DESCRIPTION
Boon Tat Street is a one-way street located in close proximity to the Central Business District, connecting Amoy Street to the junction of Shenton Way and Raffles Quay. Originally called Japan Street, it was the first street to be renamed after the Japanese Occupation in 1945 after Ong Boon Tat. He was a former municipal commissioner and a Singapore-born businessman who owned an amusement park (New World Park in Jalan Besar) as well as some brickworks, sawmills, and rubber estates.
There are a few noteworthy landmarks found here. First is Telok Ayer Green Park which is located at the junction of Telok Ayer Street and Boon Tat Street. Next to it is Nagore Dargah, a shrine and national monument built around the 1830s. Other prominent office buildings include Cecil Court and the Octagon, both located at the junction of Cecil Street and Boon Tat Street, The Globe, Tong Eng Building, and the SGX Centre (Singapore Exchange). The infamous Lau Pa Sat hawker centre, formerly called Telok Ayer Market, is now a restored Victorian-style food hall located at the end of the street. On certain weekend nights, a part of Boon Tat Street is blocked to traffic and transformed into a sea of outdoor tables, beer-peddling aunties, and little satay huts dubbing the name “Satay Street”.