Ministry of Defence

I’ve contemplated writing this review for a long time… And no photos can ever accompany this review or appear on this page because… gasp! You’ll be charged in military court good luck to you!
I’ve spent a couple months working here, and I think the canteen is amazing. I think it offers the perfect combination of price, value, and delish, probably because of lower rental canteen stall operators pay vis-​a-​vis outside. How you can ever gain entry inside here — I don’t know. I assume you have to get Singaporean citizenship, if you don’t already possess it, and then change pass, and possibly fit into your SAF uniform. So this review is really for NSmen, I suppose.
So the canteen is really big and there are two levels, and if you’re lucky, sometimes you’ll spot a real high-​flyer, having a cuppa with his staff.
Level 1:
There are 8 stalls here, namely, chicken rice, snack, fruit, beverage, double-​boiled soups, noodle, yong tau foo, and vegetarian.
Chicken Rice Stall
Their chicken rice is soso, and they have other meats like roast duck, charsiew, and white and roasted chicken. You can get a complete set of chicken rice, with char siew, soup, veggies, and fried Thai-​style tofu for about $ 5. Talk about value (and over-​eating). They do serve chicken congee before lunch-​time, which costs about $ 2, and you add 30 cents for a raw egg. Not bad at all.
Snack Stall
Sells bought kueh, buns, and sometimes makes popiah on Friday lunchtime, where popiah runs out within an hour because who doesn’t love popiah?
Fruit Stall
This stall sells frozen yogurt, juices, and fruits. I don’t like this stall because the one on Level 2 is so much better. Don’t patronize this place.
Beverage Stall
Apparently the tea and coffee on Level 2 is much better. Don’t patronize this place for tea or coffee.
Soup Stall
Quite expensive — about $ 3.50 for a tiny bowl of soup with ingredients; same price as outside I suppose. Offers brown rice option but I never tried.
Noodle Stall
Dear goodness. Outstanding. They have different noodles on each day, but mee pok is their staple. I can’t recall their daily specials, but Monday is prawn mee day (good), Tuesday duck noodle, Wednesday LOR MEE (YES PLEASE), Thursday ramen (I’ve heard this sucks), Friday… I forgot. So yeah, great place.
Yong Tau Foo Stall
Offers a variety of soup bases — soto, tom yum, laksa, and the standard YTF brew. Very inexpensive. Don’t even consider price as you pick to your heart’s content. The auntie here is amazing — she remembers how I like my YTF done. And also everyone else. I think she has photographic++ memory. Why ++? Her memory is THAT good. Usually, people eat their YTF in soup, with noodles in sauce. I eat mine plain in their nice, savory, tasty standard brew.
Be prepared to wait 10 – 15 minutes for your food during lunchtime.
Vegetarian Stall
Expensive, substandard.
Level 2:
There are 6 stalls here (prata closed down).
Noodle Stall
Offers wanton mee, fish soup etc.
Not nice, IMHO; mediocre.
Sells-​everything-​Stall
Kway Chap (3.5÷5), Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and 小碗面 (soso) on Tuesday and Thursday. I do like their kway chap, but eat it for lunch because their preserved vegetables tend to be not stewed enough earlier in the day. 小碗面 is okay, and comes in a pot thing with FIRE. $ 2.50 for 小碗面 and noodles, dry. Same price for kway chap.
This stall also has a section where you can choose economical beehoon, with a wide variety of fried items like fish cakes, tofu, various chicken things… And also sells fried char kway teow (wet, dark, yum), hokkien mee (apparently soso), and carrot cake (soso).
I like this stall.
Fruit and Desserts Stall
Me likey! They sell a selection of very sweet fruits, I think they have a very good supplier. Their juices are good, and I’ve ordered their avocado shake once, and because I’m lactose-​intolerant, I requested for milk to be substituted with soy milk, which they also sell. Very nice couple. They also make rojak, with very crispy, toasted youtiao, and a selection of hot and cold desserts like ice kacang, tau suan… YUM!
Beverage Stall
As I’ve mentioned, their tea and coffee are good. They also serve toast and eggs, but I’ve never tried, so I couldn’t comment.
Economical Rice
Very oily, but affordable. I ordered 2 veggies and 1 meat on top of rice before, and after I finished it, there was SO MUCH OIL on my plate I felt queasy at the sight of it.
Western Food
Your usual chicken chop, etc. 2.5÷5
Five stars for this canteen. After eating, put your plates back to the clearing area.