Renovation of Coffee Shop =(

Yeah, money is always the starter of all problems, and thus they are the solution too.. haha =D If i have the money, i will be part of your company to start up a 80s coffee shop, and u shall be the director, and i be a small shareholder only.. haha Wow, u have got 3 coffee shops around u?? That's great so that u won't get bored with the same food everyday or every other day.. hehe =D Well, at least when one of it went busted, u are still left two 2 to choose from and that's not too bad.. YEah, whenever a coffee shop undergo 'surgery', they will only try to take good care of the appearance but not on the inner construction, which will be the quality of food.. All the owners care is about profit and money.. Thus, u see here again, money is the source of all problems.. lol Yup, after the renovations at the coffee shop here, prices remain and food get even more tastier, plus, they are still preserving the old school type of cooking ^_^ If u have time, u can come down here to try, it's just opposite SGH, blk 146.. Try their lor mee and laksa, they are only $2 and delicious.. hehe =D They have been around here since i was a kid till now, almost 20 yrs ^_^ The memory is inside my head now, and so i need not take any photos to remember them ^_^ PLUS, they are getting on in age and i'm not sure if their son will take over their stall not.. And if the son take over, i'm not sure if it will be as nice like now.. hehe Yeah yeah, very right.. That's why alot of ple say that being in the F&B line, often earns the most, because they can increase their prices over every slightest thing, or even blame it on raw materials.. lol =D SO no matter how bad or small portion is the food, they will still get customers because singaporeans just loved to eat, and so even with no regulars, they can make do with new customers everyday.. haha =D But very soon, i believe that the coffee shop will fold soon due to no business as their food is high in price, low in quantity and quality.. lol Lau pa sat is no more like b4, so crowded with all the good food.. NOw it's been modernised too, making all the food so expensive, just wanna cheat all the tourist money with their substandard food.. I think if i were to bring them eat at normal coffee shop, they will sure say the food is much more worth it than lau pa sat.. haha =D As for bugis street, it has a major makeover and everything has changed, no more like the 80s type, everything is aircon and of coz prices increased as well :( ANd in case for anybody whom dunno about singapore, this is how singapore is like.. haha

Lol and will you be the one doing all the work, with me reaping in the profits? Now.. that sounds like a GREAT idea! Let us split 80-20.. me the first one and yours the latter figure. How about it? SOunds great? When do you want to set up the kopitiam? 1 year from now? Hehe.. Actually I have more than 3 coffeeshops around me.. Lol.. there are many shops (eg the furniture shop and the stationary shop) that closed down and had been converted into coffeeshops too.. It used to be around 3 Chinese coffeeshops and 3 Malay kopitiams in the past.. now there is a total of 7 Chinese ones and 4 Malay ones. So.. it's kind of oversaturated with the kopitiams.. but all of them are just selling horrible tasting food.. The only good one had been converted to CK departmental store. Go figure. Lol.. now that sounds just so nice.. SGH area are all old buildings and its of no surprise that you don't have the modern stores, but in fact it's the lao jioa that still remains.. So, the food will still remains tasty.. and this goes also for food stalls in Jurong and Clementi.. They still retained the old school magic of cooking food. It will be a real shame if the son does not want to take over the food stall if the food is really that delicious. It would be like the father's efforts over the years would have gone down the drain after he passed on with nobody to take over him. Yeah I agree.. =( Lau Pa Sat and Bugis Village are just 2 of the victims of modernisation. And those born before the 80s are all complaining about the loss of something familiar and good.. I had just been to Lau Pa Sat after the renovations.. and it's like the stingray is totally lousy and its costly. That was my first time there and also my last time. Do you know that now the old Changi Village hawker centre is also under renovations? Hopefully it will not be like another Bugis Village where it is given a major makeover and there is no remains of what it used to be. I still remember BUgis village with all the food carts selling food and people squeezing people... but I don't remember those cubicles like what they have now.. But now when I walked past Bugis Village.. I see a food court??? Never step foot there and never will.

