TaiWan Night Markets at Cineleisure Orchard reportedly set to close on 31 March

SINGAPORE: TaiWan Night Markets, a Taiwanese food court located in Cineleisure Orchard, is reportedly set to shutter its doors on 31 March 2024, marking the end of its eight-month stint since its opening in July 2023.

News of the closure first surfaced through a post on the Singapore Atrium Sale Facebook page on 25 March.

Despite this revelation, there has been no official confirmation or announcement regarding the closure on the food court’s website or social media platforms.

Under the helm of the esteemed Fei Siong Group, TaiWan Night Markets emerged on  28 July 2023, offering a tantalizing array of Taiwanese street food and local delicacies across 19 street food kiosks and five mini-restaurants.

Some of the culinary delights offered were night market-style steak accompanied by puff pastry soup, chewy pancakes brimming with peanut toppings and various ice cream flavours such as taro, durian, vanilla, and mango.

Other favourites included fried chicken seasoned with Sichuan peppercorn salt or chilli powder, and Taiwanese QQ Sweet Potato Balls, among many others.

Occupying a space of 8,000 square feet on the basement level of Cineleisure, the food court provided seating for up to 300 guests.

The street food concept was also said to be inspired from Taipei’s Dadaocheng Wharf.

Its opening last year was highly popular, attracting many Singaporeans eager to sample Taiwanese cuisine.

The operating hours were from 11:30 am to 10:30 pm on Sundays to Thursdays and public holidays, with the last order accepted at 9:30 pm.

Fridays, Saturdays, and the eves of public holidays extended the closing time to midnight, with the last order taken at 11 pm.

Online reactions to TaiWan Night Markets closure

The announcement of its closure on Facebook received significant attention, accumulating over 416 likes and reactions combined.

Additionally, there were over a hundred comments along with 214 shares as of the time of this writing.

Among the comments, one individual, reflecting on their previous visits to the food court, reminisced, “Still remember the first few days of opening, the place was packed…”

Another patron, noting a decline in activity, mentioned, “It has been very quiet the couple of times I went there.”

There were also some users who expressed different perspectives.

One of them suggested that it might have been better if the food court had opened in other locations.

A user wrote, “The best place to open is at China Town,” while someone else remarked, “Try opening in Johor Bahru (JB). Singapore is too expensive.”

In addition, a few users expressed regret over the impending closure, lamenting that they had not yet had the opportunity to visit the establishment.

Observing the comment section on the food court’s Facebook page reveals patrons seeking clarification about the closure news but receiving no response from the page admin.

Gutzy Asia had written to the Fei Siong Group and the food court to seek clarification regarding the closure news.