a ride at that mini road-safety park many years ago?

If you have a photograph of the road-circuit of the mini road-safety park that used to be located in front of the previous Broadway Cinema, please share it with me. Thank you.


Previously Broadway Cinema. KBox Plaza today.
No more road-circuit.

Also posted on Yesterday.sg, on October 31, 2007

Growing up in Ang Mo Kio

In what I hope would eventually develop to become a series of posts, I shall embark on recollecting some of my memories growing up in this place in Singapore called Ang Mo Kio.

I have spent more than two decades of my life in Ang Mo Kio. While I won't be able to claim that I know every area of Ang Mo Kio, I could say that I do have memories growing up in this place. I have no idea what journey I will be embarking on right here, but hopefully readers of my posts would get a glimpse of Ang Mo Kio from my perspective.

According to Singapore: The Encyclopedia, Ang Mo Kio is the seventh 'new town' (comprehensive town) developed by the Housing & Development Board (HDB).

From what I have read, Ang Mo Kio can be literally translated as "red-haired man's bridge" in Hokkien. In one of the entries on Singapore Infopedia, it was noted that 'ang mo' was a colloqial term for a Caucasian person. Several sources pointed that the bridge that was referred to by the name Ang Mo Kio could be the bridge built by John Turnbull Thomson. However, according to the entry in Singapore: The Encyclopedia, it seemed that maps that predate Thomson's arrival in Singapore had already recorded the name of the area that is known today as Ang Mo Kio as "Amokiah".

Whatever it is, while it satisfies my curiosity to explore how the name Ang Mo Kio had came about, it is not the objective of this series of posts to explore how the name came about. Instead, this series of posts attempt to put down some of my memories of growing up in Ang Mo Kio into words. If this subject matter should interest you, please stay tuned for more posts.

If you would like, you could also join me to contribute posts about your memories of living in Ang Mo Kio.

***

Image credits:
The National Archives of Singapore. Access to Archives Online Singapore (a2O).
http://www.a2o.com.sg
Chingay Rehearsal at Ang Mo Kio. Year 1980.
PhotoCD Number : 19980002009
Image Number : 0057

Sources
Singapore: The Encyclopedia. (2006 edition)
http://infopedia.nlb.gov.sg/articles/SIP_230_2005-01-25.html

Also posted on: Yesterday.sg, Growing up in Ang Mo Kio