Well, my principal insisted on calling it a cafe, because I suppose it sounds better and more high-class. Being the pioneer leader of the school (it was a new school and he was the first principal ever), he even made sure the design of the chairs were suitably cafe-like, with those wiry bits wrapped around a metal frame akin to what you might find at a cheap outdoor dining establishment. His attention to detail extended to the food stalls themselves, which had cute little awnings in the style of a French marketplace.
The food was cheap and good. My three favourite dishes were:
#1 Fishball noodles
The Chinese noodles stall was, together with the chicken rice stall, the most popular, with long queues forming during every single recess session. Its signature offering, fishball noodle soup, was only 60 cents. Each serving consisted of one factory-made fishball which was mostly flour, some thin slices of fishcake (yup, from a factory), a heap of yellow noodles with very strong alkaline smell, and lots of MSG-laden soup. Looking at the description I just wrote, I feel a little freaked-out. But at that time, as kids, that fishball noodle soup was manna! For those who wanted variety, there was also prawn noodle soup, chicken noodle soup, and laksa for 80 cents.
#2 Curry chicken rice
From the Malay food stall came this gem of a dish: 80 cents for a large mound of steamed white rice, slathered in a flavourful gravy of robust curry, with a juicy and tender chicken drumstick on the side. The curry was spicy, and was richly perfumed with the unmistakable aroma of copious amounts of curry leaves, coconut milk and other spices. I really loved this curry chicken rice and would eat it multiple times in a single week!
#3 Hainanese chicken rice
To be honest, calling it Hainanese chicken rice is a bit of a travesty. But it was white, and contained chicken and rice, so hey, I labelled it as such. At $1 (later increased to $1.20), it was one of the most expensive foods in the cafe. Maybe they knew they had the monopoly on this uniquely Singaporean food, and when the craving strikes, people will still pay. I would scoff at the laughable rendition of chicken rice now, but it was all the rage then, with its stringy shreds of tasteless chicken, bland rice, and watery chilli sauce.
It might seem like I hated the canteen food, but that is not true at all. When I was in primary school, I thought the food was AWESOME. Only now that I am older, wiser, more discerning and perhaps more fussy do I realise how simplistic and unhealthy some of the food really was.
Having said that, I guess you cannot expect much more from food being sold for a dollar or less in a school canteen, can you?
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