Old School Delights

Old School's delight is a pleasant place to be if you want to reminisce about Singaporean food and your childhood experiences. As for the food, it is acceptable but not exceptional. I ordered a piece of mackerel otah. This was not overly spicy but the otah paste itself was not outstanding. There was not much mackerel taste in it and the otah came across as a tad too oily.

2013-02-07

A modest eatery filled with all things that remind us (my generation) of the things we grew up with... 5 stones, the iconic SBC television logo, marbles, little mantou biscuits with an icing tip etc.

My second visit here, I had recommended the place for a birthday gathering dinner after work.
The eatery is more catered for small group gatherings (up to maybe 6 people per table?) so, they had probably made some furniture re-arranging to cater to the 10 of us.

To order, we were given a marker and small white board. The wait staff had told my friend to draw out our orders and my friend took it seriously. Gosh. Oh wellz, the fun wait staff took time to guess our drawings and fortunately got all our orders correct!

Service is pretty fast.

Ordering the bowl of Macaroni Soup was deja vu for me. Reminds me so much of the days back in Primary school when a serving like that costs only S$0.50. And it was shiok to the max!
Well, there were nothing much more I could order actually considering the mother had already understood the average price of food in the canteen was only 50cents... thus, a daily allowance of 60cents.

We too ordered sides such as the Chicken bites and fries. The chicken bites were so good, we ordered a total of 4 baskets after the first basket got wiped out!

Ah. And where else to enjoy a cup of Ovaltine other than the coffee shop now..? Not even sure if the coffee shop still sells Ovaltine or Nestum.

A good place to chill with friends after work.
The place does get crowded so, try to make reservations in advance if you do not want to be disappointed.

SGD 15(Other)

This is their house speciality which is called "OSD Signature Pulut" which is made up of Gultinous rice with a filling od savory sweet "Hay-bee-Hiam" (dried shrimps) in it. I felt that it tasted normal and nothing really special about it. Instead i felt that it is a little bit oily and no fragance smelled and would not try it again but perhaps other food over there. It is not cheap too which costs about $3.

Unlike other cafes which has a theme more related to the western side, this cafe has a old-school theme. From the blackboard where teachers used to the old-school games provided, this cafe definitely brings you back into time. The menu looks like an exercise book and the ordering system is through writing on a white board that they give. A really unique ordering method. While waiting, you could look into the toy box located on your table! There's five stones, snake and ladder and even those 'countries' erasers. The menu is quite limited with about 8 main dishes to order from. Most of this dishes are local delights ranging from mee siam to nasi lemak to curry chicken. I ordered the nasi lemak. The rice was nice with a strong coconut taste. But the price is definitely not worth it for a plate of nasi lemak. The only thing that I like is the Sticky Chewy Chocolate cake. When it is served, it is warm. The cake has a slight taste of banana which brings out its flavour. The cake isn't overly sweet so it's possible for one person to finish a whole slice of cake by themselves.Perhaps I will return to try the other dishes available. But for now, with the range of food that it serves, the food are slightly over-priced.

The environment of the whole shop - Old School Delights. When i first entered, i find it special because of the decoration and how everything looks. It is different from other cafes and they use chalk to write on the wall. It gives a different feel to people and it is very welcoming. The tissue holder that they have and it is like the old style container. Laska was average only and again it is a little pricey for the food. Hopefully they can do something to it to enhance the taste.

The environment at Old School Delights is really like the name - Old School Style. They have some small games like five stone, snack those on the table that you can play when you are waiting for your food. And the menu is in a book style with alot of different choices of Singapore delights food. And i ordered a meesiam! However i think that the food is too pricy for it and would try others another time.

This is my first time enter that shop, and my feeling is like WOAH, this is really a very creative theme restaurant. And there are some chess and cards which we used to play when we are young. This really can make people interact and chat about old memories. I ordered a Lor-Mee. When it served to me, the smell is just very delicious and feel want to it immediately. The soup is full of mushroom and the mee is very easy to swollen. The chicken on top of the soup also cut until the right size.

2012-07-22

The decoration at there is pretty awesome. There are blackboard full of cute design around the wall. And it really make us remember back all our memories when we are young. This nasi briyani delight is not in the menu but it is special on that day. The chicken is very crispy and nice. The briyani rice is not too dry and taste delicious when it come with curry sauce. The special vegetable on top also taste nice.

2012-07-22

Old School Delights, just as the name suggested, brought back the memory of those school days. A classically design restaurant with ambient environment. This was actually my first visit and i had ordered their chocolate banana fudge cake as recommended by my friend. The chocolate layer is actually quite thick with a layer of mashed bananas in between, so it is definitely a good choice for those who loves chocolate and bananas as well. As for me, i think the cake is quite dry, but i still love how it tastes.

