Pioneer Hall food court to reopen end-September

By Jasmine Hoe

PHOTO: CHRISTY YIP

Residents of the Pioneer and Crescent Halls of Residence can look forward to new and more convenient food options with their food court scheduled to reopen at the end of the month.

Chief Housing and Auxiliary Services (HAS) Officer Jimmy Lee said the food court, which will be run by a new operator Food Haven, plans to offer Chinese, Malay and Western cuisines.

HAS is also looking at installing vending machines that dispense cooked food such as the Japanese oden — a one-pot dish with assorted fish balls, fish cakes, tofu and eggs — and ramen for a trial period, he said.

The canteen closed during the summer holidays, taking many residents by surprise.

Mr Lee said the initial food court operator had ceased operations in May after more than 2.5 years. He did not give a reason why.

Pioneer Hall president Aaron Phua said the hall office did not inform residents of the canteen’s closure. He only found out about it from some residents who were in school during the holidays.

When school reopened in August, notices were put up informing residents that the canteen would reopen within the month. However, its scheduled reopening date was later changed to end-September.

Residents the Nanyang Chronicle spoke to were glad about the food court’s reopening.

Third-year National Institute of Education student Jaclyn Marissa Watson, 21, said she was relieved that she will no longer have to walk to Canteen 1 and 2 for her meals, which can be tiring after a day of lessons.

Crescent Hall resident Veralynn Gan, 20, said she is looking forward to having weekly meals with her hall friends again.

“It’s quite hard to find a common place to meet (without the hall food court) because some of them don’t want to travel too far,” said the second-year School of  Humanities student.

Neo Zhi Ming, a third-year School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering student, hopes the food will live up to the old vendors’ standards.

“We had quite an authentic Korean stall set up by a Korean couple, and we also had the Fried Yong Tau Foo stall come over from the Quad,” said the 23-year-old.

“I hope the new stalls can match the popularity and quality of those old stalls,” he added.

Others felt that having vending machines will be a convenient alternative to regular food options.

Crescent Hall resident and third-year Asian School of the Environment student Seah Cheng, 23, said it will allow him to get food when he is “desperate”, such as when he comes home late from lessons after the food court has closed.