If someone tells you to spend a day in Chinatown doing the "tourist route," kindly ignore them.

There is another version of this neighbourhood, the one locals actually navigate, where you will find the most talked about Korean pork soup, cult Aussie gelato with Singapore only flavours, and a lingerie boutique that women have been quietly returning to since 2012. It is all walkable. It all happens within a few blocks of each other. And almost none of it will appear on the laminated maps they hand out at the airport.

This is our PBK version of a Telok Ayer day.

Start Here: Perk by Kate, 134A Telok Ayer Street

When: Morning or early afternoon (open Mon–Fri 11am–7pm, Sat until 6pm)

Your first stop is us, and we are saying that not out of vanity but because the visit works best before you are full of yummy Korean soup and gelato.

Perk by Kate is Singapore's most quietly respected independent lingerie label and boutique, sitting inside a conserved Telok Ayer shophouse since 2019. Founded by Kate in 2012, the label was built on a single observation: most bras on the market do not actually fit real women. After 15 years in the fitting room, that has not changed, but the solution has.

Our studio is small, considered, and Parisian boudoir in its aesthetic (gilded fixtures, no fluorescent lighting, no manic retail energy). If you want a professional fitting, we are one of the only places in Singapore to get one done properly. If you are browsing the collection, the low-back bralettes, the signature styles tested on real bodies in Singapore's heat, the team will help without hovering.

It is the kind of shop that does not need to advertise because the women who find it just keep coming back.

What to do here:

• Professional bra fitting (walk-in welcome)

• Browse the beautiful PBK collection 

• Ask about certain pieces if you have something specific in mind

• Pick up a gift that does not come in a generic bag

📍 134A Telok Ayer Street | Nearest MRT: Telok Ayer (Exit A)

Followed By: Song Gye Ok for Lunch (Walk-In Only, Go Early)

📍 113 Telok Ayer Street, Singapore 068582

A short walk from PBK brings you to one of Telok Ayer's most talked-about recent arrivals: Song Gye Ok, the Singapore outpost of Korea's most queued-for chicken grill restaurant, nicknamed "Waiting in Hell" back in Seoul for the lines it draws. The concept is built around something unusual: six specialty cuts of whole chicken, each grilled over charcoal and served in a Hanok-inspired space that feels more considered than your average Korean BBQ spot.

The Signature Grill Platter is where to start: six cuts including the boneless neck fillet, thigh, tenders, gizzard, heart, and breast softbone, each with a different texture and flavour payoff that makes the standard chicken-and-rice feel like an entirely different category of food. The neck fillet in particular has a devoted following, it is the cut that makes people come back specifically for it. For something more restorative, the Samgyetang: a whole young chicken slow-cooked for over 12 hours in ginseng-infused broth. It is available in several versions including a Singapore-exclusive Truffle Samgyetang in collaboration with MODU.

The space itself is worth noting with traditional Korean Hanok architectural elements in the middle of a Telok Ayer shophouse row, which is exactly the kind of contrast this neighbourhood does well.

The local move: Walk in early (they don't take reservations). Order the Grill Platter, add the Earl Grey Highball, and don't skip the Uiseong Garlic Fried Rice on the side.

Walk It Off: The Telok Ayer–Ann Siang Hill Loop

After lunch, walk it off through one of Singapore's most quietly beautiful stretches.

Telok Ayer Street itself is worth reading as you walk. The street was once Singapore's coastal road, Chinese immigrants arrived here, and the concentration of temples and clan associations that emerged along this route is still intact. Thian Hock Keng Temple (built in 1839) sits at the end of the street: extraordinary in its detail, free to enter, and almost never crowded.

From there, walk up Club Street, past the shophouses that local designers, architects, and founders have been quietly colonising for years. This is the part of Chinatown that feels like a neighbourhood rather than a tourist attraction.

Cut through to Ann Siang Hill, small hill, big payoff,  for a view over the rooftops and a cluster of independent bars and bistros that come alive from 5pm onwards if you want to extend the day.

While You're Here: Independent Shopping on Amoy Street & Ann Siang Hill

This pocket of Singapore has quietly become one of the best areas for independent shopping in the city. Not because anyone planned it that way, but because the shophouse format naturally suits founders who want a space with character rather than a mall tenancy.

