New in town: 2-storey Margaret Drive Hawker Centre opens on 1 Aug 2022

I made my way down to the newly-opened Margaret Drive Hawker Centre on a gloomy Tuesday afternoon. It opened to the public just yesterday on 1 August 2022. Just a stone’s throw away from Queenstown MRT, I took exit C and I needed just about a five-minute walk to get there.

For those people who know me, I’m really short for a guy. As I approached the facade of the Margaret Drive Hawker Centre, I had to tilt my head really high up to admire this brand new two-storey hawker centre. It is located just in front of the towering SkyResidence @ Dawson.

I headed immediately to the second floor which has 22 stalls, and noticed that there was a linkway that connects Margaret Drive Hawker Centre with SkyResidence@Dawson. The hawker centre features high ceilings and fans, and adequate ventilation everywhere. The cold air coming from the mini drizzle outside permeated the space— I felt as if there was air-conditioning there.

Now for the most important question, what’s there to eat over there? Due to the fact that it was only the second day, most of the stalls had their shutters down, and some were organising and prepping their stalls for opening. The first storey of Margaret Drive had 16 stalls in total. Here are some of the stalls I’d spotted:

The only two stalls that were opened and had queues were Ichigo Cottage By Tea Cottage (#01-28) and Sin Kee Cantonese Style Soya Sauce Chicken (#01-30).

Ichigo Cottage By Tea Cottage is a beverage stall featuring traditional coffee and tea like Iced Kopi (S$1.80), premium coffees like Hot Latte (S$3.50) and premium teas like Iced Taiwan High Mountain Milk Oolong (S$3) and Iced Uji Matcha Latte (S$4).

Sin Kee Cantonese Style Soya Sauce Chicken has the same name as the famous old Margaret Drive chicken rice, but offers different items like Soya Sauce Chicken as well as Curry Chicken Rice/Noodles over here.

I spotted several stalls that were either not ready for operations yet or took a break to get ready for dinner service— it was 2.30pm anyway. Most of them were originally from Tanglin Halt Food Centre, which halted operations last month. Tong Kee Chicken Rice (#01-36) is well-known for their Roasted Chicken Rice. Queenstown Lontong (#01-27) sells delicious Mee Rebus, Lontong and Mee Soto.

The famous Hakka Thunder Tea (#02-34), which was very popular at Tanglin Halt Food Centre has moved to the second floor of Margaret Drive Hawker Centre. I reckon they will not be ready at least till next week as minor construction work was still going on within the stall. DJ Satay Grill (#02-22) sells Chicken Satay, Mutton Satay and Beef Satay (S$0.90 each for all) as well as Fish Otah (S$0.70 per piece).

Other stalls that I spotted when I walked around were Tanglin Halt Ruyi Vegetarian (#02-36), Xin’s Tzechar (#01-31), Chef Oh Kee Hainanese Western Food (#01-32), Nor Nasi Ala Kampung (#01-26), Lontong Sedap (#01-25), Alimah’s Kitchen (#02-26) and Farokh & Nisa Family Food (#02-25).

I’ll give Margaret Drive Hawker Centre an additional week or two for things to get running, and hopefully I’ll see a livelier scene the next time I return.

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