The Old Malaya Café

Food
I dont usually like to have Hor Fun, however I have ordered the KL Sau Hor Fun (滑蛋河粉), thinking that it is good and bad choice, I was way disappointed by the food.
Food is below par!

This hor fun comes with 2 prawns that were not fresh, once you bite on it, it just feels like having the first bite on chewing gum where it tastes powdery. EEk! It comes with 3 pieces of char siew which tastes alright, few pieces of liver and sotongs blend in the gluey graving coated every bite of the food on the plate.I had a plate of KL Sau hor fun and a can of pokka green tea that costs me $7. It saddens me to see that such meal costs me this much.Service
Why was a queue created in the first place when the cashier keeps on taking orders from someone behind me? Am I transparent? I'm quite pissed off with poor customer service. The cashier just dont seems to understand the queuing system! Atrocious!

They will give you a device during your order at the counter, when your food is ready, the device will light up and you have to take the food from the kitchen counter. During that period of time, it is very obvious that the place is over staff - some are seen idling.

Ambience
Full of empty seats, tools are not comfortable to make it worse, the food sucks.

Price
Overpriced and small portion, with this pricing, I rather eat in the nearby kopitiam!

Recommendation / Tips
I will not step into this cafe again, banned!

2013-02-20

SGD 7(Dinner)

What's good for lunch at 313@Somerset for cheap good makan is usually the basement levels!
This day me and Ming went to The Old Malaya Café to satisfy our Pontian Wanton Mee craving
I can't remember when the love for their Wanton Mee started but all i can remember and know is that it suddenly started when word spread around that they're Wanton Mee! is superb
And the fried Wanton is so yummy, i find them much more nicer than their wet wantons in the soup
I really like that you can choose ketchup base, dark soya sauce base or even chili, according to your preference!
And best of all, this set of Pontian Wanton Mee with wanton soup only cost $3.50!
Definitely much cheaper as compared when eating at places like Orchard

2012-09-04

The interiors of the Old Malaya Cafe exude the feel of a typical olden day coffee shop and it promises to serve malaysian/penang style food. I ordered a small bowl of their Penang Prawn Noodles ($4.50) to see if it is any good. Unfortunately, it was rather disappointing. Though it came with a variety of ingredients like prawn, pork, bean sprouts and fish cake, the soup broth unfortunately tasted rather bland- it just didn't have enough prawn flavour. As such, this bowl of prawn noodles wasn't flavourful enough and it really fell flat. $4.50 for a small bowl of sub par prawn noodles is not worth it.

The Old Malaya Cafe, has another new outlet located in Tampines Mall basement 1.

This morning, we feel thirty and tired after exercise. I am looking for a place to have a dessert and can rest our feet at the same time. I think of this cafe where I am nearby.

The cafe provided varieties of Malaya nostalgia' cuisine, dessert and drinks. I ordered the Trucker's Chendol and my partner gets the salted plum drink. When I take a sip on the salted plum drink which is very good taste. The balancing of the sweetness and sourness are just perfect.

The Chendol contains of a lot of agar agar (the green substance), red beans & coconut milk. The drink refresh my mind and all the tired gone at once. No wonder during the old time the Truckers like to order this cold dessert to refresh them during the long journey driving along the road of the Peninsular. The price of Chendol and salted plum drink are $2.50 and $2.00 per glass respectively.

2012-07-14

SGD 3

This evening, I re-visit The Old Malaya Cafe where located in Tampines Mall basement 1.

Since the cafe provided varieties of Malaya nostalgia' cuisine, I want to try more of the other old dishes, like KL Chicken curry. I am happy to know that they offer the famous KL Chicken curry noodles contain of chicken, fish cake, Tao pok, Lady finger, potatoes, Hock Kian noodle and sampa chili with curry gravy. I would say that it is not quite a similar as the previous curry noodles I ate before in KL, but I can accept this bowl of Chicken curry noodles. I like it.

2012-06-26

SGD 5

My lunch at The Old Malaya Cafe wasn't great, but it was a refreshing alternative to the mall food court or chain restaurants - plus it was cheap.

I ordered the Melaka chicken rice balls (which I enjoy when I'm in Melaka) and, since every single person ahead of me in line ordered one, a popiah.

It was quite busy, but I managed to get a little table to myself. The chicken rice balls came quickly, within 5 minutes of me sitting down, and were fine -- tender chicken in soy sauce, 4 bland rice balls (they're more of a novelty than an improvement to rice, is my opinion). For $5, it was a generous enough portion and reasonably tasty.

I was pretty much done the chicken rice and my popiah still hadn't come. So when the staff would come into the dining area to bring people their food, I tried to get their attention and ask them. They did their best to ignore me. I finally got one lady's attention who was actually carrying a tray of popiah, and said I was still waiting for mine. She looked at my receipt and my number, and said these weren't my order... keep waiting!

