Rex Food Stall, Tekka Center, Little India. December 2012
Nasi Goreng Ikan Bilis. December 2012.
[from FB post: December 27, 2012]
So I have a question here. If I go to an expensive place where I EXPECT excellent food and service and atmosphere and don't get it and COMPLAIN, friends will often look at me and say "don't make such a fuss" as if I am ruining the entire experience. But yet if I go to a cheap eatery with decent food where I have no expectation other than sitting down and pushing some good food into my mouth, I seem to be surrounded by folks who insist on complaining about EVERYTHING and that is "just fine". Is it just me or does this seem totally backwards?
Comment Reply: It is something that drives me nuts. In life, you get what you pay for basically... so I think we should have matching expectations. I find people complaining about cheap stuff to be amusing bordering on annoying. I find people's disapproval of my wanting to complain about "high end" service aggravating to say the least!
A favorite food memory - two sides of cheap food
A lot of my Singapore memories are connected to food. Anyone who has lived in the Lion City or spent a lot of time there will agree - it is a foodie paradise. As my FB post diatribe above indicates, my patience wore thin when eating cheap local food in Singapore and having people act as if they were in a five-star Michelin-rated restaurant. The original "Hawker Centers" of Singapore, usually attached to a market in the old days, were fast food long before McDonalds. A stall would make just a few dishes out of fresh ingredients bought right there at the market. The choices reflected the ethnic make up of the neighborhood, and since Singapore has always been multi-ethnic, so have been its hawker centers. The concept later morphed into covered, stand-alone places where people could "dine out" on the cheap. Soon this style of fast-food appeared all over the island. What amazed me was the level of "fuss" customers would shower on those making the food and the bitter commentary if the food was not EXACTLY as they wanted it. "More of this, less of that - discussions abounded". I knew what I wanted - it was fast-food after all. Having a queue of "special needs" people slowing down a straightforward process was tedious. Or, after sitting down, having to hear from my meal partner how "bad" it was compared to another place was just as annoying. Of course, some places were better than others, but at such a low price for freshly made food, I concentrated on how miraculous these places were for churning out cheap, fresh food. No trucks from Sysco delivering frozen ingredients - everything was market fresh.
Then there was the "auntie" (title of respect in Singaporean English for an older woman) at Rex food stall in the old Tekka market in Little India. I found her place by accident when I lived nearby and over the years I would stop by again and again. She remembered me; she remembered my order. It was heartwarming. I only ever asked her to make it extra spicy, but otherwise I left the cooking to her. The food was fast and delicious. She often asked me about where I was living and working and where I had traveled recently. She also spoke of getting tired and retiring soon because she had been working there for many years. I didn't want her to stop, but her care-worn face and rough looking hands told me she deserved a break. Eventually, one visit I returned and she was gone. She had given me not only good food, but great service over the years. Who could complain about this?
My favorite dish was simple fried rice with dried small fish (ikan bilis) thrown in the mix. I learned to love this dish in Jakarta (a lot of food in Singapore is from Indonesia originally). The addition of the salty bits of dried fish just added that extra zest to the taste. I never grew tired of it and I loved that auntie's version of it. I cherish food memories!
Then I would sometimes go to Orchard Road, Singapore's main shopping and tourist area, to a high-end sit-down restaurant. The service at times was so awful I wanted to ask if those working there even understood what a restaurant was. If I showed friends how perturbed I was, I was always told to "calm down" or "they are just trying their best". Well, if they were from the B-team, then I wanted that reflected in the prices. The very same people who would complain at length over a $3 dish, would tell me to be silent over a $25 dish because "this is a nice place". This was not just in Singapore either - I experienced this to some degree in many places I travelled. Expensive places always got the benefit of the doubt while cheaper places were held much higher scrutiny. People are so odd.
NB: and now in the pandemic world we have changed our perspective overnight. We are grateful that food service places remained open when all other things shut down. If we are brave enough to dine out, we are satisfied with any degree of service whether in a cheap or expensive place. Did it take a worldwide pandemic to shake us into this new reality? How long will it last?