25 Places to Eat Cheap & Good Food in Orchard under $10 (some even below $5)

By Maureen & Aileen

Located within the central area of Singapore, Orchard Road is famous for its numerous shopping centres. However, it has always been painful when it comes to settling a meal in Orchard, as most of the time it involves us in burning a hole in our pocket. Do you know that you can easily get food under $10 or even $5 at Orchard? We’re talking about meals that can satisfy your tummy and your palettes. We have travelled into every nook of Orchard Road, and here’s a long list of places with cheap (and some with really good) food.

How about having a bowl of Buddha Jump Over The Wall for just $10? Stewed with generous amounts of mini delicacies such as dry scallops, abalone, mushrooms, sea cucumber and fish maw, the taste is mellow and tender. In fact it is lighter than Shen Xi Soup but still decent. A set comes with a small plate of bean sprouts and a bowl of rice. They also offer a variety of “atas” food such as Tom Yum Sea Cucumber Soup set ($5.90) and Baby Abalone in Sauce set ($9.10). Despite us arriving during lunch time, this place was surprisingly not crowded, hence we had no trouble finding us seats. Read more about it on https://www.chuankain1.sg-host.com/rabbit-brand-seafood-delicacies/

PeraMakan is a highly recommended place, because the food is SHIOK! For 1 meat and 2 vegetables, this meal cost $8.80. The beef rendang was soft and filled with fragrance of the spices. The spiciness really hits the spot but it’s too addictive to stop. The curry vegetable and lady fingers were on point too. If you’re ever shopping around Orchard Road, this is a MUST-TRY!

Saveur at Far East Plaza is under the same organization that manages Saveur Art located at Ion. The signature Saveur’s Pasta comes in two portions, $4.90 and $10.50. The latter is equivalent to that of a main. The pasta consists of chilli oil, chopped kombu, pork sauce, sakura ebi. Slightly on the drier side, the pasta was quite out of the ordinary. It was savoury with a touch of spiciness. The sakura ebi also gave a crunchy texture and slight salty taste to the pasta.

Located just a few stalls away in Lucky Food Centre, Hua Ji Sliced Fish Soup ($4) also garners quite a number of customers. Be prepared to queue for around 5 to 10 minutes before getting your orders taken, and as the food centre is rather small, it would be best to find a friend to help “chope” seats while you queue. A thumbs up to their aromatic soup as they are very generous with their shao xing wine. However, although the soup was addictive, their sliced fish was quite thin and their fried fish was slightly salty.

The famous Indonesian BBQ from Plaza Singapura’s Kopitiam can be found at 313@Somerset. They have the usual Ayam Panggang, Ikan Panggang and Sotong Panggang which can be ordered as ala carte or with a set which comes with a drink. The price range is from $5 to $8.60. I always go for the Ayam Panggang where the big chicken thigh is grilled till perfection and drizzled with black sauce that has a balance of sweet and savoury.

A small cozy eatery located in a corner of Cuppage Plaza, Orchard Yong Tau Fu has fresh ingredients such as stuffed tofu, mushrooms, bitter gourd, meatballs, broccoli and cabbage. The ingredients are cooked and served in flavorsome broth that was made from soy beans. For just 7 ingredients with noodles, it only costs $5.60.

As with all Pork Ribs Soup ($7 / $9), the quality of the dish depends strongly on the quality of the pork. Keeping this in mind, Song Fa uses good quality pork that is carefully simmered with garlic and pepper to achieve the clear and peppery soup. The peppery kick is not overpowering, balanced off with the sweetness from pork ribs. Another signature dish is the Braised Pig Trotters ($7 / $9) stewed with a range of spices to achieve the intense flavour and mouth-watering tenderness. Read about The Centrepoint’s new restaurants here: https://www.chuankain1.sg-host.com/the-centrepoint-new-restaurants-orchard/

At Greenview Café, you get to enjoy traditional handmade mee hoon kueh. The Dry Mee Hoon Kueh with Minced Pork ($4.50) has chewy mee hoon kueh and you could tell it is handmade as they were all in odd shapes. As mine was served spicy, the level of spiciness was so shiok that my lips was slightly swollen. So if you’re not able to take too spicy, you might want to choose soup or non-spicy.