Well, I waited another 10 minutes and it did not come. There were lots of people still coming in for lunch and my table was needed, and I felt bad enough having kept it for so long. So I got back in line where I ordered and when I got to the front told them I never got my popiah and showed them my receipt. They said something about having lost my order, and asked if I still wanted it! My table was long gone and I had other places to go, so they just refunded me my money.

Anyway, it seemed an honest mistake but the staff should have looked into it when I told them I'd been waiting for so long. There were a few other things on the menu I was curious to try so I'd probably go back, but would try to visit when it isn't so busy so hopefully the service will be better!

2011-06-02

This evening, I re-visit The Old Malaya Cafe, another new outlet located in Tampines Mall basement 1. It had been newly open not long ago. The cafe provided varieties of Malaya nostalgia' cuisine. I am happy to know that they offer the famous Chicken curry set which contain of tender chickend leg with curry gravy and eat with plain rice and the appetizer sweet sour taste Ah Char, very matching. I like it.

2012-06-17

SGD 7

This evening, I visit The Old Malaya Cafe, another new outlet located in Tampines Mall basement 1. It had been newly open not long ago. The cafe provided varieties of Malaya nostalgia' cuisine. I am happy to know that they offer the famous Ipoh Hor Fun. I would say that the taste is right, but I am quite disappointed that the utensil they serve with is not right; they should use original round flat plate instead of round bowl.

2012-06-14

SGD 4

Those who enjoy eating wanton mee, I believe this version from The Old Malaya Café may not be able to delight you. They offer this Pontian Wanton Mee which is at three dollars and fifty cents per small bowl. First of all, the portion is indeed really little and not satisfying. The noodles are the usual wanton mee which is chewy but too bad that the mixed sauce used to toss the noodles are just too little. I am quite disappointed with their char siew meat which are not roasted to perfection and are abit hard and not tender. Overall, not to my liking and I believe may be the ideal choice for the others too.

2012-03-24

SGD 3.50(Lunch)

The chicken rice balls at The Old Malaya Cafe is fragrant and soft. Is easy to eat as is finger size bites and the roasted chicken meat is tender and juicy too. Some beansprouts are added to this dish to make it more towards the 'healthier version'. The soup is just alright, no much 'x-factor', just the usual plain clear soup. This whole dish looks interesting and will attract to walk-by people to try it out. Not too bad actually.

2012-03-29

SGD 5(Lunch)

i would like to share my bad experience in the old malaya cafe in somerset. on 11th feb 2012 i went to this cafe for my dinner but the staff from the cashier are given me that un-friend face due to late order. i understand i should make up my mine before order but i change my mind to have ipoh hor fun (dry). guess how the staff reacted to me? black face and scold so troublesome.

she is very rude to me, i end paid everything that i order but i just walked out from the cafe. total lost my mood to have my dinner. what kind of service? i believed i am not the 1st customer encounter such treatment from them.

i will not go back to this cafe and not to recommend to my friend due to the lousy quality customer service.

2012-02-11

Went there for dinner with friend. We had ordered Penang Laksa, Hainanese Chinken Rice and Chendol. When the food was served, we were so disappointed. The penang laksa was not like the taste of penang laksa. The soup was so bland and tasteless and even I can smell the awfully smell from the fish. Somemore, I had asked them to add some soup for me. The chicken was so hard and not juicy at all. The rice was tasteless too. Other than that the chendol totally awful. Overall, the food was SO bad. Will not go back again ever.

Kinda like challenged my friend to bring me to eat something good in 10 mins

Somehow, that crazy guy managed to do it and it did really taste great... way better than the average ones that u have...

The ingredients kinda got me abit baffled as i wasnt allowed to look at wad they placed in the popiah~ but it was really good~ not too wet or dry~

The place looks lyk some old cafe that brings some warmth~

Worth the challenge >_<!

This cafe is always filled with people and I finally got to try it yesterday. The menu and deco are interesting but the service is terrible. I was with a toddler and the place is not toddler friendly at all!

I ordered the KL Fried Kway Teow with Egg & Gravy. I was pretty delighted when the food came, as it looked delicious. However, to my disappointment, the food did not taste like KL food at all! The gravy was watery and the fishcake was hard. This dish never comes with pigs liver in KL but it does at this cafe. The Kway Teow was fragrantly fried but overall the dish is more Singapore style than KL. For $5 a plate, I'd expect something more. For drink, I had the Sour Plum Tea, which was alright.

As mentioned previously, the service was horrible. Staff were rude and not helpful at all! I'll not visit the cafe again.

2011-03-21