Cheap Eats in Orchard

Orchard Road is the city's center and is the place for a shopping quick fix. Despite an entire stretch of malls from low-end to high, with Singapore's increasing standard of living, it is difficult to find cheap food.

Hawker centers (food courts) typically serve meals for less than $10 in Orchard but they are medicore. Here're my to-go for cheap AND GOOD food in Orchard.  

1) Wasabei Tei

Many on this list are found at Far East Plaza. It used to be a teenager's after-school location but in recent years, traffic have drastically dropped as teenagers take their shopping online. However, it remains my favourite place to shop as well as eat because of its affordable prices. 

Wasabei Tei's shahimi (raw fish) is air-flown in from Japan. It feels like you're in one of those authentic Japan stores when it's cramp and only counter seats are available. The owners' attitude have been known to be bad (as with all good food places because they can't give a damn) but have improved considerably since I first patronized it.

$2 is charged per seat regardless if you want a drink, an appetizer or a slice of watermelon. Every seat must place an order and the appetizer of warm seaweed and stewed chicken is worth the mandarory charge. No GST, quality Japanese food and a cosy ambience, Wasabi Tei is highly recommended. Try their sorbets too! They have seasonal flavours. They recently opened up space next door so there isn't quite a long queue as before. 

2) Hainanese Chicken Rice

A local favourite, this shop at the upper floor of Far East Plaza gives a rustic feeling with its bustling order calls. Not a place to idle after meal as strangers could be seated at your table. Not to worry, they don't share your food. Their menu stays focused and only offers rice, chicken and oyster sauce vegetables. They serve soups like Salted Duck Veg in old-fashioned tin containers at $3 to go along. 

3) Saveur

I never could make it into their other outlet at Purvis St but since they opened a new one next to KFC at Far East Plaza, i've been in it twice! If you want a seat, lunch is a better bet than dinner. Otherwise, aim for an early dinner at 5.30-6pm. The last time i ate was at 8.45pm and i had to wait 10 minutes for a table, and the restaurant was still bustling with diners. The last order is at 9.30pm. 

If you have always heard of foie gras but never tried it because you aren't sure if the price is worth paying for (what if you don't like it?) , Saveur is the place to take  your foie gras virginity. 

Bite sized foie gras grilled to perfection with a drizzle of cranberry sauce is only $6.90. The simple saveur pasta is delicious and priced at $4.90 as an appetizer, $6.90 as a main. The interior is nicely decorated, everyone i brought is throughly impressed with its deceiving interior but cheap prices for French fare. 

We could even afford to have 2 glasses of wine, and the total bill is $40!

3) Sakura Halal Thai

Serves affordable Thai fare. It has individual meals as well as tze char style. It is my go-to if i don't want to queue for a table as it occupies a rather large space (with an overflow room) at the top level of Far East Plaza. Don't let the sight of the lack of diners deter, my favourites are Tom Yum or salted fish fried rice, otherwise spicy mee goreng. They could do with lesser oil though. 

4) Nam Nam

When it first arrived in Singapore at Wheelock, i never had to queue. I liked the no-frills Vietnamese fast food vibe where i could sit at the bar counter, slurp my pho alone and let my eyes glaze, mesmerized by the red lanterns above. Since then, Nam Nam have expanded to many more outlets across the island, gaining quick popularity and extending their menu offering. If you would like to queue, it is quick, cheap and good pho in Orchard. The only gripe i have is they do not include a generous serving of beansprouts in their pho anymore, making it less value for money. 

5) Ayam Penyat Ria

There are a dozen of the same in Lucky Plaza, but i always go to this one where its chilli accompanying the Penyat is the deal breaker. 

Although certain elements of the dish look measly, when together, they make a good serving of chicken, kangkong, toufu and soy bean squares. 

This is a sinful indulgence because everything is fried, but it makes me feel better than KFC (some strands of vegetable makes the difference).

6) Sanpoutei Niigataa Ramen

Expecting queues to form soon enough at this new kid on the block, the latest ramen shop at the basement of Lido (next to Isetan) is made with a difference. Ikan bilis added to broiled chicken compared to the usual pork ramen broth. It tastes unique and instead of the usual char siew, each bowl is topped with two slices ot three-layered fatty pork. The decadent meat melted in my mouth, fat glistening on my lips. They also have atypical ramen ingredients, a generous serving of stir-fry cabbage.

