Many of my friends have mentioned this supper place before, but since it's in the east side of Singapore (even if Singapore isn't that big a country in the first place) I haven't got the chance to visit it. Well, not until I was at a friend's place in Tampines and managed to persuade him to take me there.
To be honest, it didn't exactly feel like Singapore when we stepped in the area. Don't ask me for similarities, even if I could name a few right now. True, there's quite a lot of people (mostly groups of at least six) having dinner here, but the overall environment seemed to be a little too... old and rundown.
And the problem (some may love the attention) is that once you're seated, you've got about five waiters from five different stalls putting the menu on the table and waiting for your order. They continued standing there with a nod even after I told them to "come back later" while we pour through the food on offer, and they did look irritated when I was trying to take pictures of the menus. At least the stalls do not offer the same thing, so you really do have a smorgasbord of Malay, Indian, Western, bit of Chinese and even Mediterranean (no idea if it really hits the authentic spot though) cuisines.
Nasi Goreng Ikan Bilis: 7.2/10
This was what I had for my dinner, and it was quite good actually. "Nasi goreng" is fried rice in Malay, while "ikan bilis" refers to anchovies. The ikan bilis were really crispy and went very well with the hot, peppery rice.
Mee Goreng Pattaya: 5/10
Looks good, but if you ask me, this was just... edible. It's fried egg noodles wrapped in an omelette, but they were too generous with the ketchup in the noodles that the dish turned out to be far too sweet for us.
Maggi Mee Goreng: 6/10
Whoops, another miss here. Siying had this, and she couldn't finish it because it was too spicy. Too much pepper! It tastes okay, just too overwhelmed with pepper, especially the smell.
Mediterranean Chicken with Pita Bread
Gerald insisted this was quite good, though I didn't really try much of it, just a forkful.
Roti John: 7.5/10
Long story on how this "roti" (bread( got its name. As one of the versions go, a homesick Caucasian (colonial officials?) asked a Malay hawker if he could cook up something resembling a pizza with a baguette. No surprise what the name of the official was, heh.
On taste, it tasted good, but once again there was too much of something. This time, it wasn't ketchup or pepper, but mustard. Still Siying enjoyed this way more than her peppered noodles haha.
Egg Roti Prata: 6.8/10
So far, the food was nothing impressive, so it left me wondering how this could be so popular with supper foodies. I decided to try a common supper item, prata, only to find it pretty much the same as almost everywhere else. At least it came nice and hot, so it was good enough for me.
Service
As I mentioned, a few waiters of different stalls will swarm to your table and wait for you to place your orders. They're not the friendliest of people, but neither are they hostile too. Quite emotionless if you ask me.
Price
This blog post was pretty delayed and I can't give an accurate breakdown of the prices. The noodles and my fried rice averaged around $4, while Gerald's chicken was about $7. The Roti John should cost around $3.
Place
Bedok Simpang. Taxis know this place pretty well.