This humble-looking stall is hidden in a corner of Lucky Plaza, and serves a wide variety of Indonesian dishes for their Nasi Padang. They have dishes that are spicy and non-spicy. Their green chili chicken was very tender and not spicy, but if you favor the spicy version, there’s the usual curry chicken. The dishes can be quite spicy, so be sure to ask before ordering if you can’t take spicy food. For this plate of Nasi Padang, where there’s fish, eggplant and chicken, the damage was $10.

A traditional Hainanese chicken rice stall in Far East Plaza, this is my chicken rice fix since secondary school days (no kidding). Their tender chicken rice costs $4 and you could add an egg for just $0.50. The chicken itself melts in your mouth is so full of flavours. You can top it will thick soy sauce and refreshing chilli. There is free soups for every diner. It’s quite a small shop so if you’re going to eat there during meal times, be sure to be early or you would have to wait for a seat.

Dapur Penyet’s owner Edy Ongkowijaya is considered by many as the first person to introduce ayam penyet to Singapore. Using rice flour and deep frying flour with egg as batter, the Ayam Penyet ($9.50) is not overcooked and retains a nice juiciness. The skin is wonderfully crispy, yet not hard. It comes with a batch of boiled kang kong, a piece of tempeh (fermented soya bean cake) and beancurd. One unique point of Depur Penyet is – they have 5 different types of sambal of varying spiciness, with origins from different parts of Indonesia. Read about The Centrepoint’s new restaurants here: https://www.chuankain1.sg-host.com/the-centrepoint-new-restaurants-2016/

The chicken cutlet was the star of RedRing Treasures. These cutlets are marinated for 24 hours in their secret marinade and freshly fried upon order so you get a crispy exterior with a tender and juicy interior. The egg noodles boast a springy texture when accompanied by their signature umami rich sauces, which complement the cutlets very well. The Chicken Cutlet Noodle costs $5.90, read about it here: https://www.chuankain1.sg-host.com/redring-treasures/

Not exactly a snack bar, but they do have a great variety of zi char dishes. The Salted Egg Pork Ribs Rice ($6) is executed really well. The pork rib was tender and easy to chew but we would have been slightly more satisfied if it consisted of a little crispiness. The sauce, on the other hand, was so wonderful, featuring the right balance of rich creaminess and aroma. There were curry leaves which enhanced its fragrance and chilli padi that gave it a good kick. This beautiful sauce didn’t taste gelat at all and we enjoyed every mouthful. We would highly recommend this dish to anyone who’s in town and wants some enjoyable yet affordable food. You can also try their claypot beef mee tai mak. Read more about it: https://www.chuankain1.sg-host.com/new-station-snack-bar/

Tasty Treats is conveniently located beside New Station Snack Bar. The Fish Fillet Noodle ($4) is an interesting mix of fried fish fillet with wanton mee’s kind of noodles. The fish fillet is crispy and juicy, like those from a Western food stall. The noodles were also al dente, and especially love it when eaten with the chili.

Real Food Café, located at Killiney Road, is a vegetarian restaurant. Despite the zen furnishing of the restaurant, the Mushroom Aglio Olio ($10.80) tasted rather bland. It actually lacked in fragrance of the garlic and was not savoury. It did have some spiciness but that was all.

Specialized in their Ayam Penyet ($7.90), the set comes with smashed chicken, fried tempe, fried tofu, blanched kang kong, sambal chili and rice. For people who love spicy food, their sambal belachan would definitely not disappoint you. Spicy yet addictive, it was a literally a love-hate when you want to have the sambal but your mouth was already burning. The chicken was flavorful as you could taste spice used, however the meat was slightly tough and dry.