7) Shaw Center Food Court

If you hate queues with a vengeance like i do, this newly opened food court at Lido is my latest secret. I always find a seat here. Sergeant Chicken serves fragrant rice that is not too oily and tender moist chicken. Like Bimbimbap but want it customized? Pick and choose at the Korean "tze char style" stall. Further in, you'll find Teppanyaki that is value-for-money. A slightly more posh experience in a food court, you sit at the countertop for a interactive cooking experience. Your orders come with an attempt at food presentation too.

A video posted by Christine Ng (@chrispytine) on Jun 6, 2014 at 10:51pm PDT

Asia's 5 Deadliest Food

Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong may be called a food paradise but is it really a paradise with some of the "deadliest" food?

I'm not just talking about the Fugu (pufferfish with lethal doses of the poison tetrodotoxin in its organs if not removed carefully, the eater will have a slow death) or the Sannakji (live octopus that could suffocate you if the suckers latch on to your throat) which i'm not sure if there're any health benefits eating it live. The Koreans believe it builds stamina and gives you virility (as with all other unexplainable food). Remind me not to video myself eating it, because it certainly does look like tentacle food porn.





Asia's deadliest food are however, closer to us than we think. 

Char Siew

From food blog camemberu.com

The best char siew are the ones that is a little blackened at the sides. Food colouring aside, all grilled or roast meats contain high proportion of  triphenyl sibing topiramate, a carcinogenic substance that causes cancer. When this chemical compound comes to contact with the stomach, and the gastric mucosa, the possibility of getting gastric cancer is always very high.


A roasted meat is equivalent to the toxin of as much as 60 cigarettes.

Instant Noodles

When i was in UK, i craved Chinese food so much i went to the supermarket for instant noodles. I was sorely disappointed to find the lack of variety as compared to the supermarkets in Asia. Instant noodles are present in our diet. Indian food stalls and Korean food stalls sell them (some people really pay $5 for that kimchi ramen when they can buy it themselves for $2!). Some eat it as comfort food, some eat it as a companion in late nights. Even i myself get the craving for kimchi instant noodles every now and then.

When my friends visit Indonesian, they come back with boxes of Indomie because it isn't available here. Or when they visit Taiwan, they return with instant noodles with real beef pieces. Even i contemplated buying them back as souvenirs, just because.

Instant foods contain very high content of salt, coloring and food additive which means instant foods have only high calorie but no nutritional value at all. As they lack trace elements and essential vitamins and minerals, the intake of instant foods may lead to nutritional deficiency. The prolong intake of these foods may cause cancer, obesity, hypertension and other underlying diseases.

Bubble Tea

I introduce bubble tea to my Caucasian friends as one of the unique foods in Singapore. They would all try but i've never seen them drinking a second cup ever. Why is bubble tea uniquely attractive to Asians? So much so that even a forum-er commented that "drinking Koi is like being hugged by mama".

                               

Bubble tea has got a very bad rep since it's birth because of how it's made. Milk essence is the main ingredient and this essence is actually not real milk but made of milk protein, milk sugar, vegetable oil and maltodextrin. Then, there's the tapioca balls that reports claim is harmful because of what is added to make it extra chewy. It's an ongoing debate if bubble tea is really cancerous or not because there seems to be equally justifiable debates on both camps. I occasionally drink but i ask for zero sugar and less pearls.

Lup Cheong Clay Pot Rice

From almostbourdain.blogspot.com

Processed meats are rubbish to our body. The more we dump these processed foods in our body, the more weakened our body will be. These processed meats have large amount of sodium add-in during the food handling process and thus they will cause or indulge hypertension. Besides that, the high content of sodium found in the meats will increase the workload of the kidneys. The more you eat these meats, the shorter the life span of your kidneys will be, which finally wearing off within your unexpected age.

Shilin Chicken Cutlet

From danielfooddiary.com

Deep fried food have been identified as the culprit of the cardiovascular disease as they contain substantial amount of carcinogenic substances. Acrylamide is one of the chemical substances found in the deep-frying foods. This chemical substance is also found in the vehicular emission and potato chips. Another harmful compound is alum, which can impair memory, brain and nerve cells, besides causing irritability and depression once it is absorbed into our body.

By the way, your diet determines how YOU TASTE LIKE too. So if you want to taste and smell nice down south for your partner, you know what to do.

Now, I'm hungry. Which poison should i take?