If you’re still contemplating whether to pay a visit to the iconic Bukit Timah Railway Station, a meal at 1932 Story Cafe should be good enough reason to start planning your visit. 

For the uninitiated, 1932 Story Cafe is a 1930s-themed cafe which has found its home in what used to be the Railway Staff Quarters at the Bukit Timah Railway Station. Apart from dishing up some pretty decent cafe fare, diners would also get to enjoy the nostalgic decorations and train memorabilia around the cafe. Best of all, 1932 Story Cafe does not charge GST.

Being the only dining option at the Bukit Timah Railway Station, 1932 Story Cafe can experience reasonably heavy foot traffic during weekends especially when the weather is good. Thankfully for us, we visited 1932 Story Cafe on a drizzly Saturday morning so the cafe was only about 50% occupied.

1932 Story Cafe offers diners the option to dine indoors or outdoors. Those who dine outdoors will get to enjoy the greenery (and a healthy does of Vitamin D), and those who dine indoors will get to enjoy the cafe’s tasteful nostalgic decor.

When you first step into 1932 Story Cafe, you will feel as if you’ve stepped into someone’s personal museum. The selection and placement of all decoration pieces felt intentional, and we especially loved the feature of the old-school ticket station in the center of the cafe — such a statement piece.

To pass the time when waiting for your meal, you can wander to the rear of 1932 Story Cafe to have a tour of their heritage gallery. Here, you’d find plenty of train memorabilia including an old railway telephone and tickets from the former KTM railway.

Apart from the usual coffee and tea offerings, 1932 Story Cafe carries a range of specialty drinks for the adventurous such as the Charred Smoke Latte (S$6) and Rose Latte (S$6). But for those visiting with young children, you can order as per what we did — a Piccolo (S$4.50) for dad, Matcha Latte (S$5.50) for mom and a Babycino (S$2.50) for the toddler.

What is brunch without some poached eggs? We ordered 1932 Story Cafe’s rendition of the eggs benedict — the Eggs Benedict & Honey Chicken Ham with Sourdough Bread (S$15.90).

On balance, we thought that 1932 Story Cafe did a pretty good job with the dish. The sourdough bread was lightly toasted and the poached eggs had an adequately runny yolk. That said, we thought that the Hollandaise sauce was slightly underwhelming and would have preferred for the sauce to have a slightly stronger egg flavour. 

If you’re keen to sample their local delights, we would definitely recommend ordering the Sesame Ball with Ground Peanut Filling (S$3.90 for 3 pieces). The sesame balls were freshly fried and the peanut filling was rather tasty.

Waffles are one of the best things to enjoy at a cafe. At 1932 Story Cafe, you can enjoy the Belgian Waffle (S$6) which comprises 2 pieces of waffles drizzled with honey and icing sugar. Whilst there wasn’t anything outstanding about the waffles, the waffles were crispy, light and fluffy.

1932 Story Cafe
1005 Bukit Timah Road,
Singapore 596121
Tel: +65 8766 4223

Every avid traveller and architectural fan would have heard about New York’s exceptionally stunning architectural project, The High Line. The greenway was constructed from an abandoned railway and is a popular attraction amongst New Yorkers and tourists alike. Its roaring success has inspired many global cities such as Sydney and Seoul to follow suit.

Of course, no two construction ventures will ever be identical and New York City’s High Line can ultimately only serve as an inspiration.

Singapore is set to come up with its very own version of New York City’s The High Line on the Rail Corridor – the former rail line will be transformed into a park that will stretch across 24 kilometres, making it 10 times longer than The High Line.

The 24-km long Rail Corridor will actually cut through the entire tiny but mighty Singapore, with 122 public access points throughout the massive space. The large-scale project aims to be more than just an elevated park, with an ambitious goal of seamlessly integrating the nation’s communities like never before.

The complex task is led by Japanese architecture firm Nikken Sekkei, whom would be working with reputable companies Arup Singapore and Tierra Design.

With eight special activity nodes designated in the grand plan, Rail Corridor would be more than just an “attraction”.

It intends to integrate itself into the daily lives of locals, where one could immerse in leisure, dining and even sporting activities etc in relaxed environments. Urban farms, fishing ponds and cycling paths are only the tip of the iceberg. How exciting!

Rail Corridor is certainly not all about building new infrastructure. Instead, the park wishes to restore life back into outdated landmarks and reintroduce them to the local community. Singapore’s age-old sites such as the heritage building Tanjong Pagar Railway Station and Bukit Timah’s iconic steel truss bridge would too be included in this gigantic communal area.

Green is one of the key components of Rail Corridor and one can anticipate an abundance of lush greenery.

It has been said that a forest walk and an observation tower would be built at the former Bukit Timah Fire Station, where it will boast 360-degree views of the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. That is not all. A firefly garden and other nature walkways await!

There are bound to be pros and cons in every upcoming development and many citizens have expressed their concerns on whether the ‘resurrection’ of historical monuments would actually result in the loss of its rustic charm. While the debate is still ongoing, we cannot deny that this huge movement will mark yet another significant milestone in Singapore’s advancement.

The A-team has been painstakingly collecting feedbacks from the public and details of the finalised project would be further moulded to meet the general audience’s expectations.

The official launch date of Rail Corridor is unconfirmed, but we look forward to embrace the integrated green public space, which would hopefully reap the same success as Manhattan’s.

Photos source: NIKKEN SEKKEI

With the Rail Corridor set to be developed, one should not pass up the opportunity to see and photograph it in all of its natural glory, before it loses its identity and its atmosphere. Here are 10 uncharted nature trails in Singapore – explore the unexplored.