Damenlou Hotel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Damenlou Hotel (Chinese: 大门楼旅店) is a small hotel located at Ann Siang Road, in Singapore's Chinatown, within the Central Area, Singapore's central business district.
The name, Damenlou, originates from the location of its present premises. It is a direct translation from the Chinese characters for Big Gate House, which was originally a nickname used by locals to identify the area in the 1930s. Then, there was an entrance of a Chinese association at Ann Siang Road, where businessmen gathered to either relax, socialise or entertain clients. The entrance was marked by unusually large gates that shadowed over all visitors.
[edit] Origins
Damenlou Hotel's origins can be traced to the creation of the uniquely Singaporean dish of fishhead mifen (rice vermicelli), which was invented by Tang Kwong Swee in the 1920s.
Tang and his "Ninth Uncle" sold che-char (cooked food) along the roadside. Then both men began to realize the great wastage of fish-bones and fishheads which were being discarded after the flesh had been sliced away. One night, they cooked the fishheads with some vermicelli.
"In the beginning, people didn't like the thought of eating fishhead. They thought it would be smelly," noted Tang years ago; but he continued dishing it out and the dish caught on. Soon Tang was ladling out 500 bowls of fishhead noodles a day, every day. He then went on to spend the next 60 years refining this dish into the most ambrosial noodle dish in town.
Tang's effort had been well rewarded. Despite the many pretenders to the dish, true fishhead mifen connoisseurs continued to make their way to his Swee Kee Coffeeshop then at 18 Chin Chew Street and now Damenlou Hotel to sample his ware — amongst them regulars such as former OCBC chairman Tan Chin Tuan. Hongkong stars Lydia Sum, Chow Yun Fat, Jacky Cheung and Roman Tam have reportedly also ingested a steaming bowlful.
Business was so good after the invention of the fishhead mifen that after 4 years, Tang and his uncle operated a three-star restaurant at Great World amusement park called Peach Garden. There, the wealthy and leisured class gathered. However, tough times came with the Japanese invasion. Peach Garden was used as a prison and Tang went back to hawking on the street.
After the war, Tang returned to operate Peach Garden Restaurant. During that period, times were bad and business was slow. Eventually, he gave up the restaurant to continue his roadside stall for the next 33 years.
The workload was brutally heavy, yet he determinedly never allowed his children to work for him. Instead he hired help and insisted that his children concentrate on their studies. "One day, when I went to visit him, I realized how tough his life was," recalls Tang Tat Meng, his fifth son who happens to be the Chairman of Damenlou Hotel. "Because business was very good that day, he still had no dinner at 10pm. His hands were also red from the heat of the wok."
In 1978, the Singapore government outlawed streetside hawkers. Tat Meng, in consultation with Tang Senior, bought over the 18 Chin Chew Street coffeeshop and made that address synonymous with fishhead noodles. However, in 1992, the government re-acquired that site. With the imminent wind-down of the coffeeshop, an alternative site had to be acquired, fast.
Thus, Damenlou Hotel was born, complete with a restaurant that ensures that Tang's trademark fishhead mifen will live on.
