Heritage
Walk down Arab Street on any evening and you can smell the neighbourhood’s history before you see it — charcoal smoke, warm bread, and spice drifting out of shophouse kitchens. For more than a century, Kampong Gelam has been Singapore’s meeting point for traders, pilgrims and cooks travelling between the Middle East, the Mediterranean and Southeast Asia.
The streets around Bussorah Street and Haji Lane became home to eateries serving the food these travellers missed: grilled meats, slow-cooked stews, and small shared plates. Over generations, that tradition made Kampong Gelam the city’s natural home for Turkish and Mediterranean dining — a reputation the district still carries today beneath the golden dome of Sultan Mosque.
At LAYALI, we see ourselves as keepers of that flame. Our charcoal grill burns in the same streets where those first kitchens lit their fires, and every meze platter we send out is part of a story much older than our restaurant. When you dine here, you are not just eating dinner — you are tasting a neighbourhood’s memory.
Keep Reading
Everything we write about, we cook daily — 10:00am to 1:00am at 257 Beach Road, Kampong Gelam. Charcoal-fired, family-owned, five minutes from Bugis MRT.