A couple of months ago, the long awaited Singaporean style hawker center finally opened here in New York. It’s called Urban Hawker, and the idea is to replicate the experience of the famous (and hygienic) hawker stall centers that are found and loved in Singapore. We went to visit and try some of the food today, and it was PACKED. It was a challenge to find a table, and we noticed many other people waiting seemingly forever to sit down with their food… to no avail. Many people left or just ate their food standing. We ate most of our food standing, but at least we had an area to set our food down on; Kaia ended up eating in a high chair Chris found hidden in a corner, and we just fed her while standing up. There are two levels of the center, and on the ground level is where all the food is. But, one thing to note is that even though it’s technically one level, to access one part of it vs. other other, you need to go up a few stairs.

Before we had a baby, this never would have phased me. I would have just seen it as a few stairs to go up and down. There are situations like this indoors all over New York, and I never thought about it much until I got pregnant and started thinking about my future, going around the city with a baby in tow. But now that we have a baby (that we are pushing around in a stroller), it made me realize how inconvenient this can be not just for parents and those with young children, but also wheelchair users and others who are not as mobile to go up and down stairs. Wouldn’t it have been just as simple to set this up with a slightly inclined ramp…?