Breakfast at Kelliney Coffee @ Lucky Plaza Orchard Road

If a bowl of noodles can bring you back many years to your childhood, this is not it. I brings me to a future where I will NOT order another one.

Often, I take a bus to alight in front of Luck Plaza in the morning, I notice a brightly lighted, shop. This is the only shop that is opened before 8am and serves breakfast. Except for the obvious Mcdonald's this is the only one that I see.

Like moths attracted to light, curiousity overcame me today and took the few steps upstairs and into the shop.

Business was brisk with the lady, with her shrill voice, shouting orders from the customers to the rest of the staff behid the counter.

I notice that many of the prices shown in the sighboard which hangs above the counter are shoddily modified. The price for a bowl of noodles was originally $3.00 and with just a small picece of masking tape, with 50 written on, pasted over the double zeros. This exists all over the board.

I took a look at the menu and sure enough the shop is still using the old menu. That had me fooled. I thought a bowl and a coffee will cost me $4.00 as indicated in the menu: $3.00 noodles soup/dry and coffee $1.00.

Without an apology or an explanation, the lady at the counter just told me $4.60. I was taken aback. Sure that the landload may have increased the rent in these tough economic times; sure that the government had given some money for the landlord; sure that the landlord has not lower the rent or the overheads have increased. And sure I'm not going back for the overcharge bowl of noodles and coffee.

The serving was certainly big (bowl). The noodles occupies less than half of the bowl, which has a look of a very small serving. Perhaps the boiling soup used to cook the noodles did not have enough flavour that noodles has no taste at all. It seem to be steamed and pooped on top of the tomato sauce. The slices of fishballs in the bowl tasted dry and leathery.

The coffee tasted bitter- not the mood but really the taste.

All these, which you see in the picture cost $4.60.

While I was eating, and drinking, I notice many customers, mostly young women, buying a the bee hoon. I assume that since the profit does not come from the food, then IT MUST BE THE FUNGSHUI. Lucky in Luck Plaza.

Then I looked around and saw this sign:

This sign is shown to the customers already sitting and eating. A set meal of bee hoon, egg sunny side up and a coffee at $2.80. I wonder if the sign is to offer regret to customers who have ordered or to entice customers to come in to make a purchase. From the way the sigh was put, facing inwards, it is the former.

And so I proceed on the Novena and ordered the same thing from a coffeeshop. The serving was 1.5 time more noodles in a bowl filled almost to the top, with coffed not so bitter. It costs $2.50+$0.70 = $3.20. Oh yes, the noodles in Novena tastes better. Definately.(not the price but the to the toungue)