Cantine by Kopitiam

Here's the lightly edited review: After living in Canberra for over a year, I had my first lunch at the Canberra Plaza Canteen and was honestly shocked by the price of this Nasi Padang — $9! I know Malay or Indo-style Nasi Padang tends to be on the pricier side, but I didn't expect it to be this expensive here. As you can see, the portion is really small. I swear I only took one bite of the fish — and it's tiny! The cabbage and potato portions are also minimal. Not sure if it's the high rental at Canberra Plaza that's forcing the seller to price it this way, or if it's just their own choice to sell at such a steep price — but either way, it really doesn't feel worth it. To be honest, I usually get Nasi Padang with a Nasi Lemak base and four generous dishes at Novena for just around $8++. Don't think I'll be coming back here for meals anymore, although the Nasi Padang tasted not bad — I don't want to get shocked by another "amazing" price again! Also, the cleaning aunty here isn't as friendly or helpful as the normal coffee shop aunties, who often clear your plates even when it's not really part of their job. The one here seemed pretty free, but still didn't bother — a small thing, but it really shows the difference in service.

I ordered fish fillet with rice at the western food stall. Instead of serving me a piece of fillet like in the picture, he served me only 4 bites of fish. This is way too misleading and honestly a scam. I paid $9.90 for it too. I will never eat at this western food stall ever again!

My husband ordered fried fish soup for me here. The auntie was so rude. I feel like people who come here to work, especially in F&B, should really learn the basics of English. Don't have to be smooth in the language. Then she got angry at my husband because he couldn't understand Chinese (my husband is Malay 😭). We don't mind that, actually. But when we ordered, we asked to separate the fish because it's fried and it will be soggy by the time he reaches home. But Auntie didn't. So my husband told her he had requested to separate the fish. But Auntie scolded him for requesting so... All I can say is: Auntie, I'm sorry my husband cannot speak Chinese, but don't scold him, la. We also never scolded you for not understanding English! Fried Fish Stall, I hope you have at least one English-speaking person to help her out... We requested for milk to be added to the soup, but she didn't add it either. My husband was already too lazy to ask, fearing Auntie would scold him again.

I only had YTF here, as it's a typical YTF stall found in food courts. The food is edible, and service is quick. Paying with the NTUC app entitles you to a 10% discount, making it quite affordable. The one thing I cannot stand is that patrons are already doing their due diligence to self-return their trays. However, the cleaner auntie (the one with a hairband and apron) just sits there like Dua Pek Gong, using her phone, drinking kopi, and people-watching. She seemingly doesn't bother to wipe tables that are either wet or dirtied by food. The other cleaner was okay and quite proactive, but she was busy clearing the self-return rack. Also, the first cleaner could take trays from the stall to re-wipe them on the table shown in the third picture, yet she couldn't wipe the crumbs and clean that particular table. Instead, she moved to another, already clean, table to wipe the trays. I truly cannot understand! Also, if you are having breakfast before 9 AM, be prepared to feel very warm in here. The plaza management only turns on the air conditioning from 9 AM onwards.