Fresh from a $4 million facelift, Lau Pa Sat has reopened to much fanfare. If you’re looking to grab lunch at this bustling food haven, here are some tips (and our food picks) to help you along!
Chicken Rice
#1 – Be prepared to queue
We headed down for lunch on the first day of Lau Pa Sat’s reopening and saying that it was packed is an understatement. Throngs of office folk flocked to the food centre to get their fix of local hawker fare, and it was evident from the snaking queues at almost every stall. Tip: Head down before 1130am, or after 2pm to avoid the crowds.
Mee Pok#2 – Bring your packs of tissue
Not only to ‘chope’ tables, tissue will come in handy to wipe off any sweat. Despite the eight new 14-feet industrial fans that have been installed in the food centre, there are still large areas of unsheltered outdoor seating. We were tricked into grabbing one of the empty outdoor tables, only to be hit by the scorching sun once the clouds cleared. Tip: Look out for the semi-alfresco seating areas on the sides of Lau Pa Sat, or try your luck grabbing a seat indoors!
Claypot Beef Rice
#3 – Bring an empty stomach
Although the number of stalls have been cut from 90 to 54, there are still tons of options to keep you spoilt for choice. With a variety of stalls at every turn, from Turkish to Japanese, Korean to Indian, we had a tough choosing what to spend our lunch money on.
Falafel, Hummus, and Bread
Our very famished Founder & Managing Director Chris zoomed straight for a roast chicken rice set, complete with vegetables and soup, while Account Manager Ginny braved a 30-minute wait just for a bowl of her comfort food – spicy bar chor mee (minced pork noodles).
Assistant Editor Emily and Lifestyle Writer Wan Yin went local as well, coming back with you mian topped with minced pork and vegetables and claypot beef rice. HoneyKids Asia Editor Skye decided to go Turkish, and dug into a set of falafels and hummus paired with bread, while Marketing & IT Analyst Belinda ordered up her favourite Indian biryani.
An awesome lunch won’t be complete without dessert and Chris went with a delicately sweet Japanese Annin almond dessert.
Japanese Almond Dessert
Although navigating the massive crowds was quite a chore, we’re stoked that one of our favourite CBD food centres has reopened. Even better, it’ll be open for 24 hours. We’ll probably give it a month, for the crowds to die down, before heading back for lunch though!