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!

Ah.. The address listed in this review is incorrect and has yet to be updated.

The friend and I had arrived in Wisma Atria and went up the escalators, looking out for Din Tai Fung. I remember being able to see it from the escalator before. It is now no longer in the old location but, has since shifted up to the top floor, nestled at the corner of Food Republic.

Despite its perpetual long queues, the crowd at Din Tai Fung often moves pretty fast. Thanks to the efficiency of the system, and of course, the patrons. It is one of those places where customers rarely linger and chill after their meal.

As always, a visit to Din Tai Fung would include an order of a basket of the Xiao Long Baos.

This time round, we ordered a Dan Dan noodle and spicy minced meat noodles.
I found that the noodles got a little too starchy for me after a while, though the friend said it was okay.
Personal preference I guess.

A very small eatery, almost missed.
Located on the ground floor of Orchid hotel; the eatery is so quiet, unless you were really out hunting for Ramen, you are sure to miss it.

The bar counter can sit about 6-7 people with 3- four-seater tables just a step up. That's about all the eatery can accommodate.

Service is prompt and the staff look like 'real-Japs'. The kitchen crew are certainly Japanese.
Patrons can help themselves to the container of bean sprouts at each table.

This place serves only Ramen. So if your dining partner wants to have something else, don't think about it.

The noodles were springy and served in a thick yet not over-powering soup broth. Serving size was just about right. Prices are reasonable too!
While there, we took the ongoing promotion: S$12 - A bowl of ramen, a bowl of rice + a ‘mini bowl’, which was minced meat.

Well, I daresay I would be back to try the other versions of Ramen they have!