Old School Delights (OSD) at Upper Thomson Road area serves local dishes and lots of nostalgia. The eating place is a clever eating concept with the whole deco focus on the theme of going back in time of 'old school days'. The food served was pretty alright and was crowded during meal time. There are games like 'Old Maid' to play and enjoy the old photographs on the wall. Mrupupup had nasi lemak, chicken cutlet rice, thick coffee and bandung syrup drink. Just want to mention that the service in OSD was impressive. The Lady Boss took effort to ask whether Mrupupup was there for the first time. On the way out, we gave the feedback that the drinks order were mixed up and the Lady Boss gave us a small complimentary packet of cookies (good gesture) and took note of our feedback. Excellent service OSD!

2012-06-17

found this neat looking place at upper thomson road known as "old school delights"
love the decor inside which really looks like a classroom - chalk scribblings on blackboards, wooden desks and chairs and candy-filled glass containers at a corner like a miniature tuckshop.
There is also a stationery set on each desk. ours had 5 stones - the game which I used to play as a kid & erasers which can be used to play an eraser snatching game

tried their chendol. Its very rich in coconut milk & gula melaka. . sweet, refreshing and absolutely delicious!.
will come back next time to try their main dishes

2012-05-27

For full experience write up & photos, please visit my blog: http://www.aspirantsg.com/food/old-school-delights-cafe-upper-thomson/singapore or follow me on twitter for food reviews: https://twitter.com/AspirantSG

Those of us who have ermmm crossed the BIG 30 will find Old School Delights located at Upper Thomson Road a warm & fuzzy reminder of our childhood days at Nursery, Kindergarten & Primary School.

The cafe seeks to transport it's diners back in time to the retro 80's classrooms where teachers are still using chalkboards and school canteen aka tuckshop serves the traditional local delights.

Both traditional & 'not so traditional' Dessert Cakes served are freshly baked to satisfy our lust for sweet endings.

Popular biscuits & snacks of yesteryears were also sighted! But I am not sure if these were made inhouse.

Besides edible stuffs, Enid Blyton story books, Erasers aka rubbers, Tikam Tikam, Paper Aeroplanes, Chatek, Five Stones,

Snakes & Ladders Chess, Cutesy Stickers, Toy Guns and other childhood items from the good old days were also made available for purchase. Great place to show your kids the toys Mommy & Daddy used to play before electronic devices were invented.

With limited recess time, my colleagues and I quickly settled down at one of the many seats available during weekdays lunch.

I have to order from Lawrence Khoong from Class 4A Sexology Assignment Book. Who is this naughty Lawrence?

I bet he must be one of the boys in the Detention Room. Serves him right!

His assignment book did reveal 8 delicious main course options for us to chose from. We ordered the Mee Siam, Macaroni Soup, Nasi Lemak Besar as well as the Hainanese Chicken Cutlet and Fish & Chips.

Once the orders were taken, our busy tuckshop auntie quickly delivers our eating utensils with napkins in a vintage kopitiam metal mug.

While waiting for our food to arrive, we explored the content of our table's toy box.

There are Five Stones, Old Maid Card Games and Erasers for us to entertain ourselves!

Our Barley Lime Juice came first. All my female colleagues loves this 'refreshing tangy' concoction. I just think it tasted weird - Barley mixed directly with Lime hmmm... This is the last time I am ever going to order this.

The Old School Heritage Mee Siam ($5.50) brought me back instantly back to the days when I was a kid taking swimming lessons at Hougang Swimming Pool. This Mee Siam tasted exactly the same as what I had at the pool canteen. To be honest, the Mee Siam tasted really normal. There was nothing amazingly impressive but it does has the capability to invoke memories.

Chicken Macaroni Soup ($5.90) was rather plain and boring. Order it only if you are not feeling well or if you like your meals light.

The Hainanese Chicken Cutlet ($8.90) smothered with homemade zesty sweet sour sauce was accompanied with fried rice. The chicken cutlet was crispy on the outside but the meat was a little tough. The sweet & sour sauce was pretty good, wished they can be more generous with it. It would have come in handy for the lukewarm and rather mild flavoured fried rice.

Nasi Lemak Besar ($6.90) was delivered on Pandan Leaves with a chicken wing, slice of egg, otak, fried peanuts and ikan billies. This cafe adopt a rather healthy cooking style - there was only faint hints of coconut in the rice. Thankfully there was the chilli sambal and tasty chicken wing to go with it.

The Otak was not exactly 'jumbo' as described in the menu. However, it makes up for size with it's smooth texture and taste.

The Fish & Chips ($13.90) came in a considerable helping. The pinkish home made tartar sauce has a unique sweetness which goes really well with the hot, crispy fish fillets and fries. This dish however looks a little too modern to be part of the whole old school package.

