How the Singapore government ban on Shisha might actually be good thing

PUBLISHED January 19th, 2015 10:00 pm | UPDATED January 20th, 2016 03:21 am

In the immortal words of Monty Python’s film ‘The Life of Brian’:

“Always look on the bright side of life”

Okay, there’s no doubt that when the government announced last November that ‘shisha smoking’ would effectively become banned in Singapore, there was no shortage of outrage (myself included). Cigarettes are legal, as is alcohol. So what’s the big deal about shisha?

Well, no point in dwelling on it. I was walking down Bussorah Street yesterday and it occured to me…there might just be an upside after all.

Kampong Glam has, for the last 3-4 years been a very trendy area, clearly becoming a contender for one of the ‘hipster centres’ of Singapore with a massive plethora of trendy spots, particularly around Haji Lane. You just need to walk through on a Saturday afternoon to see how the crowd flocks in on a regular basis.

But here’s some food for thought. F&B outlets like Nasrin, Nabin’s, Café Le Caire, Amirah’s etc etc, in my opinion totally suck.

Sorry.

Actually not really. I grew up eating Middle Eastern food and it’s the food I cook the best at home (see my hummus recipe for some basis on this statement). Most of the so-called Arabic restaurants are an insult to the culinary tradition.

With the exception of Beirut Grill and Alaturka which I think will survive based on the decent quality of their food alone.

The only reason that most of these sub-standard places have stayed open so long is that they catered for the ‘shisha crowd’. It’s definitely not the food that’s for sure. We’ve already seen Nasrin’s close down and the others will likely follow suit within the next 6-12 months.

But here’s a possible upside:

Kampong Glam is going through a pretty impressive renaissance. There are bike shops, yoga studios, cafés, restaurants, cocktail bars, and so much more. With all these shophouses that are likely to become vacant, I think we’re going to see a real influx of awesome F&B outlets move in to the ‘hood. Bali Lane, Haji Lane and Kandahar Street already have their fare share, and it won’t be long before the surrounding lanes do as well. Bussorah Street and Muscat Street are soon to become equally lined with great spots. Places like Artistry, Fabbrica Pizzeria, Cicetti, Maison Ikkoku, Sushi Airways, The Beast etc have laid the way and I reckon there’ll be a lot more coming in 2015.

As of now, that whole area is pedestrianised during the weekend and packs in the crowds seemingly every night with an eclectic mix of patrons. Hipsters to yuppies, Mats to Yoga-freaks. It’s a pretty groovy place and it’s only going to get better.

Who knows? Maybe we’ll even seen some more genuinely good Middle Eastern restaurants pop up. Inshallah!

What do you think of the government’s decision to ban shisha smoking in Singapore?