The Old Malaya Cafe (Tampines Mall)

The Old Malaya Cafe (Tampines Mall)

Address: B1-10, 4 Tampines Central 5, Tampines Mall, 529510
Contact: 6789 9008

Budget: $5-10

The tongue in cheek notice next to the counter is a great way to manage expectations. In case you can't see it, it says: "Sorry! I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't too promising either."

Seafood Hor Fan

Thick, smooth and with a next wok hei fragrance, this plate really surprised me and was pretty darn decent.  There was also lots of seafood in the dish which makes sharing it very easy. Portion size is generous as well.

Pontian Wanton Mee

The wanton mee was generously portioned. Hot fried wantons, thin chewy noodles with a nice sauce and peppery soup with more wantons. Char siew was a little mundane, being too dry and lacking taste. The dish itself is serviceable just not spectacular.

Given the price and the environment (air con), i was quite happy with the orders and this prompted us to give their dessert a try.

Chendol

Their chendol is made in record time i think. From ordering to serving, it takes less then 2 minutes. The process is rather quick, you'll see them getting the ice, grinding it, putting some chendol and red beans and pouring the coconut milk with gula melaka mixture and done.

This version has rough ice, meaning the ice is chunky and not snow like. The portion is pretty big so it can be shared. The toppings of red bean and chendol is generous as well. The first thing i look for is the chendol and thank heavens its not the plastic looking fake chendol used so frequently elsewhere. The downside is that it wasn't very fragrant so you're missing out on the aromatic pandan taste. The ice, being course, makes the dish last longer and more similar to ice kachang. The gula melaka mixture is actually quite good. Equal parts gula melaka and coconut so you get a bit of both but again, not very strong. This is either a boon or bane to people who like either less or stronger taste.

Overall, i was pleasantly surprised. I expected it to be not worth another visit and was proven wrong.

Verdict: Decent food at decent prices.