After almost working in biopolis for a year, it was until this recent weeks where i found many eateries near biopolis selling cheap and yummy food.... all it takes is a trip down the hill and across the railway track....
Yesterday, me and kk told my jap boss to this coffeeshop under the HDB behind IMUNOS buliding. This coffeeshop looks like it still belongs to the 70s-80s of Singapore. With the old porcelain cups for a cup of kopi or teh, friendly hawkers and freaking cheap and tasty food (compared to Biopolis Matrix food court)... Nostalgic is the word to describe it all.... I felt like i went back to my childhood days... the good old days.... even my jap boss said that it brought back the memories of him when he first step his foot onto Spore land (which is about 13 yrs ago)
We order pork rib noodle which cost only $2.50 for a big bowl of noodle and so many big chucks of pork ribs served with a bowl of tasty soup.... Boss offered to pay for the drinks that we ordered, he took out $6 and we told him it is more than enough. he didnt believed (too much of coffee beans and rocky master's devil brew).. so when the lady boss brought the kopi O, teh c and teh to our table, boss was utterly shocked that it was onli $2.10 for all 3 cups of drinks. The drinks are of quality... even boss find the coffee's aroma good. I trusted him cos i could smelled it even when i was seated about 0.5 meters away from him.
While we were eating our lunch, the stall owner chit chatted with us, asking where we work, getting feedback about their food and drinks, asking us if we still want another serving of soup..... . I could see from boss's expression that he was shocked to see such friendly service in coffee shop. (i believe it is also his first time eating in a coffee shop).... so it is not always true that u have to pay for the good service.. becos this coffeeshop gave me good service with no extra cost.
While we were sipping our coffee and tea, i saw the drink stall aunty preparing toast bread.... and I couldnt believe my eyes.. she is still using the tradition way of making the breakfast set... toasting the bread over charcoal, spreading the brown kaya and most importantly, she didnt spread the butter with the kaya .. BUT she took the thinnly slice butter from the fridge and put them in between the warmly toasted bread... the same old way that i used to see the ah pek iat amoy street 6-8 yrs ago (today the ah pek is no longer selling).... I can still remember the feeling of each bite that i took, crispy and fluffy bread with the cool piece butter melting in between, together with the thick brown kaya.... YUMMY!!!!! Immediately, i bought 2 slices for my tea break. But i could wait till then, once we reached the lab, the bread was quickly grabbed up by me, kk and boss, with the bread going into our mouth, onli streams of compliments came out from our mouths.... and i decided to buy them again for breakfast the next day..
Along our way back to the lab, we passed by a a patch of land with plants growing till our knee height, KK was still saying how the lunch over at that coffeeshop brought back his childhood memory.. Boss suddenly said that this walk felt the same when he was back in Japan, Kochi (his home town) , the smell of the air, the breeze blowing on his face, the feeling of grass bushing against his legs.... the same feeling that he had when he was 8-10 yrs old, back in his little "kampong".....
It is rare for us to find such "good-old-days" feeling in the busy buzzing spore... really glad to find such nostalgic place in spore...
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This morning, i decided to alight at commonwealth so tat i can walk over to the coffee shop to get my set of traditional breakfast from the same coffee shop.. I was surprised that the drink stall lady boss actually remembered me!! Later during lunch time me and kk went there again for lunch, this time round the drink stall lady boss and the pork rib stall aunty remembered us too.. the best thing is that the drink stall aunty actually remembered what i ordered this morning and asked if i want the same..... Isnt that just fantastic?? I dun even think the drink stall aunty over at the food court remember my order even i patronized her stall daily.... They even notice that boss was missing and asked where he was, well boss was having lunch with his jap friends over at the matrix food court.. and while we had lunch, boss called and complaint that matrix food court is a "rip-off"... hahha... he had the chicken noodle set that costed him $5.50... compared to the noodle he paid at the coffee shop yesterday, he realised how much the foodcourt is over-charging him.... haha.. i told him we can bring him down to the coffeeshop or even tanglin halt food center for lunch if he like... where we can get cheap and yummy food....
From today onwards, it will be either this Blk 73 commonwealth dr coffee shop or tanglin halt foodcenter, where u will see me during lunch time....
p.s. there is also a confectionery shop behind the tanglin halt food center that sell the biscults that i had when i was a kid, ie 耳朵饼干，小馒头，zoo biscult. That shop also see tradtional coffee and tea powder.. finally found the tea powder that my mummy and papa want (the one that taste like the teh-o u drink in coffee shop). The next shoppipng list item will be coffee powder, ordered my my bro...
YueN signing off... stary starry nitezzz
