Those of us who have ermmm crossed the BIG 30 will find Old School Delights located at Upper Thomson Road a warm & fuzzy reminder of our childhood days at Nursery, Kindergarten & Primary School.
The cafe seeks to transport it’s diners back in time to the retro 80’s classrooms where teachers are still using chalkboards and school canteen aka tuckshop serves the traditional local delights.
Both traditional & ‘not so traditional’ Dessert Cakes served are freshly baked to satisfy our lust for sweet endings.
Popular biscuits & snacks of yesteryears were also sighted! But I am not sure if these were made inhouse.
Besides edible stuffs, Enid Blyton story books, Erasers aka rubbers, Tikam Tikam, Paper Aeroplanes, Chatek, Five Stones,
Snakes & Ladders Chess, Cutesy Stickers, Toy Guns and other childhood items from the good old days were also made available for purchase. Great place to show your kids the toys Mommy & Daddy used to play before electronic devices were invented.
With limited recess time, my colleagues and I quickly settled down at one of the many seats available during weekdays lunch.
I have to order from Lawrence Khoong from Class 4A Sexology Assignment Book. Who is this naughty Lawrence?
I bet he must be one of the boys in the Detention Room. Serves him right!
His assignment book did reveal 8 delicious main course options for us to chose from. We ordered the Mee Siam, Macaroni Soup, Nasi Lemak Besar as well as
the Hainanese Chicken Cutlet and Fish & Chips
Once the orders were taken, our busy tuckshop auntie quickly delivers our eating utensils with napkins in a vintage kopitiam metal mug.
While waiting for our food to arrive, we explored the content of our table’s toy box.
There are Five Stones, Old Maid Card Games and Erasers for us to entertain ourselves!
Our Barley Lime Juice came first. All my female colleagues loves this ‘refreshing tangy’ concoction. I just think it tasted weird – Barley mixed directly with Lime hmmm… This is the last time I am ever going to order this.
The Old School Heritage Mee Siam ($5.50) brought me back instantly back to the days when I was a kid taking swimming lessons at Hougang Swimming Pool. This Mee Siam tasted exactly the same as what I had at the pool canteen. To be honest, the Mee Siam tasted really normal. There was nothing amazingly impressive but it does has the capability to invoke memories.
Chicken Macaroni Soup ($5.90) was rather plain and boring. Order it only if you are not feeling well or if you like your meals light.
The Hainanese Chicken Cutlet ($8.90) smothered with homemade zesty sweet sour sauce was accompanied with fried rice. The chicken cutlet was crispy on the outside but the meat was a little tough. The sweet & sour sauce was pretty good, wished they can be more generous with it. It would have come in handy for the lukewarm and rather mild flavoured fried rice.
Nasi Lemak Besar ($6.90) was delivered on Pandan Leaves with a chicken wing, slice of egg, otak, fried peanuts and ikan billies. This cafe adopt a rather healthy cooking style – there was only faint hints of coconut in the rice. Thankfully there was the chilli sambal and tasty chicken wing to go with it.
The Otak was not exactly ‘jumbo’ as described in the menu. However, it makes up for size with it’s smooth texture and taste.
The Fish & Chips ($13.90) came in a considerable helping. The pinkish home made tartar sauce has a unique sweetness which goes really well with the hot, crispy fish fillets and fries. This dish however looks a little too modern to be part of the whole old school package.
The Cakes, Dessert and Drinks Menu can be easily read off the walls for ‘kids’ who want to end of their recess meal with something sweet.
We opted for the Chocolate Banana Fudge Cake ($5.80). It was just the right combination of fluffiness & sticky sweet fudge. The fudge was given way in excess for diners to indulge in its sweetness alone.
Lovely place to spend the afternoon with close childhood friends to catch up over familiar food, drinks and games. Here’s the full details of the cafe:
Old School Delights
215M Upper Thomson Road S574408
Tel: +65 6458 4518 & +65 8117 9407
Email: [email protected]
Opening Hours: 12pm to 11pm (Closed on Mondays & Tuesdays)
You may also like to check out my posts on other delicious food places here
