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.

Approx a 10min brisk walk from Tiong Bahru MRT station, this restaurant is located alongside many other eateries. In fact, the mass of eateries here are all Teochew Cuisine..

Reservations are recommended during peak meal hours as the restaurant had not a single empty table whilst I was there.
Arriving at about 6.45pm on a Saturday evening, the restaurant was already packed. My reserved table was the only empty one.

The restaurant is not big and does not cater to al fresco dining. About 10 tables in all. A look around, the population were mostly aged, big clan families, dining together.

Service staff are quick to attend to you, they are mostly Mandarin/dialect speaking though. Service is prompt and courteous.

Here are the items we ordered: Gelatin pork belly, Omelette with oysters, green vegetables, Kong Bak (with steamed buns), Cold crabs, a steamed fish and a serving of Ngoh Hiang.
We had wanted to order noodles as well.. however, we realised that the only choice we had was Hokkien noodles.
The Fried Rice seemed popular. Almost every other table had a serving of it!

Gelatin Pork Belly -- erm.. seriously, the look of it was rather scary. Like clumps of plastic fat all over. Not my cup of tea. It is their special though...

To some, the Cold crab was alittle salty, to others, it was alright. To me, it was a tad dry. I'm more used to having crabs with lots of sauce/gravy!

The Kong Bak was tough. Would have liked it more if it was a bit more tender.

Best dishes for me? The Omelette and the vegetables. The omelette was wiped out after a turn of the Lazy Susan.

I would recommend this place for family dining and celebrations of birthdays - for the aged. The restaurant sells Longevity buns too. Pre-order is required.

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.

Rendezvous nasi padang restaurant.. by the name, you would expect something 'malay' style, alot of chilli..

The restaurant is split into 2 sections, not sure why, din question why. There's the more high-class looking section while we were only one of the 2 parties of people occupying the less atas seating area.

Once seated, we could go to the front food counter to pick-out and choose the food we wanted. Everything is spicy. Maybe only the fried chicken was not covered in spice.

About 5-6 containers of chicken in various types of curry, one of lamb, one of beef.
Two variations of fish - one assam curry, another fried fish covered with sambal chilli.

Well, the food here is not cheap. But, quality wise, its top-notch. There was no one dish that disappointed us.
I particularly liked the rendang chicken. Sedap!

This is not a place for those who cannot take the slightest bit of spiciness in their food.

Always crowded, I'm not sure if the outlet adjacent to the original is a franchise or an expansion to the existing shopfront.
Anyhow, they are the same in terms of menu and prices.

The newer outlet looked more "atas" and was air-conditioned.
The place appeared to be governed by foreigners from China. I would have been skeptical about the service but, they proved me wrong. I left feeling very pleased.

Service was prompt. Food was served within a minute or two after order.

Payment is expected once all the dishes have been served. That said, wet tissues that are not required should be returned to them immediately or they will be billed to you. An unnecessary charge, in my opinion.

A bowl of standard Pork Ribs soup came with 3 tender ribs in a heavily peppered soup (S$6.50). There is a "premium" version of this for an additional charge of S$2.
Whilst eating, staff walking around will take the initiative to top-up your soup for you. Of course unless you stop them from doing so. The soup is best drunk while hot. It becomes a little salty when it gets cold.

An order of soup does not come with a serving of rice. A bowl of rice can be ordered at an additional charge of S$0.60 each. If you ask for less rice, it costs S$0.40 instead.

Yes, now I know why the place is always crowded. The Bak Kut Teh is certainly worth trying.
Whether it is worth the price paid, that is subjective.