The Shilin-inspired Night Market opens to the public for two weekends (from 19 to 21 April & 26 to 28 April 2019) at Grounds@Kranji, Singapore Turf Club.
This Taiwanese-themed street festival is held at a 200 000 ft² space with over 300 stalls and different vendors segmented into four zones: Eat, Shop, Play, Fun. Despite there being enough nosh, fashion, lifestyle and design goods to see, the event was generally underwhelming.
Brought to you by Invade Industry who also hosted Artbox Singapore and other flea markets in Singapore, you would expect the event to be better organised. The queue at most of the stalls are between 30 to 90 minutes. And there’s a long snaking line just to enter Shilin-inspired Night Market.
Just to be clear, the Shilin Singapore is a Shilin-inspired Night Market concept and not the actual Shilin Night Market from Taiwan.
EAT
Popular Taiwanese F&B brands are featuring exclusive menus. There are five dining zones decked out with Airmocks and seats for 3000. However, the queues are very messy and can take half an hour and more before you can make your order.
Below are some of the food stalls we spotted.
CHIATE BAKERY
GONG CHA
JOLLY KITCHEN
KAZO
MILKBRO
MONKI CAFE
PLAYMADE
SHOP
The least crowded areas were the aisles of booths with artisanal products by creative makers and partners from Taiwan and Singapore.
AMUSSE
AROMA PLATE
PLAY
The most interesting part of the ‘Play’ corner is the human claw machines where an adult can pretend to be the claw itself. Aside from that, there are the KTV booths and foosball for brief entertainment for the family.
FOOSBALL
HUMAN CLAW MACHINE
KTV BOOTHS
FUN
The notable spots aren’t that photogenic after all.
LANTERN WALL
LIGHTED WINDMILL FOREST
At the end of the day, it is ok to queue up and wait for something—if it is worth it. But in this case, nothing here is “original” and actually from the real Shilin Night Market from Taiwan.
Shilin Singapore
19 – 21 April 2019
26 – 28 April 2019
Fri to Sun: 3pm – 11pm
1 Turf Club Ave
The Grounds@Kranji
Singapore 738078
Nearest Station: Kranji
Shuttle Bus Service from Bugis
Shuttle Bus Service from Carros Centre (every 30 minutes)
Read our Taipei’s guide to discover the best places to visit in the city.
Yeah, I was there yesterday and thought the exact same thing. Most of the food stalls there are standard brands already found in Singapore (Gong Cha, Playmade, etc.) or the same popups you get at every other festival (hello, meatballs in a bucket), the queues to get any food or drink are insane, and the logistics of the site are terrible (not only aisles that are too narrow for the crowds, but staff trying to route crowds through narrow staircases in both directions at once (up and down)). Really not worth the trip to Kranji, IMHO.