Kreta Ayer

There are 217 things to choose from on the menu at this Singaporean restaurant. You’d have to be Godzilla to get through it all, but wait - they have that too. Order the 'Godzilla' and you’ll score a beer mug of icy cold Milo or Horlicks, topped with Empire State Building proportions of cream.

The restaurant has only been open since June but they’ve already attracted a loyal patronage of local uni students. The dining room is long and bright, filled with dark brown timber tables and benches. Everything is DIY, from the cutlery to the tissue box, to ordering. Pick the person with the neatest writing, fill out an order docket and hand it to your waiter.

You could start with entrees of roti canai pancakes with curry sauce, ngoh hiang five spice rolls or beef and chicken satay or do as we did and skip straight to the mains. Portion sizes here are uni-student generous, so save your stomach. The Singapore har mee prawn noodle may have a pale broth but it still packs plenty of prawn-flavoured punch. You’ll get six prawns, a whole boiled egg, green veg and a bowl full of slippery, chewy noodles.

Finding traditional la la clams in your char kway teow is always worth celebrating but really you may as well go the whole shebang and order a whole plate of them. Go mild with Thai sweet basil sauce or a little spicier with sambal chilli. Scrape them out of their shells with your teeth until your lips are sticky.

Then there’s the soft and fluffy oyster omelette, stir-fried white radish cake and bak kut teh; that delicious pork rib soup. Our pick is the Singapore chilli soft shell crab, a mountain of crustaceans piled onto a disc of crispy fried noodles with spicy tomato sauce.

There are 25 desserts on offer, from lychee parfaits to mango puddings and banana fritters with ice cream. The “I love durian” ice kacang isn’t for everyone, but aficionados will dig the entire durian pod served with this shaved ice dessert. They even have deep fried durian ice cream. That one's for die-hard fans.