I first got to know of this place whilst in Sydney. It was later that I learnt the coffee chain was a Korean-based one.

Decided to visit the Singapore branch of Tom n Toms one Saturday evening after dinner. The place was filled with youngsters; in their late teens and early twenties. Mostly students or young working adults, working on their laptops or reading. There were one or two groups of friends chatting.

The cafe sells largely light bites and drinks; other than the caffeine, there are fruit smoothies available.

Set amidst a cosy setting, it was a nice place to chill-out.
However, the cafe could do with some new chairs. 90% or more of the chairs had cushions which showed its internal cottons! I did not feel too comfortable with that but had not much of choice.

Prices here are typical of those you would find at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.
Nothing to shout about their drinks.

The place is an interesting concept, nestled in an unexpected place; amongst all the temples, metal/machinery shop fronts.
If I had not read about the place before going past it, I would not have guessed it was a coffee house, going by its name and exterior.

The entrance of Chye Seng Huat Hardware is via a large metal gate; one which most might think it leads to a garage.

Customers can choose to dine outside or within the store itself. Limited seating inside though, and things can get pretty cramp. For those who enjoy watching the baristas at work, they have the option of sitting at the counter.

The menu is a one-page tagged onto a board. Limited choices of drinks. Some tummy fillers, some specials.

This is truly a coffee place, no fanciful variants of coffee-infused drinks to be expected here. Cappuccino, though not stated on the menu, is available.

Average price per drink is S$5.50. Slightly cheaper for the "Mini" - a cup-size so small, I paid the additional for a larger cup.

No doubt, the coffee was good! Enough crema and the taste was just right. Not overdone nor too burnt. Sweetness was just right for me. Additional sugar can be added from the side corner, where one can also pour out some cold lemon water for oneself.

I have heard much about how nice the cakes were. I was however, too full from lunch to be tempted by any.

When the crowd increased, the place got a little too noisy for my liking. Preferring it to be quieter, having a relaxed afternoon drink.

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.

Pastamania fed me through my student years. Back then, it was considered a relatively low-cost, "high-class" food.. -- Pasta.

As our incomes increased, we gradually went toward the higher-end of the Pasta dishes. Pastamania was side-lined to being a cheap imitation of Italian food.
Over the years, the prices at Pastamania have not changed too significantly. Most of the dishes are still below S$10. The menu has expanded now though.. offering finger food and bites.

They still have staff ushering you to seats/finding seats for you, serving food and clearing tables. However, order is still be made personally at the cashier. And, the queue when we visited was rather long.. and moved really slowly! Gosh.
The kitchen staff fortunately, worked much faster than the cashier. Food was served in about 5mins.

Food quality has not diminished, thankfully. Portion sizes were also just right. Unlike some other joints I know, when Pastamania classifies/labels their food as "hot".. it is truly spicy. Do not doubt or underestimate the power of their chilli.

My very innocent looking "Spicy Chicken" in tomato based sauce was a threshold pusher. I had to reduce the eating speed so as not to choke on any accidental chilli padi I might chew and swallow.

The "Honey Garlic Chicken" bites was something new and we decided to try it. Hmm.. felt that the plate of chicken bites was over-priced at S$4.90. Very faint taste of garlic. The bites were generally tasty and acceptable.

It is somewhat nice to know that people are still patronizing Pastamania, people from different walks of life and age groups. The restaurant saw a continuous queue of customers, majority of home were students.

A quiet find, located in a part of the Central Mall's basement, where everything else is Asian, here's one Indie Cafe.

With a section of the cafe selling groceries, the rest of the cafe are seating areas for dine-in customers. Order your food at the counter, get a seat, wait for the food to arrive, savour and pay before leaving the store.
No GST or service charge here.

The food sold here is largely organic; sounds and looks really healthy. Prices are good too. Certainly not over-priced.

Apart from pastas and sandwiches, the cafe sells all-day breakfast, all for under S$10.

Tried out their Blueberry & Bananas French Toast and Sun-Rise English breakfast.

The toast was spongy, soaked with maple syrup, it was delightfully sweet. The sweetness was just right, not over-powering. A thin mashed layer of bananas sat between the two slices of thick toast. Unique presentation and food quality.

The English breakfast had a somewhat different presentation as well. Unlike the usual set that comes with sausages and bacon, the dish here instead had a small baked potato, minus the sausages and bacon. Absolutely loved the slightly burnt mushrooms. It was nice to be able to savour the juices from the mushrooms. I've had experiences eating mushrooms burnt so badly, there were hard and dry.

Finding seating in the cafe was easy. For a relaxing and slow start to a rest day, Real Food is a recommended place to visit!