Mama Kopitiam — Restaurant in Albert-Eden

Today, I brought my family to this restaurant for a meal. My wife and I occasionally dine here, especially when our family returns from Malaysia. Compared to other Malaysian restaurants, we have always found this one to be superior.

My wife recently gave birth, and despite no longer living in the central area, we willingly drove 40 minutes just to enjoy the food here. However, we were disappointed when an elderly waitress told my wife that we couldn’t bring our stroller inside due to a lack of space. When I checked, there was clearly enough room, and the restaurant wasn’t even crowded at the time. This left a poor impression of their service.

Adding to the disappointment, both the chicken rice and nasi lemak were sold out when we arrived at around 2 PM—even though the restaurant operates until 9 PM. The last time I ordered chicken rice here, I was also told that extra rice was unavailable.

For a Malaysian restaurant, rice is a staple and should be prepared in advance when running low, rather than telling customers it’s sold out—especially for a signature dish like nasi lemak. The owner suggested calling ahead next time, but realistically, no customer would think to ask, “Do you have nasi lemak today?” before coming.

That said, I appreciate the owner’s gesture of waiving our bill. I hope they can improve their service and kitchen management to prevent these issues from...

Easy to miss since it is hidden on the side of the building across the road from the Greenland McDonalds. Place is decently sized and has both indoor and outdoor seating. We came in and were given menus after being seated. Menu had quite a few items which looked really interesting. They have classic favourites like the char kweh tiew. We then had to go up to the counter to order and pay. It is mostly help yourself, which includes the water. They also had a QR code on the table where you could order directly on the table. i had the dirty rice which came with a fried chicken cutlet. It was quite nice and the portions were ok. The place isn't too pricey, with most items under $20. Nice food so it is a place where you would want to come back to try the other items. The wat tan sang mee gravy was very wet, almost soupy. The roti was ok. The salt and pepper eggplant was really nice and crispy. The curry puff was nice with potato and egg. the pastry was short rather than flakey. The sesame noodles tasted like the Japanese roasted sesame dressing with the noodles. It was with vermicelli noodles.

Edit they have a new menu with vegetarian options and a soft shell crab laska, which was quite nice. The kon lo mee was nicely seasoned. They have a rewards club but you have to...

I had high expectations before I went there; mainly because of the good ratings online. The first thing that struck me was the disorganized and unfriendly service. I went for a takeaway; and took me more than 5 minutes just to able to place my order at the empty counter while waiting in vain. The cashier bluntly stopped me from ordering as she rushed to the coffee machine to fix a cuppa for another customer and she came back to take my order unapologetically. And then, I had to wait 25+ minutes for just 2 curry takeaway dishes; waiting in a very inconvenient narrow strip next to the counter. The food is overpriced; $15 for a simple fried rice dish, and $22 for chicken curry with potatoes without rice. The quality is average at best, and the price and waiting times were totally...