Did you know that some streets are named after food and the related products?
By Sheere Ng - Friday, Feb 03, 2012
Geylang Serai
It used to be called Geylang Kelapa (the latter means ‘coconut’ in Malay) due to the presence of coconut plantations. At the beginning of the 20th century, the plantations were replaced by lemon grass, or serai in Malay, hence the change of name from Geylang Kelapa to Geylang Serai. It was also said that Geylang came from the word ‘kilang’, which means factory. The distortion of ‘k’ into ‘g’ gave rise to the name Geylang.
Sago Street
It was named after the sago factories located there in the 1840s. Made of the pith of rumbia palms, sago was an important ingredient to make bread as well as keropok lekor, a Malay-style crunchy fish sausage. Today, the street is lined with shophouses that sells food and a range of other items.
Buffalo Road
It was so named because cattle were kept near the former slaughter house at the junction of Jalan Besar and Syed Alwi Road. Buffalo Road is also one of the oldest arterial roads in the Serangoon area.
