The Kopitiam food court at Tampines is always crazy crowded and if you want to get a decent breathing space for your lunch, you should go at odd timings like after 2pm or before 12pm. There is a huge variety of stalls here so you can be sure that no craving will go unsatisfied!The Ban mian stall sells not just ban mian, but also a variety of la mian (chicken/dumpling/beef brisket etc) and you can also order Guo Tie (Fried dumplings) as an add on for just $5. The Ban Mian here is really reasonably priced at only $3.80, and for the generous portion, it is certainly worth your every penny!

The soup is slightly cloudy, and the meat is fresh & tender. This bowl of Ban mian is chock full of shallots, anchovies (which are very salty actually haha but it tastes sooo good with the flourry noodles) and vegetables (Chye sim!). It's guaranteed to fill any hungry tummies -the soup is good to drink too, being piping hot and tasty on its own. I usually like it with lots of cut chillis, but if you're not a fan of spiciness that's fine too.
The noodles aren't overcooked, and have a light spring to it. Delicious! This bowl of Ban Mian is not only wholesome with a fantastic ratio of minced meat to vegetables, it also has an egg cracked in to give a nice eggy flavour to the soup that's so comforting.

This bowl of ban mian is honestly one of the better ones I've eaten lately and the soup is really comforting -the generosity of the ingredients and the portion is also impressive for a price of just $3.80. Definitely worth it

A Lor Mee craving gone unsatisfied for long leads to a desperate anything-goes scramble to find that precious bowl of Lor Mee. Even though Chai Kee @ Jalan Batu doesn't specialise in lor mee, it's in fact quite far from it. Their specialties would be roasted meats (charsiew rice, roasted pork rice etc) and even wanton mee.The service here is relatively good, the aunty is super courteous and she switches between fluent Cantonese and Mandarin.This $2.50 bowl of Lor Mee is comforting and hearty -it's the bowl of lor mee you'd expect to have eaten as a child and expect memories to flood with the first spoonful. The gravy is gluey at first, before it becomes watery when it cools. It's not too starchy, and has a pleasant savouriness. The lor mee has a fried dumpling, duck and pork meat, vegetarian fish cake, an egg quarter and beansprouts. It has all the ingredients of a classic lor mee. While I don't daresay that this Lor Mee is particularly stellar in any aspect, it has a home-y quality to it, and it's something that you'll find yourself wanting to go back to simply because it's unpretentious and simple in flavours.

At $2.50, you definitely get your money's worth. The comforting noodles are great to slurp up and the gravy is uncomplicated but tasty. This dish has a strange allure despite its simplicity (I swear this isn't due to the bias of my intense lor mee craving!) Definitely should give this a try if you are in the area!

Fu Ming Cooked Food sells traditional carrot cake (both black and white) just like the old-timers like -it supposedly has the authentic taste of old times. They also sell bakzhang at amazingly cheap prices of $1 (I kid you not, these are normal-sized glutinous rice dumplings with ample filling!!)The Bak Zhang is really tasty -there is chestnut in the filling (which is a nice touch), as well as braised meat. We were pleasantly surprised by how it was really fragrant and tasty -and how the ratio of rice to filling was just nice. We would recommend that you heat it up before eating though, because the rice is reaaaallly sticky and when eaten cold there's a slight difference to the whole texture of it. At only $1 it's a real steal!!Personally, this carrot cake isn't what I would go back to eat. I understand fully that this is the 'old-timer' taste that everyone's raving about but perhaps it's just not my generation to appreciate this particular flavour. While the dark sauce had a complex, sweet flavour to it, the chunks of carrot cake were large, oily squares that barely had enough egg to coat them ): I enjoy carrot cake with a good amount of egg in it, and I appreciate when the carrot cake is held together nicely. This one proved to be isolated, oily (dark sauce coated nevertheless!) squares though.

This plate cost $3, but there is the $2.50 option if you wish for a slightly smaller portion. If you're searching for an authentic flavour of the old times, this may just hit the spot, but if your ideal carrot cake is eggy and well-held together in smaller squares, you may want to give this a pass and try their bakzhang instead. The bakzhang is a real gem find!

This corner store at Redhill Food Centre has one of the best soya bean at stellar prices -at only 80c per bowl of tauhway or for a glass of soya bean milk, freshly made, this is really worth it!The soya milk is a tad sweet in my opinion, could have done with slightly less sugar, but the soya milk is so smooth! The taste of soy isn't that strong, it has a subtle quality that is pleasant.The tauhway really impressed me, for 80c it's a sizeable portion and the tauhway is comparable to other soya bean powerhouses. I'm a true fan of traditional soya bean, the smooth silky curd that is light and refreshing without being powdery. The tauhway here isn't powdery at all. It's relatively refreshing too -we recommend having it while it's still warm.

The aunty at the stall is also quite friendly even though she has a steady stream of customers One of the cheapest soya beancurds around, at a great quality too!

This chicken rice stall is located just opposite one of the famous carrot cake stalls -serving up delectable Hainanese Chicken Rice to patrons.

A $3 portion would get you a plate of fragrant chicken rice, a side plate of chicken and a bowl of soup.First off, the rice is really super fragrant -the grains are slightly oily and the texture is near-perfect. There is a hint of ginger in the rice, and it's savouriness makes it perfect to just have on its own. The rice portion is also just nice -guys may want to "加饭“ (or add rice) haha.

The chicken is smooth and not too dry, it's perfect with the oil and soy sauce -not too oily and not too salty either. The thinly sliced chicken gives it a great texture. The chilli isn't too spicy, I could have done with spicier chilli! It's tangy and packs a punch though, when eaten with the ginger (that was a tad watery to be honest), it's heavenly

The soup is tasty too -it has a slightly medicinal aftertaste that I cannot quite put my finger on. It's not unpleasant though, it does have a nice touch to it and it complements the entire dish well.

All in all, this $3 is well worth your money!! I recommend asking for breast meat -it's not too dry because of the thickness of the sliced chicken. Definitely worth a try.