By Raymond Mitchell

Lunchtime and dinnertime have often been the highlights of my time in Singapore so far!

As someone who usually cooks, it was initially a shock to my system having to eat out every day for every meal. My hall has a communal kitchen every second floor, but no communal kitchenware — so cooking for yourself is usually not an option unless you fork out good money for a fridge, pots and pans!

However, luckily, almost every hall has its own canteen with multiple stalls — and if you ever get sick of the options at your own canteen, there are 12 other canteens to try out and multiple restaurants on campus! NTU has a free Orbiter-like bus service going clockwise and anti-clockwise around campus, making it very easy to check out new places to eat. It may sound like a hassle, but it often makes for a rewarding meal! Alternatively, as most halls are in the Northern corner of the campus, technically, most canteens are within “walking distance” (~15-20 minutes away) — though I would only recommend it during sunset or night when it’s less sunny and humid.

On campus an average meal at a stall is likely only to set you back around ~6 NZD, while a big meal usually is ~9 NZD at most. This means that usually on a weekday on campus I’m only spending ~15-20 NZD for 2-3 meals a day. 

A fun fact that I recently learnt is that the population of students and faculty staying on campus in NTU was around 18,000 — which is even more populated than Hamilton East, despite the campus being (impressively) half the size of Hamilton East in terms of land area! It’s no surprise therefore that the NTU effectively operates as its own little ecosystem — beyond meals at stalls and restaurants, it’s possible to buy local (and familiar) snacks and drinks at 5 different convenience stores scattered around campus, with some of them even being open 24/7.

Leaving campus, Pioneer Mall and Jurong Point are only a short bus hop away with multitudes of floors packed with food and beverage stalls with similar prices to campus food. 

I had been warned that prices in Singapore may be exorbitant, especially once you’re in the city — which they are! However, if you’re smart, it’s still easy to eat out on a budget even in the city if you go to hawker centres nearby. Chinatown, dead centre of the city, has hawker centres offering food from 5-10 NZD — much cheaper than the 40 NZD fish and chips I saw at Clarke Quay!