The Peranakan are descendants of Chinese traders who married into Malay families centuries ago, with their own architecture, ornament and cooking. In Joo Chiat, in the Katong district east of the centre, their finest houses survive: terraces in pink, green and blue, decorated with coloured tiles and plasterwork, the best known on Koon Seng Road. In 2011 Joo Chiat became Singapore's first Heritage Town.

We arrange the walk in the morning with a guide who tells the story of the families and their houses, and end it with Katong laksa, the coconut-milk noodle soup born in this neighbourhood, at a kitchen chosen for your halal preferences.