If you have been following my blog for quite a while, you would know that I spend a whole load of money on dining in general and they can add up quite a bit at the end of the month. On average, I usually spend about $100-$150/week on weekends just on dining alone. Add those groceries which we have bought for the weekdays and this amount does add up substantially.
For some reason, Our family has a habit of going out during the weekends. This includes the bigger family of both my parents and brother on top of my wife and son, so we are talking about 5 to 6 people each time. Because we frequent the hawkers or food courts pretty often during the weekdays, we tried to avoid the same during the weekends.
After frequenting so many dining places during the past couple of years, I have been to most of the restaurants within the radius near my staying area. Because of the inconvenience to bring my toddler out with no private car and a crowd larger than what a single taxi can fit in, we usually ended up going to malls that are rather near the central area.
It is actually pretty difficult to find meals at value price at these malls as you would have probably known how crazy Reits these days at working their efficiency in increasing their rents every year. However, I will bring you my top 3 favorite dining places which I think is undervalued and they are my personal recommendation for extreme value (both price and quality).
1.) Shi Li Fang
This is a Taiwanese steamboat restaurant with a rather unique set-up in a way that you get to cook the dishes in your individual steam pot. The lunch set is priced at $9.90 and you get to choose two different soup base which taste extremely delicious. The portion is rather good for an individual and if anytime you need more, the meat dishes (beef/chicken/fish) are at a 50% discount top-up ala carte.
Do note that the $9.90 set includes the drink and rice as well, hence they are very worth in my opinion.
I often frequent the place on the one at Orchard Central though I understand they have a couple more branches at Icon Village, etc.
2.) Yayoiken
This is a Japanese cuisine restaurants which you can find in a number of shopping malls.
A few of the lunch set there is priced in at $9.90, which includes a salad, miso soup, side dishes and the main meal. The rice served there is also authentic japanese rice, which you can top up unlimited flow as much as you want.
The food is really decent and for that price these days it’s rather uncommon seen in a restaurant.
3.) Imperial Treasure – Noodle & Congee House
This is a typical simple Chinese meal where you get very delicious cuisine at a very affordable pricing.
On top of that, the quality of the food is top notch and the Imperial Treasure brand doesn’t disappoint. Value meal to bring the elderly in your family.
Final Thoughts
I am probably not your everyday advocates of value meals.
I enjoy the company of great food and ambience with frequent family gathering and I put that as part of my lifestyle expansion as my income grows to a more comfortable level. Nevertheless, I usually try to find meals that are more affordable unless it’s a special occassion like wedding anniversary or birthday where I tend to spend more.
I am not turning into a food gourment either like ladyironchef so you might not have liked the above I recommend. Just take it with a pinch of salt, just like anything else 🙂
What about you? Any dining recommendation that you think is value?
Hi B,
Thanks for the recommendations. Now I have a few more places to visit at good price. Haha. $9.90 for lunch us quite affordable.
Hi SGYI
You're welcome.
Ahh shucks, now that I remember you, I had forgotten to list down another value place, Aston 🙂
Hi B,
Thanks for your post, I am one of those that dine out almost every week, and like you, spend about 150-200 a week. I was wondering just yesterday if I am a spendthrift in this sense. LOL
My recommendation might be a but weird, but here goes.
1) Swensen
2) Pizza Hut
3) Along bukit timah, opposite beauty world ( Cheong Chin Nam Road )
Teochew porridge (non air-con), plenty of other choices
4) swa garden (teochew cuisine )
540 MacPherson Road Singapore 368223
Hi Silly investor
Ahh you have the same weakness as me 😀
I've tried the first 3 you mentioned but not the last one. I think I'll put that on my list of food to try the next time round.
Hi B,
Never been to the makan place that you mentioned above (maybe it is because I am not a foodie).
Talking about food, I blogged about an app called The Entertainer that offer one-for-one for all their associated restaurants in Singapore (with a nominal annual fee), check it here if you are interested : http://www.investopenly.com/2014/11/time-to-make-some-one-for-one-savings.html
Hi Richard
You've got to try one day!!! Let's have our next session there hahaha.
I've just read your post you have given and the concept does look extremely interesting. The price though is a little steep in my honest opinion based on a number of vendors whom I have never heard before.