I wish that I am rich! Then I can do what ever I want to do with the cash that I have on hand. It's so sad to be poor and watching others fulfil their dreams and wishes because they have the dough. Boo hoo hoo.. If I am rich, i would sure love to open that sort of coffeeshop that I am customed with while growing up! It would surely bring back a lot of fond memories for those who are born in the 80s and before. And I would sure have lots of customers who crave for that kind of experience and memory as well.. Hmm.. Wanna join me as one of the shareholderS? Lol.. =D You are so damn lucky! I wish that I was staying in your area! In my area, the coffeeshop at 445 was not the only one affected by modernisation! The one at 478 underwent the change last year, and 1 of the older coffeeshop went bust and had given way to a CK departmental store. Within a year, all the coffeeshops that I had grew up with around my area was gone, or had underwent renovations. And I thought that the one at 445 had been spared. Well, aparantly not. Lol, all the good food and ambience is gone. NO wonder all the new coffeeshops are empty what with their sub-standard quality food and the exhorbitant prices that we have to pay for those swill.. You mean to say that after renovations, the food quality actually got better and the prices still stays the same!? You are so lucky! Better take more pictures of the stores there and enjoy the food as well. You will never know when they will be gone the next time round you are there!! So, with those photos, you can still go round searching for those food stores even when they have shifted. SMart right? That sounds so logical. It kind of makes sense that in order to cover the cost of all those renovation works, they will have to jack up the rental prices, and in doing so, the food vendors have no choice but to pass the additional costs to us - their consumers. At the same time, they would have to reduce on the portion of food given to us, and make do with sub-standard quality ingredients to make the same kind of food in order to survive themselves. It's no wonder that even though the coffeeshops looks nice now, their quality of food had been dropping and dropping, and in the process losing loyal customers and revenue. It's kind of like a vicious cycle, as when customers are lost, renevue is also lost. And the vendors, in order to recoup the losses try to cut back on the quality of the food, and raise the prices even higher, which makes them lose even more customers. I could never understand why people would want that to happen.=( Bring back the old and all problems would be solved! Unfortunely not everyting would work out the way we want them to! That's the sad part about life!I hate the progress of Singapore. it's too suffocating and too much fast paced for my liking. Sigh~ I sure wish for the childhood of when I am growing up. It's all lost now to modernisation.. Just like bugis street and lau pat sat!

That is why have to be on the constant search for good food. The food served now a days at the food courts, especially those by Kopitiam, are well... food. You pay a high price for the food. You feel full eating it. But there is no sense of satisfaction that you ate something. IT is probably why so many people are obese these days. Cos after an unsatisfactory meal, everyone is still seeking to feel that feeling of emptiness in the mouth with something else. Even simple things like red bean soup, they can also make it taste like boiled sugar water. Really no meaning to eat at all. That is why, when the good stalls leave, I leave with them too. The best part is this. The food is so horrible, yet there are long queues for it. It really makes me wonder every time I see the queues for food that are just, well, food! It is no longer an enjoyment at every meal. Just sustenance to keep the body going. That's all. Sad, isn't it?

That is a bit of news to me! Thanks for sharing this information Really appreciated. The renovation cost should not be passed on to their patrons.. afterall, the renovations was not requested by us.. but by the owners of the coffeeshop. I could never understand the reason behind that. In the end, we are paying for something that we don't even want and in the process we sacrifice what we want - quality good food. I agree with you.. In the past, only people who could cooked delicious quality home cooked food will come out and open a food stall selling what they are cooking, however nowadays, anybody who can cut ingredients and put them all together with some capital in their pockets can also open a stall. Gone are the days whereby only people who sell good food have business. I can totally understand why your regular kopitiam uncle says that. Because of the rising cost of rental fees, they will have to pass the cost to their patrons and in turn, patrons turn to other food stalls for cheaper food. Thus, the owners will lose out in the end.. and will soon fold to make way for the newer stalls. Renovations is never a win-win situation for both the stall owners as well as their patrons. Who's winning is just the owner of the coffeeshops. That's all to it. Sacrifices will have to be make to progress.. Dog eat dog world..

We Singaporeans must be dumb to paying so much for something just to fill up our stomach. Elsewhere in other parts of the world, one would not have heard of this sort of things going on in their countries. Lol. Food that gives satisfaction is usually so expensive that we can never survive eating good food on our meager pay. We have to sacrifice our satisfaction for something that gives survival but also at a higher rate than what you can find in other countries. Yeah~ I always find myself munching on chocolates and candies even after a full meal. It is like psychologically, we are still hungry, but physically, we are actually very full. You might be right in saying that is why most of us are obese nowadays, as we are eating way beyond what our bodies requires per day. But what choice do we have? Lol, Singaporeans loves to queue! Kiasusm I guess When a food stall has a long queue, then the food must be good! Or so the mentality of us goes. There is this two curry chicken noodles in Hong lim Complex Chinatown that tastes normal and taste like laksa, but there is a long queue for it every single day! Till today, I have no idea why. The only unique thing about it is that they are using steam chicken instead of the normal 'curry' ones. ::Shrugs:: I could never understand the mentality of Singaporeans.