At $9.90, you could get a bowl of Beef Pho at Tonkin Vietnamese Noodles Bar. The rice noodle was al dente, but the soup could taste better with more flavours from the beef broth. There was a generous portion of beef and vegetables, so if you’re not picky with the taste, it’s quite worth the price.

Not exactly at an easily locatable place, Thai Tantric is a small eatery at corner. The Pork Belly Rice ($7.20) consists of rice, sunny side up and, crispy and well-seasoned pork belly. The pork belly was slightly tough and thin, but the seasoning was really tasty. The chili sauce was rather spicy but does not really suit my taste.

The Beer Battered Fish ($8.90) at Ngee Ann City, was quite big a portion. The fish was soft and moist, and the batter was light and crispy. Served along with fries, this was actually more than enough for me. Really for this price and the portion, it’s a great catch, don’t you think?

Located at level 6 of Lucky Plaza, My Favourite Café is known for their Yong Tau Foo, but they also sells Fishball Noodles and Wanton Noodles. For $5.60, you get to choose 8 yong tau foo ingredients accompanied with rice or noodles. They are famous for their deep fried meatball, but it felt rather dry personally. On the other hand, their famed braised mushroom had fragrant garlic taste and was juicy. The soup is robust with flavors of soy bean and the other ingredients also tasted very fresh.

Where else can you settle a meal in Orchard with just $3.80? At River Valley Nasi Lemak, you have 5 different sets to choose from, and they’re all just $3.80. Their chicken drumstick set comes with fried chicken that was very big and crispy, along with fish, otah and egg. The chili was sweet and spicy, and goes very well with the rice. The downside of having cheap and good food is the queue; don’t be too shock when you see how long it can be.

Upon entering into this place, it was as though I travelled back in time into a chicken rice stall with white marbled floor and round wooden stools. Their fragrant rice paired with their homemade chili is very addictive. The chicken was soft and placing it on light soy sauce enhances the taste of the roasted chicken. The roasted chicken rice ($4.50) comes with soup but if you would like a drink, that’s $1.50 more. If you find this place too crowded, you could always pop by at Rabbit Brand Delicacies Food Outlet, which is just down the corridor.

Just up the escalator to level 4, you can easily spot As-Shifaa Café which is just around the corner. Everyone queuing there is just waiting for one thing, their deep fried chicken with rice and sambal ($4.50). You get to choose the part of the chicken you would like to go along with your rice. The sambal that a given is a perfect match for the chicken. Nonetheless, they do close as early as 4pm so be sure to be early if you want some tasty fried chicken.

At Inasal Philippine Barbecue, most of the dishes are barbecued. As most dishes are not in English, it can be a little difficult to order, but feel free to ask as the staff there is rather friendly. Initially, Pork Inasal set (pork on stick) was chosen, but the kind staff suggested Pork Belly set ($9) as he felt it was a nicer dish. The pork belly was slightly charred and oily, so if you’re health conscious, you might want to steer off this dish. The achar (pickled vegetables) was different from the Nonya version, as it was sweet and sour, making it very appetizing. By the way, if you’re not familiar with Lucky Plaza, it would take you awhile to find this shop. Try locating their bakery also named Inasal and you would be able to find the eating place tucked behind it.

Situated in Lucky Food Centre, Fancy Vegetarian Food offers a variety of vegetarian dishes to go along with either fried rice, rice, or beehoon. For this plate of beehoon with 4 sides, it was just $4. Their curry vegetable was surprisingly spicy, but it enhances the taste of the beehoon. The best part was none other than the crispy and fragrant Vegetarian Mock Goose, which was fried just right and not too charred.

Let’s build a food community that helps to update the food news in Singapore! Simply comment below to recommend more affordable and good food in Orchard Road. Thanks in advance!

MissTamChiak.com paid for all the meals featured here.