The Cakes, Dessert and Drinks Menu can be easily read off the walls for 'kids' who want to end of their recess meal with something sweet.

We opted for the Chocolate Banana Fudge Cake ($5.80). It was just the right combination of fluffiness & sticky sweet fudge. The fudge was given way in excess for diners to indulge in its sweetness alone.

Lovely place to spend the afternoon with close childhood friends to catch up over familiar food, drinks and games.

You may also like to check out my posts on other delicious food places http://www.aspirantsg.com/restaurants-cafe-eateries-food-list-singapore

2012-03-30

SGD 12(Lunch)

We didn't know what to eat, so we popped in this attractive shop house called "Old School Delights".

It is decorated with old school theme, most of the walls were mount with chalk boards.On the table there is a toy box for your pleasure.Very sweet of them right?

Everything here at Old School Delights has this old school touch to it, even their menu!The menu is a form of exercise book and is written with various names. The waitress will then give you a white board for you to fill your order, it makes it very fun here at Old School Delights!Kueh Pie Tie $5.80

When I ordered the Kueh Pie Tie, I didn't expect it to be extremely nice and it came out to be "wow". The shell is very crispy and the filling is serve piping hot, then when you have one mouthful, it is so juicy. The chicken rice chili on top add another flavour to it.Nasi Lemak Set $6.90

$6.90 for a Nasi Lemak is a bit up the market but then if the Nasi Lemak is nice then it become value for money! This Nasi Lemak rice is very fragrance, I only have one mouthful but I can clearly taste the rice rich with coconut milk.Fish & Chips $13.90

The quality of the fish is very fresh, and it is not too overly batter. What makes it taste good is their home made tartar sauce! The tartar sauce has this chop onion in it. I even asked for another round of tartar sauce. The fries is thick and a slight chili powder I suppose is shake on it - you won't be able to taste the chili but you can notice the small little chili particles on top of the fries. The coleslaw on the other hand wasn't that fresh, a little sour.

Don't expect a very fanciful menu, they only have the usual school canteen dishes that you can look for after all it is called "Old School Delights" right? And if you are here, you can try the Barley Lime ($3.50) which is quite special!

2011-09-11

Old School Delights, as it name might suggest, bases its idea on the school tuck shops of yesteryear. And it was this concept that had me hooked when the kind folks at the eatery invited me down for a simple lunch. In line with the theme, "fancy" dishes like foie gras and steak are missing from the menu and instead, simple local fare like macaroni, mee siam, laksa, nasi lemak etc are featured prominently.

The place is reminiscent of a classroom with its huge chalkboard, cement screed floors and quirky drawings which seemingly hark back to the days of "Mr Kiasu". There is even a paper table mat with an almost realistic imprint of an old school jotter book which I used when I was a kid. Lets not forget the pack of "Snap" cards and the erasers with country flags on them. Ahh the nostalgia.

Kueh Pie Tee - I've always had a penchant for Kueh Pie Tee, with its crisp shell and delectable filling of chopped egg and stewed vegetables (they are first fried with garlic then simmered in water). OSD's rendition was a little bland due to the lack of sweet sauce (I opted for no chilli). The shell (which isn't made in house) had a crunchy overtone to it but did seem a little too oily for my liking. I would have also appreciated the filling to be served piping hot instead of at room temperature.

Macaroni - What you get it pretty standard. A couple of slices of fishcake and some strands of shredded chicken as well as a couple of quail eggs, vegetables and of course macaroni in a tasty yet light broth. Although this dish wasn't spectacular, it did cover me in comfort and warm fuzziness. This was a dish that I loved to eat when I was kid and this one was simple and unpretentious - giving rise to a homely feeling (有家的感觉).

Chocolate Banana Cake - I ended off my lunch with a Chocolate Banana Cake, which wasn't quite the same as what I've had before. Think Choc a bloc. OSD's offering was the old fashioned banana cake with a layer of mashed bananas wedged in between and covered with a layer of molten (and shiny) chocolate. The cake came across as a little too dry for my liking but overall still a nice and sinful dessert (if you like bananas and chocolate)!

Overall, the food wasn't great but still very comforting in it's own way. Maybe it's just nostalgia and the chance to relive those happy and carefree moments, albeit for only a brief moment? Thanks to the folks at OSD for the invite!

See all my pictures at http://www.timelessfacade.com/2011/09/old-school-delights.html

Came across this cafe and I really quite like the place! I loved the setting of the cafe! Not to mention that the food here is also great! I ordered laksa and totally loved it! They also included lots of ingredients like cockles, prawns, egg and so on! Yummy! The gravy is also very rich and fragrant! Worth a try!