Stopover #2 Gedung Kuning

Gedung Kuning which is also known as the Bendahara House sits adjacent to Istana Kampung Glam. The name 'Gedung Kuning' refers to Yellow Mansion, with yellow being the colour of Malay royalty. It was built around 1860 and was once home to Tengku Mahmoud of Johor, a grandson of Sultan Hussein.

It was eventually sold to Haji Yusoff 'Tali Pinggang', a Malay entrepreneur and philantrophist in 1912. Because the word 'Tali Pinggang' refers to a men's belt, I had initially thought Haji Yusoff got that nickname because he used to whip people with his belt. The stern and uncompromising looking picture of Haji Yusoff at the lobby did not help to dispel this assumption either.

It was only till later that i found out that the nickname 'Tali Pinggang' simply refers to the type of business he was doing, that is to make and sell belts for pilgrims who were going to Mecca for haj. His family owned the mansion before selling it to the Singapore government in 1999. Together with the adjacent Istana Kampung Gelam, it was restored and converted into Tepak Sireh, a Malay restaurant that serves traditional Malay food. Which is overly expensive and isnt very nice.

Unfortunately for us, we did not manage to really explore the place, seeing that our arrival was greeted with curious and suspicious glances from the waiters. We had to make do with exploring what I reckon is the lobby of the restaurant, which holds some information board on Gedung Kuning's history and that handsome looking picture of Haji Yusoff.