Dempsey Road was an army camp before it was a food precinct

Dempsey Road's collection of black-and-white colonial buildings — now home to Samy's Curry, Bombay Garden Dempsey, dozens of upscale concepts — was originally the British Army's Tanglin Barracks. The barracks were built in 1862 to house British troops. After the British withdrew from Singapore in 1971, the SAF used the buildings for a while, then the area was slowly rezoned and the canteens, mess halls, and outbuildings became civilian restaurants and lifestyle outlets. Samy's Curry, which started in 1955 inside one of those army canteens, is the longest-running tenant — having outlasted the army that built around it.