Kopitiam/Coffee shops
Not quite your grand-scaled larger than life Hawker Centres, but not quite your air-conditioned international cuisine food court either. So what is a kopitiam?
Kopitiam's were originally set up mostly by hainanese immigrants. A small shop along or at the corner of a street, with a counter in the front for you to place your order before you take a seat at one of those marbled tables. it always served strong coffee together with the ever famous kaya toast and probably a half-boiled egg thrown in. This is where it's name came from. 'kopi' - coffee with both hokkien and malay origins and 'tiam'- hokkien for 'shop'.
Soon, these kopitiams started to serve more than just coffee, toast and eggs. the transformation to what it is today started out by created small side stalls within the shop and leasing them out to others to whip up something else other than coffee/toast/eggs. one stall, two stalls, before you know it, we have what we singaporeans proudly call a kopitiam.
kopitiams are usually shops with about 6-10 stalls selling local fare. typically, the shop is owned by the vendor who runs the drinks stall, who in turn leases out the other stalls to other independent stallholders who prepare a variety of food dishes. Traditional dishes from different ethnicities are usually available at kopitiams so that people from different ethnic backgrounds and having different dietary habits could dine in a common place and even at a common table.
Like their hawker centre counterparts, kopitiams are usually found near residential areas but are also found in business and industrial districts. however, they are also similar to food courts in terms of size, order and style, they just don't have the air-condition as well. Kopitiams are kinda like a hybridization of the hawker centre and food courts. however it's hard to say because there could have been a direct progression from kopitiams incorporating elements of a hawker centre before evolving into the modern day food courts.
in fact, it almost seems as if kopitiams nowadays are incorporating more elements of food courts than of hawker centres. Food sold at kopitiams, although maintaining the traditional drink stall selling coffee and toast and other traditional local cuisine, have started to cater to a more international taste buds with stalls selling japanese/indonesian/american food popping up all the time.
so are kopitiams the poor man's food court? would they eventually be taken over by food courts?
Not quite your grand-scaled larger than life Hawker Centres, but not quite your air-conditioned international cuisine food court either. So what is a kopitiam?
Kopitiam's were originally set up mostly by hainanese immigrants. A small shop along or at the corner of a street, with a counter in the front for you to place your order before you take a seat at one of those marbled tables. it always served strong coffee together with the ever famous kaya toast and probably a half-boiled egg thrown in. This is where it's name came from. 'kopi' - coffee with both hokkien and malay origins and 'tiam'- hokkien for 'shop'.
Soon, these kopitiams started to serve more than just coffee, toast and eggs. the transformation to what it is today started out by created small side stalls within the shop and leasing them out to others to whip up something else other than coffee/toast/eggs. one stall, two stalls, before you know it, we have what we singaporeans proudly call a kopitiam.
kopitiams are usually shops with about 6-10 stalls selling local fare. typically, the shop is owned by the vendor who runs the drinks stall, who in turn leases out the other stalls to other independent stallholders who prepare a variety of food dishes. Traditional dishes from different ethnicities are usually available at kopitiams so that people from different ethnic backgrounds and having different dietary habits could dine in a common place and even at a common table.
Like their hawker centre counterparts, kopitiams are usually found near residential areas but are also found in business and industrial districts. however, they are also similar to food courts in terms of size, order and style, they just don't have the air-condition as well. Kopitiams are kinda like a hybridization of the hawker centre and food courts. however it's hard to say because there could have been a direct progression from kopitiams incorporating elements of a hawker centre before evolving into the modern day food courts.
in fact, it almost seems as if kopitiams nowadays are incorporating more elements of food courts than of hawker centres. Food sold at kopitiams, although maintaining the traditional drink stall selling coffee and toast and other traditional local cuisine, have started to cater to a more international taste buds with stalls selling japanese/indonesian/american food popping up all the time.
so are kopitiams the poor man's food court? would they eventually be taken over by food courts?
posted by Joyce Huang at
8:07 PM
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