I was in the Shilin Night Market last year and I can tell you that if it’s allowed to open as usual this year, Boris Johnson would have come out of 10 Downing Street and scream, “See! Singapore also do herd immunity liao!”
While we’re still wondering why the UK Prime Minister knows Singlish, we now know that Shilin Night Market is indeed coming back to Singapore this year after last year’s success, albeit in a different way.
In fact, very different.
For a start, the event would occur over two weekends: 12 June to 14 June and 19 June to 21 June.
Last year, it was so crowded that I had my meals in Yew Tee Point instead, because the queues for all the food stalls are as long as the queue to buy a mask a month ago.
This year, you won’t have that problem.
Online Shilin Market
Yeah, you read that right.
And I know what you’re thinking: it’s basically chicken rice without chicken.
But let’s face it lah: chances are, the COVID-19 threat is still lingering in our community by June, though last year’s event happened in August instead.
At this moment, the organiser is still looking for interested vendors.
It’s unknown how different this is from GrabFood, Deliveroo or FoodPanda, but it’s supposedly a live event whereby you get to see your food cooked right in front of you via your laptop or phone—which emulates the usual experience minus the crowd and the harsh weather.
The organiser’s founder and CEO said, “With the closure of retail stores and entertainment venues and no foot traffic to sustain F&B businesses, we thought it was necessary to become the platform that would help these operators to survive.
“It’s a trying time for everyone in Singapore. Not only do we want to remind the general public that we can still find joy amid hardship, even while at home, we also want to assist our community of businesses to still thrive under such circumstances.”
There would also be livestreamed performances if you’re into that.
A wise old man once said the world is going to be very different in 2020. He was right, because you can essentially say that pasar malam has gone online liao.