Makan in NUS

Oct - Nov 2010. Written by Xin Li.
While Liang Wei pampered himself with the formal dinners in Cambridge with his formal dinners, I am munching on canteen food in NUS (hopefully I would be able to visit you next year june =/). Generally canteen food from Arts and Engineering blocks can satisfy my hunger needs easily from $1.60.

Being situated near the MacDonalds (which has turned 24 hours recently due to examinations), most people following the Aki Diet would find at least 50% of their diet dominated by MacDonald Breakfast, MacDonald Supper, MacDonald, Lunch, MacDonald Dinner etc. To me, that is hell!

Luckily there are quite a lot of options around school, it is just whether one wants to walk a bit further with the aid of shuttle buses or one is able to make do with it. If white truffles, abalone, lobster, miso-infusion is your staple, this would probably give you an allergic reaction.

Some of the food you can find in NUS:

Indonesian Food, extremely popular across the school with a three branches in Science, Engineering and Arts. The Indonesian Food stalls are highly efficient and very well-known for their Ayam Penyet (4.00 SGD) and Grilled Chicken (3.00 SGD). My only complaint is that sometimes their Grilled Chicken Set can be quite salty. Otherwise, their chicken is normally quite tender, not too dry. Their chili sauce is very spicy and the barbeque sauce is quite addictive and sweet.

Then there is the Hougang Fishball Noodles at TechnoEdge. For 2.00 SGD, you can have a delicious Fishball Noodles with Mushroom. I thought it was quite good. The noodles has a decent texture.

Indian Food at The Deck. Compared to Technoedge’s Indian Food. I find the Mutton Briyani more pricey and less fragrant.

Miso Korean Food at the newly opened Food Junction at Yusof Ishak House. The food court was described by a fellow coursemate as serving “inedible noodles” at one point of time from his personal experience. The food court has been given a facelift and even has Pepper Lunch in it. Also present is Taiwanese food by Formosa Delights and there is Japanese food too. Compared to the canteen stalls, they are much more expensive even at NUS student & staff prices.

I had the BBQ Chicken Set, which came with soup, rice, kim chi and a generous portion of BBQ Chicken. I thought it was quite okay. Somehow, I love the kimchi here, not sure if it is the authentic one, not too strong in flavour yet somewhat refreshing.

My studiomate had a bowl of Kimchi Soup with rice and kimchi. It was best described as “smoking hot”. The prices for both ranges around 4.50-5.50 for NUS staff and students.

Last but not least, there is the Fried Kway Teow and Snacks stall at the Deck. I shall leave it to you to decide how it is due to personal reasons. =) My meals here were filled with love heh.