The headline says it all, really. The popular Shilin Night Market in Taiwan, which perpetually attracts food- and shopping-obsessed Singaporeans among its throngs of visitors, is coming to our shores. Kind of.
You won’t find all of Shilin’s actual vendors selling their wares here — no way for that, since the tourist hot spot is massive — although, you’ll probably stroll past a couple Taiwanese hawkers. Instead, it’s the essence of the famous street market that drives the concept, which is backed by local events company Invade, the same people behind Artbox Singapore’s overhyped/overcrowded debut and its improved second edition last year.
They’re calling it “Shilin Ye Shi” (the romanized form of Shilin Night Market), though no word yet about which hawkers from the original, if any, will be coming here to join the April pop-up.
We do know, however, that it will be held at The Grounds @ Kranji (basically Singapore Turf Club), and that the Invade team is promising Taiwanese street snacks, “artisanal stores”, arcade games, and movie screenings over two weekends. To put a local spin on things, it’s also inviting homegrown makers and crafters to showcase their stuff, which makes the entire shindig sound pretty much like Artbox Singapore, version 3.0 with a Taiwanese twist.
But hey, people in the social sphere are already getting psyched about the event. Let’s just hope there’ll be iconic Taiwanese grub such as oyster mee sua, fried chicken cutlets, grilled squid, and flame-grilled beef cubes. Plus bubble tea, although some may say we’ve already got plenty of that here.
If you’re keen on being part of the new festival, you can rent a booth from Fleawhere, with fees starting from $315 for one weekend. More deets will be revealed next month.
FIND IT:
Shilin Ye Shi is on from Apr 19-21 & Apr 26-28 at Singapore Turf Club.
Fri-Sun 3pm-11pm.
