Eateries For Pocket-Friendly Food On Orchard Road, Singapore

by themoneyoffice2.com@gmail.com April 13, 2024 · Food and Travel

Dining on Orchard Road does not have to be expensive thanks to these eateries serving wallet-friendly food in Singapore’s premier shopping district.

Firstly, some caveats. Pocket-friendly is relative, so this guide keeps it under SGD 10 (HKD 58) per person, with most dishes coming in at around the SGD 6 (HKD 35) mark. Secondly, while you can eat at food courts in Orchard Road for a similar price, we are focusing on solitary dining establishments here, many of them family-owned for decades.

The cost of running an eatery in Orchard Road is exorbitant, which is why cheap food are mostly found in strata malls. One of them is Far East Plaza, where Hainanese Delicacy has been serving no-frills chicken rice for close to 40 years. A stone’s throw away is Susan Chan Food, which sees a daunting line of diners waiting for cai fan, while the neighbouring New Station Snack Bar it does an excellent salted egg pork chop. A floor down, Greenview Cafe offers a deceptively simple mee hoon kueh.

Orchard Towers may be a shadow of its old, raunchy self, but Korat is still a reason to visit for its fiery Thai food. Amid the golf stores at Far East Shopping Centre, Kang Su presents vegetarian versions of kolo mee and ramen. At Lucky Plaza, Cipta Rasa stands out with its renditions of Indonesian food from nasi goreng to bubur ayam. At the tail-end of the strip, Orchard Plaza’s Miss Saigon slings banh mi around the clock, and Kim Dae Mun at Arcade Hotel dishes out generous portions of Korean culinary icons.

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9 eateries for cheap food on Orchard Road:

Cipta Rasa, which is Bahasa for ‘Create a Taste,’ is an Indonesian food specialist. Opened for more than three decades, their menu ranges from several nasi goreng varieties to other dishes including lontong, laksa, and bubur ayam. There are daily specials such as roti jala, or choose your path with nasi padang.

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Address 304 Orchard Rd, #01-75 Lucky Plaza, Singapore 238863
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Greenview Cafe has been serving mee koon kueh in their corner of Far East Plaza for more than two decades. The dough is portioned only when ordered, torn by hand, and boiled. Of all the options available, the dry mee hoon kueh is the most popular, which is tossed with house-made sambal, and both dark and light soy sauces.

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Address 14 Scotts Rd, #04-96 Far East Plaza, Singapore 228213
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For almost 40 years, Hainanese Delicacy has been selling the iconic chicken rice in Far East Plaza. Their version is straightforward: either poached or roasted, served in portions from a solitary diner to a whole bird. The salted vegetable duck soup is another highlight.

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Housed in the unremarkable Far East Shopping Centre (unless you are a golfer and gamer), Kang Su Vegetarian offers meatless versions of kolo mee, ban mian, ramen, and udon. You can opt for brown rice in the Thai-style chicken cutlet rice, while fried items range from wanton to wu xiang.

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Kim Dae Mun Korean Food Court

Someone wrote online that you should enter Kim Dae Mun “with a shower cap and space suit coz (sic) the ventilation in the restaurant is hazardous!” But that’s the charm of this Korean eatery. Little thought is given to the dining experience, with their focus solely on serving generous portions of sizzling spicy pork, kimchi soup, bibimbap, and much more. Order the set meal, and it comes with one side dish.

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With the nightlife mostly gone, the only spice left at Orchard Towers is coming from Korat. Some beloved orders at the Thai eatery include khao soi, boat noodles, deep-fried sea bass with chu chee (red curry) sauce, and tom yum mama ultra, a colossal pot with noodles, seafood, pork belly, meatballs, and egg yolks. It’s also a place to sample lesser-known dishes like lang saap, or Thai-style bak kut teh.

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After 10pm, most eateries in Orchard Road pull down their shutters, but not Miss Saigon. The Orchard Plaza eatery is open 24 hours, slinging multiple styles of banh mi from pork skin to meatballs with tomato sauce, as well as bun cha gio, spring rolls, and beef pho. Need a pick-me-up? There’s also Vietnamese coffee.

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New Station Snack Bar has been around since 1994, a testament to the quality of their tze char dishes. Most diners come for the salted egg pork and the wok hei-laden Teochew fried kway teow. Claypot bee tai mak, three-egg fried rice, and marmite chicken are also popular.

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Susan Chan’s following is so strong that a queue of diners forms shortly after she opens her cai fan stall – during peak hours, the line becomes dauntingly long. Mercifully, it moves fast thanks to the efficiency of the staff who spoon curry vegetables, omelette, har cheong gai, braised eggplant, and more onto brown or white rice, even bee hoon. Their salted egg pork rib is also a worthy opponent to the next-door New Station Snack Bar.

(Image credit: @kengohth / Instagram)