If you are close with the person who created the concept, do give a feedback to him/her to lower the price down a little bit, give each parties a room to try on whether it's worth the money. $60 does sound just a tad expensive for me but I don't know. Have you tried it yourself? How was it?
Hi B : Agreed with you that they need ot bring in more well known/popular restaurant onboard to make it more attractive. Having said that, $60 per year (which is $5 a month) quite ok for those dinning out frequently… Besides, if I am not wrong, they allow up to 3 1-for-1 claim at each restaurant.
I have the app but haven't use it for 2015…;-)
Hi B,
Woah you frequent Orchard area.. atas eh. Anyway, Yayoiken is newly opened in Star Vista too. My choice would still be hawker food but for large family with small kids, these are some other cheaper options:
1) Eggs & Berries
2) Ding Tai Fung
3) Itacho sushi
No obligations to try though, enjoy! 🙂
Hi Jes
Good to see you here 😀
You know I am holding FCT so I rather frequent places where I am a shareholder instead of going to competitors. hehehe but it's my wife and parents who likes going to a more central area so no choice but to follow.
I've actually never tried Eggs & Berries. I just checked the place and they are located at either Jurong or Changi City Point (Thanks from FCT shareholder point of view). I doubt I'll go to these places with a little kid anytime soon but we'll see about that. Those brunches I've tried are incredibly mad expensive – Wild Honey for example.
Thanks for sharing though I will definitely try them if I visit these malls.
Hi B,
I haven't tried the other 2 but agree that Imperial Treasure is very good for its price! There's this Korean restaurant recommended by my friends in Heartland Mall (Kovan) which I thought was quite good and reasonably priced too. I think the name is called Hansik Korean Restaurant. Give it a try if you have time!
Hi Secretinvestors
Thanks for your recommendation.
I will give it a try if I am visiting that area soon.
🙂
I like Hansik, authentic Korean food. For Kovan, there's a place called "knuckles" which serves $10 pork knuckles! (google for reviews, there's a lot of them. Think they just increased price from $8 to $10)
Hi B
An interesting topic to discuss about. I will go try he Taiwanese steamboat u mentioned in our post soon. For me, my top 3 value restaurants to visit are still:
1) Saizeriya – best value italian-japanese fushion restaurant
2) Collins bento and grills (restaurant standard food in coffeeshop)
3) KFC. Can just walk in to order chicken wings at $1 per piece. Usually 3 to 4 pieces of chicken wings will do the job for me. Water just ask for ice water.
Cheers
J
Hi Jfree
Saizeriya interests me!!!
I will be visiting the place out pretty soon and vice versa do let me know how you feel about the Taiwanese steamboat.
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Hello B,
Interesting restaurant recommendations, but none of them seem to be near where I stay. 🙁
Being a SGR investor, I frequent Wisma Atria and Ngee Ann City a lot. Haha. One of our favourite restaurant is Domani at Level B2 of Ngee Ann City. It serves Italian and Western cuisine. The price is decent in our view and the taste is not bad.
Hi SRSI
Ahh, I must have bumped into you sometimes.
I've never heard of Domani though now that you mentioned it, I've got to give it a try for sure. Is that by the one near the Cold Storage supermarket there?
Domani is actually along the B2 corridor between Wisma Atria and Ngee Ann City. Next to Crystal Jade Kitchen.
Map
Thanks SRSI.
I will check this out definitely. Never really notice them.
Hi B!
The pictures of the food you have up here makes me hungry. : )
Personally, I am not a big fan of investing in restaurants but some of the ones I would consider initiating positions in would include: McDonalds, Burger King and Tim Hortons.
Hi Jeff
Good to hear from you!!!
I don't like investing in service industries as well. I think the competition is wide and unless you have a moat as big as Mcdonalds or Taco Bell, I think it's going to be pretty much low growth for years to come. With labor crunch ever going more difficult, it'll add to the burden for service industries.
Thank you so much for this. I like to get value out of a meal. It is funny because I sometimes have better memories of bad food than I do of good food. I mean better in a sense of that they are more clear. This is probably because I hate wasting money on bad food. It is just disappointing.
Cristopher @ Lamoraga Restaurant
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