Dunlop Street Snaps & Zsofi's Tapas Delights

It's always good to shake things up a bit, break off from the routine. Most people my age quite likely live a "wake up - go to work - go home" life most of the week. Take a detour man, it'll do you some good.

I ended up at Dunlop Street on the shophouse fringes of Little India. The street is a surprise. I started at Serangoon Road and cross over at the lights - indoctrinated procedure for Singaporeans - while throngs of others simply dodged traffic in a lane by lane approach to jaywalking. No chicken would make it across this road safely.

Dunlop Street has shops galore, filled with Indian spices, saris, cloth, religious ornaments, food, electronics, mobile phones, CDs, VCDs, DVDs and many other things. Komala vegetable market was a sight to behold. All the greens and beans an Indian chef would need lay in crates displayed across one side of a no-signal junction. Beautiful.

Further down, lay one reason why Dunlop Street shot back to fame - The Prince of Wales. Pub and backpackers' inn, the POW, as its term of endearment goes, has given a interesting lifeline to the area. Backpackers from all over now stay in the area and more such hostels have opened up to cater for the budget traveller who doesn't mind sharing. The angmohs trawling the street are an interesting contrast to the overwhelming number of Indian and Bangladeshi workers who do the same.

Opposite the POW lay my endpoint. Zsofi, a tapas bar, opened about a month ago and Ashlynn, recommended meeting up there with Farah (author from previous post) and Ravi. I got there early and was the only one being served at the first floor bar. Armed with my Ixus and not much else to do with my hands, I went around snapping. Soon, company arrived and we moved upstairs to the 2nd floor rooftop, a horizontal plane shared by all the adjoining shophouses, partitioned only by low walls and zinc roofing. How cool. Thankfully, the weather was too. Next door, Filipino ladies were singing real bad karaoke. We beared with their rants and made good conversation.

Turns out that down the street towards Jalan Besar, many Thai massage parlours had come to be. They, ahem, provided reasonably priced services. I think the prophylactics come per entry.

Well, go check out Zsofi. You get a small plate of excellently crafted tapas item for each alkie ordered. And the quality of the produce is amazing. Seriously, the chicken wings, prawns, mushrooms, salad, potato frittata, sundried tomatoes, tomato poppers and salad will have you raving (They've got a really experienced chef apparently). Perhaps even ordering larger portions from the menu. The alkie is cheap too, a pint of Heiny from the tap is $10, no taxes. Check out Zsofi's online presence at www.tapasbar.com.sg. Go make an evening, and a friend or two, at the place.

Got home way past midnight, too tired but happy.