NYC’s Singaporean Food Hall, Conceived With Bourdain, Has Closed

Urban Hawker closed on July 17 at 135 West 50th Street, ending a four-year Midtown run that brought Singapore hawker cooking into a Manhattan food hall. The building was sold for redevelopment. The food was not the problem Seetoh described when he announced the date.

The hall opened in September 2022 with Urbanspace as operator and Makansutra founder K.F. Seetoh as curator. Opening coverage counted roughly fifteen to seventeen stalls across two levels between 50th and 51st Streets, including more than ten kitchens staffed by chefs from Singapore. Regulars knew Hainan Jones for chicken rice, Prawnaholic Collections for prawn noodles and Hokkien mee, and Lady Wong for kuih that helped earn Eater’s Best New Bakery title in 2022.

The idea started earlier. In 2013, Seetoh met Anthony Bourdain at the World Street Food Congress in Singapore. They talked about a Singapore-style hawker market in New York. A larger Pier 57 plan that carried Bourdain’s name never opened. Urban Hawker was the version that did, years after Bourdain’s death in 2018: a trimmed Midtown hall instead of a waterfront market, still built around stalls that specialize rather than a single chef’s tasting menu.

For New Yorkers who had mostly met chicken rice, chili crab, or kaya toast as one-off restaurant specials, the hall made those dishes a walkable loop. You could queue for rice and chili, pick up kuih, and sit under the same roof without treating Singapore food as a scarce booking.

Seetoh said the building owners had been preparing to sell for about a year. In his June announcement he called the West 50th Street chapter a great run and an exciting step into New York, then pointed forward: he is looking for space that could house more hawkers, possibly in a kopitiam-style room. Hainan Jones echoed the line that Singapore makan culture in the city is not finished.

Lady Wong already had paths beyond the hall. Co-owner Mogan Anthony told Eater the Midtown close hurts some business, but shipping, delivery, and standalone rooms in the East Village and Connecticut keep the bakery moving, with a refresh already in the works.

The practical loss for Midtown is concentration. For a few years, Theater District foot traffic could eat Singapore food the way Singaporeans do at home: several counters, one tray, no reservation required. That address is gone. The cooks and the appetite are still looking for the next door.