Katong is known as a food haven among the locals. As a Peranakan" means half-caste in Malay, which is exactly what the Peranakans are: descendants of Chinese immigrants who from the 16th century onwards settled in Singapore, Malacca and Penang and married Malay women. It is a district that is rich in Peranakan and Eurasian heritage and architecture.wander along East Coast Road for a choice of delectable local fare, including the famous LAKSA , local seafood and Peranakan cuisine.

Joo Chiat, together with Katong, is a stronghold of the Peranakan community - descendants of early Chinese immigrant men who married local Malay women.

The Peranakan bibik (elderly ladies), have all but dispersed from Joo Chiat, but the area still has traces of its rich Straits Chinese heritage, like Kway Guan Huat. Perhaps, the finest surviving heritage of the Peranakans lies in the beautifully restored Chinese baroque decorated shophouses along Joo Chiat Road and Koon Seng Road, built in the 1930s.

Other names you may hear for these people are Babas or Nonyas, after the Peranakan words for male (Baba) and female (Nonya). The Peranakans were often wealthy traders and could afford to indulge their passion for sumptuous furnishings, jewellery and brocades. Their terrace houses were gaily painted, with patterned tiles embedded in the walls for extra decoration. When it came to the interior, Peranakan tastes favoured heavily carved and inlaid furniture.

Peranakan dress was similarly ornate. Nonyas wore fabulously embroidered kasot manek (slippers) and kebaya (blouses worn over a sarong), tied with beautiful kerasong brooches, usually of fine filigree gold or silver. Babas, who assumed Western dress in the 19th century, reflecting their wealth and contacts with the British, saved their finery for important occasions such as the wedding ceremony, a highly stylised and intricate ritual dictated by adat (Malay customary law).

Western culture has largely supplanted Peranakan traditions among the young, and the language policies of the government are also accelerating the language's decline. As the Peranakans are considered ethnically Chinese, children study Mandarin as their mother tongue in schools. Many also marry within the broader Chinese community, resulting in the further decline of the Peranakan patois.