The BiblioAsia Podcast explores Singapore stories: some unfamiliar, others forgotten, all fascinating. Does Singapore have a stone age? What’s happened to the murals at the old Paya Lebar airport? Who were some local tennis greats? Find out in this original podcast by the National Library Singapore.
Perched on a hill off Palmer Road, Maqam Habib Noh was reopened in January 2026 after 18 months of renovations. It is the resting place of Habib Noh, a revered Muslim holy man. In this episode, architectural historian Imran Tajudeen takes us through the history of Habib Noh and his mausoleum, from the fascinating multi-ethnic neighbourhood that once surrounded it, to its wartime history and recent restoration.
Dr Imran Tajudeen is a senior lecturer in the NUS Department of Malay Studies and Department of Architecture. He was a postdoctoral fellow at MIT’s Aga Khan Program and the International Institute for Asian Studies in Leiden, and the Mutawa Visiting Fellow at Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. He has published on Southeast Asia’s mosques in transregional and vernacular-Indic translations and is working on a monograph on this subject.
What Imran Talked About
00:00 – Introduction
03:10 – Who Habib Noh was
05:44 – Places associated with Habib Noh: Kampung Sambau and Tanjong Malang
11:08 – Reverence for Habib Noh
13:51 – Hakka temple in Kampung Sambau
15:01 – Building of the mausoleum and the staircase
21:30 – The mosque at the base of the hill
24:59 – Stories of the site’s survival
25:50 – Habib Noh and Chinese opera
30:29 – Kelong at Tanjong Malang
35:22 – Kampung Sambau’s foreshore case
37:50 – The mausoleum’s recent renovation
40:21 – Visiting the shrine
43:47 – The forthcoming book on Habib Noh
46:10 – Resources in the National Library and National Archives of Singapore
47:20 – New findings on the history of Masjid Sultan
Transcript and Resources
Read the transcript (https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/all-sections/podcast-the-160-year-old-tomb-of-holy-man-habib-noh): https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/all-sections/podcast-the-160-year-old-tomb-of-holy-man-habib-noh
Subscribe to BiblioAsia (https://form.gov.sg/616799db4d9b61001398f79b) for more stories about Singapore.
This episode of BiblioAsia Podcast was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Red Ink Media. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Ahmad Patek and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Imran for coming on the show.
Produced by the National Library of Singapore, the BiblioAsia Podcast tells stories about Singapore history.
8 Sept 2026
A Woman's Mission to Revive Traditional Chinese Candy
After quitting her civil service job to become a pastry chef, Yeo Min decided to focus on preserving traditional Chinese candy when she realised the tradition was dying, even in the syllabus of the pastry school . In this episode, she talks about her journey to making traditional Chinese candy, writing the book Chinese Pastry School and founding the Museum of Food.
Yeo Min is a pastry chef, a chef instructor and the author of Chinese Pastry School (2024). In 2021, she was a finalist of the Channel 8 baking competition “Crème De La Crème” and came in second at the World Gourmet Summit Apprentice Chef Competition 2021. She is the co-founder of Museum of Food.
What Yeo Min Talked About
02:33 – Why Yeo Min is passionate about preserving traditional Chinese candy
03:40 – Childhood influence
03:47 – The three candies representing past, present and future
06:58 – Vanishing street candy
11:08 – Ding ding tang and the future of traditional candy
15:07 – Homemade vs store-bought maltose
16:57 – Childhood memories of traditional candy
18:44 – Traditional Chinese candy versus Western confectionery
22:02 – Sugar sculptures in Chinese culture
25:06 – Why Yeo Min wrote Chinese Pastry School
42:10 – The Museum of Food and its mission
50:51 – Yeo Min’s next book
53:47 – Food heritage
Transcript and Resources
Read the transcript (https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/all-sections/podcast-a-woman-s-mission-to-revive-traditional-chinese-candy): https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/all-sections/podcast-a-woman-s-mission-to-revive-traditional-chinese-candy
Watch Yeo Min make traditional Chinese candy (https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/all-sections/video-traditional-chinese-candy): https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/all-sections/video-traditional-chinese-candy
Subscribe to BiblioAsia (https://form.gov.sg/616799db4d9b61001398f79b) for more stories about Singapore.
This episode of BiblioAsia Podcast was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Nookcha Films. The background music “Di Tanjong Katong” was composed by Ahmad Patek and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Yeo Min for coming on the show.
Produced by the National Library Singapore, the BiblioAsia Podcast tells stories about Singapore history.
1 Sept 2026
Cooking Fish Head Curry
Fish head curry is a popular (and expensive) restaurant dish today, but this wasn’t always the case. Spice queen Devagi Sanmugam remembers when only poor people ate it. She delves into how the dish came about, spells out why fish head curry uses different spices from meat curries, and explains how a clay pot makes all the difference.
Devagi Sanmugam, also known as the Spice Queen in Singapore, is a consultant chef, chef educator and author of 24 cookbooks, including Indian Heritage Cooking (2011) and the award-winning I Am a Rice Cooker! (2016). Besides developing recipes and blends for spice companies, she has been a celebrity chef at events and a judge for culinary competitions, such as the locally produced Tamil version of the Master Chef cooking series and Channel 5’s cooking variety show Wok Stars.
What Devagi Talked About
02:00 – Why Devagi chose to demonstrate fish head curry in From Book to Cook
03:13 – The origins of fish head curry in Singapore
05:30 – How fish head curry became a multiracial dish in Singapore
05:34 – Differences between Malay, Peranakan and Indian fish head curries
07:11 – Why fish curry uses different spices from meat curry
09:30 – Fish head curry across Asia
11:13 – Eating fish eyeballs
12:21 – Why fish curry is cooked in a clay pot
15:09 – The key ingredients in fish curry
17:06 – Devagi’s journey into cooking and teaching
32:33 – Devagi’s future plans
38:40 – Spices are…
Transcript and Resources
Read the transcript (https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/all-sections/podcast-cooking-fish-head-curry): https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/all-sections/podcast-cooking-fish-head-curry
Watch Devagi make fish head curry (https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/all-sections/video-fish-head-curry): https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/all-sections/video-fish-head-curry
Subscribe to BiblioAsia (https://form.gov.sg/616799db4d9b61001398f79b) for more stories about Singapore.
This episode of BiblioAsia Podcast was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Nookcha Films. The background music “Di Tanjong Katong” was composed by Ahmad Patek and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Devagi for coming on the show.
Produced by the National Library Singapore, the BiblioAsia Podcast tells stories about Singapore history.
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
4.7 / 5
3 ratings
Spotify
4.8 / 5
26 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 32 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
29
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
85
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