Willow & Huxley (20 Amoy Street) is the neighbourhood's most established multi-label womenswear boutique,  trend-driven pieces from a curated mix of international and local designers, brought in limited quantities so you are unlikely to walk away with something you'll see on everyone. The personal styling service is genuinely useful if you have a specific occasion in mind. The edit feels considered rather than maximalist. Exactly the kind of shop that does not exist in Orchard Road.

Ann Siang Hill itself is worth a slow browse. The hill and its surrounding streets have accumulated a cluster of independent concept stores, specialist retailers, and ateliers that have been there long enough to feel embedded rather than curated. Antique dealers, design studios, small-batch homewares, the kind of things you find by walking rather than searching. No specific agenda needed.

Amoy Street Food Centre (7 Maxwell Road, above Amoy Street) deserves a mention not as shopping but as a reminder that the most authentic retail experience in this neighbourhood is sometimes a $4 bowl of noodles from a stall that has been doing one thing for 40 years. A Noodle Story (Michelin Bib Gourmand) and Hong Kee Beef Noodles are both here. Worth knowing if lunch plans change.

The through-line in all of it: nothing here is chains. Everything has a reason it's in this specific building on this specific street. That's the Telok Ayer edit.

The Best Afternoon Detour: Gelato Messina on Club Street:

📍 1 Club Street, Singapore 069400 Hours: Tue–Thu 2pm–10pm | Fri–Sun 12pm–10pm

The cult Aussie gelato brand landed at Club Street (right at the Telok Ayer end) and did something smart: they made Singapore-exclusive flavours. Kaya Toast, Teh Tarik, Tau Huay, Ondeh Ondeh, these exist nowhere else in the Messina universe.

The classics are all here too (the Pistachio Praline has a following), but it is the local flavours that are worth trying even if you're not an ice cream person. The Teh Tarik in particular is an accurate translation: that milk tea sweetness, the slight smoke of it, rendered in gelato form.

It is a short walk from Um Yong Baek. It is, objectively, a good afternoon decision.

The local move: Go mid-afternoon on a weekday to avoid the weekend queue. Try one classic, one Singapore-exclusive. Stand outside on Club Street while you eat it.

If You Want More: What Else Is in the Area

Mondo Gelato (92 Amoy Street) — If Messina has a queue, Mondo is the insider alternative. Deep red leather booths, ONA coffee from Melbourne, eleven rotating gelato flavours including things like Blue Cheese & Candied Pear. Open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. Genuinely good.

Daily Beer (212 Telok Ayer Street) — The first Singapore outpost of South Korea's fried chicken and craft beer chain with over 370 locations in Korea. The Angry Bird (double-fried, corn flake-crusted, sweet-spicy) is the order. The K-ginseng lager pairs surprisingly well. This is for dinner or a late lunch if the Um Yong Baek queue defeats you.

Nibbies (181A Telok Ayer Street) — Second-storey Japandi cafe with matcha options (Pistachio Matcha, Ube Matcha), Japanese sandos, and a DIY crafts corner. The kind of spot that shouldn't work as a concept but absolutely does. Good for a slow coffee before or after your PBK visit.

Thian Hock Keng Temple — The oldest Hokkien temple in Singapore, built in 1839 by immigrants who arrived by sea at this exact spot. Free entry. One of the most beautiful and historically significant buildings in Singapore that most tourists skip entirely.

The Full Day, Mapped

All walkable. All within 1km of each other. All things locals actually do.

Why This Neighbourhood

Telok Ayer is one of the few areas in Singapore where you can do all of the above without touching a mall. It's walkable, historically layered, increasingly food-serious, and still far enough off the tourist trail that it rewards the people who find it.

The independent boutiques here, like PBK, exist because this neighbourhood supports the kind of slow, considered commerce that big malls do not. When you shop here, you're not just buying something. You are in a building that's been on this street since the 1800s, buying from someone who made what they're selling.

That is not nothing.

Find Perk by Kate

134A Telok Ayer Street, Singapore 068600 Mon–Fri: 11am–7pm | Sat: 11am–6pm | Sun: Closed Nearest MRT: Telok Ayer (Downtown Line) perkbykate.live | +65 9099 2634

Planning a Singapore trip and want the local's version? This is it. Bookmark this, send it to a friend, and use it. It's more useful than any listicle.