Geylang, Singapore's best-known red-light district, is a hot spot for cheap and delicious late-night food stalls.
Tay Kay Chin-Special to The Washington Post
Geylang's even-numbered lorongs, which means "small roads" in Malay, are where you'll find the red-lanterned houses. The odd-numbered lorongs host unrelated businesses, including hawker-stand-style restaurants.
Tay Kay Chin-Special to The Washington Post
Geylang restaurant J.B. Ah Meng offers dishes like wok-fried seafood and tempura eggplant at tables in a small alleyway.
Tay Kay Chin-Special to The Washington Post
A meal from J.B. Ah Meng. Dishes at these food stalls can range from noodles topped with melt-in-your-mouth-tender beef to chopped duck's necks and pig's ears.
Tay Kay Chin-Special to The Washington Post
Here, Geylang Clay Pot Rice offers a signature dish of piping-hot rice, filled with waxy Chinese pork sausage, chicken and salted fish, and doused with vegetable oil and sweet soy sauce. Customers call 30 minutes ahead to order the dish.
Tay Kay Chin-Special to The Washington Post
The food stalls' cheap, savory meals are meant to go well with an ice-cold beer, sipped while watching the prostitutes walk up and down the road.
Tay Kay Chin-Special to The Washington Post
Singapore, which in the 1930s earned the nickname "Sin galore," has had red-light districts since its birth. The British established them in the early 19th century to cater to waves of young traveling businessmen and laborers.
Tay Kay Chin-Special to The Washington Post
The kitchen of Geylang Clay Pot Rice.
Tay Kay Chin-Special to The Washington Post
A dish from Geylang Clay Pot Rice.
Tay Kay Chin-Special to The Washington Post
Singapore-based TV food-show host and author KF Seetoh said of the red-light districts: "These are the two greatest sins in the world; they go hand in hand. ... It's about eating well and living well."
Tay Kay Chin-Special to The Washington Post
Gallery Credits:
Photo Editor, Producer Troy Witcher
Text Editor Sarah Marston