It does . Sigh~ I miss all the buildings and feelings of the good old days. Lol, afterall I am born in the 80s, and is an oldie at heart. Modernity is really 'stealing' away everything that we know and replacing them with strangers in their place, but no matter what, they would never have a place in our hearts though! Haha, I can just about see that in my mind. You seem to be the sort of people who does enjoy the old fashioned method of withdrawing money from the bank. It kind of suits you over the newer fashion of using the ATM machine. I do enjoy that experience too, just chatting with the teller and all that stuff, but then when the queue gets too long, off I will go to the ATM machine which is much faster than queuing at the banks. And of course, ATMs are just more convenient than taking a bus to the Central just to take out money! AHH~ That image that you had just described so vividly is in my mind right now, and I can see the man preparing the masala in the way you writing! Yummy! I would love to try that out one of these days if I am around your area! Is it still around? Lol, all human beings loves to gossip no doubt about that, and no one can ever run away from this fact! but a little gossip is always good to pass time away. Well, take care my friend! And yes, happy mylottinG!!

Hola I am now living in mazatlan Mexico...but am originally from The Good OLd US of A. I do feel that you might just like tis Movis the Matrix and may even be able to identify with it. Its not your typically scifi. In general I feel the same way about scifi...but this one is different. Yes in the USA of a there are people who will eat synthetic anything with out regard and others that will not eat anything unless it is certified 100 percent natural and organic. The good thing is people have a choice and if they want can be educated about these type of things. Things are not as they seem. let the buyer beware. Healthy eating and happy lotting. Where are you staying? :)

i'M from singapore =)

Now.. That would be a scary thought! I sure hope not, with all the contaminated food products hitting the news. WOuld there be a day whereby all food products in the market are considered contaminated and pulled off the shelves? It's scary to think about the noodles being synthethic processed matrix ones ::Shudders:: But I guess anything could be possible in this modern world of technology. Lol. YOu mean to say that in THe USA, they are really using synthethic noodles to cook noodles dishes!? Eeks! I would not dare to eat the noodles over in USA if I ever go there for a vacation. And nope, I have never seen THe Matrix. Don't really like sci-fic movies as I could never identify myself with them and I would fall asleep whilst watching them. Weird right? Haha =D Where are you staying? It just seems that the advanced countries are all trying to outdo one another with their modern renovations and everything, such that all old buildings and old places of heritage are all gone. I still miss them =(

Yeah, not to say that advancements in the society is not good, but then it just changes the whole feel about a certain thing, and the magic is gone when that happens. It can be sad as well as the reminder about the past is all gone, and the only fond memories we can have is from the photos of the places. Old buildings and old places have their own certain charm that modern buildings can never replace. New buildings are as what they are - modern and clean cut. But then no charm at all. That's the thing I miss about the old coffeeshops around that are all gone! Technology is good, yes when it makes our lives easier, but what does the technology have to do about old buildings? That is something which I could never understand. Sure, the place is cleaner but then the charm about the place is gone to sleek cut looks. Sigh~ We will just have to accept changes as it is, afterall, what can we do about it? Start a protest march? Lol.. But then the past will always have a special place within our hearts that newer buildings could never replace. Thanks for your comments! I enjoy reading through it. Well, take care my new friend and happy Mylotting!

I know in these times specially , to loose even more is such a horrible thing . The magic bring back the magic . One day maybe I will have my own little coffee shop or pub then as long as I am around I can keep a warm , coming home feel . For now I will sit back and watch and see what happens . It may not be all bad , I hope so anyway . You know though a protest just might be fun ! :D Hope to see more of your writing here soon !

I know in these times specially, to loose even more is such a horrible thing . The magic bring back the magic . One day maybe I will have my own little coffee shop or pub then as long as I am around I can keep a warm, coming home feel . For now I will sit back and watch and see what happens . It may not be all bad, I hope so anyway . You know though a protest just might be fun!:D Hope to see more of your writing here soon! Remember to invite me along when your cafe is up and running. Seriously that just sounds so nice and inviting and I would love to visit your cafe if you manage to set it up!! And I know you can do it! Haha.. protesting in Singapore I will never dare to even think about that! Lol.. it would just end myself up in jail. Lol. Protesting in Singapore is illegal