Waffletown: Revel In Nostalgia At This Retro Fast Food Restaurant Serving Chicken & Waffles For Only S$6.50 In Bukit Timah

Everything of the past seems oddly charming these days, old school American diners in Singapore are not an exception. We’re talking about orange A&W-esque chairs and budget advertorials of the ’90s.

Waffletown is a family-owned retro fast food restaurant that has been running for almost 40 years, moving from the basement of Bukit Timah Plaza before moving to its current location at Balmoral Plaza where it has been for a good number of years.

It’s essentially a real blast from the past, having not changed its decor, furnishing or food since it began operations.

Fried Chicken & Waffles (S$6.50) is probably the icon of American diner food and has always ranked high in the list of comfort foods. A genius combination of sweet and savoury, it’s a dish as divisive as a Sausage McGriddle.

The fried chicken was pleasantly crispy with a craggy crust. The clean and crisp chicken skin also meant that there was little fat beneath the skin, making it a joy to dig since it did not get too heavy as most commercial fried chicken does.

Drizzled with maple syrup, the bite-sized juicy chicken chunks made it easy to eat with each waffle square. The waffles surpassed expectations, being crispy on the edges and having a light and fluffy centre.

While this dish is definitely one for me, those who prefer not to combine sweet and savoury can have their pick with other waffle choices available. Their sweet dessert waffles are nothing near fancy like you would imagine. It’s done the old school way with ice cream, chocolate and whipped cream.

Mirrored after an American chain, I found it odd to find something on the menu that was strikingly not American — BBQ Chilli Fish (S$8.90). Served with a side of coleslaw, diners can choose another side of either Butter Rice or French Fries.

Maybe the side dishes stayed true to American roots but what arrived looked uncannily similar to BBQ sambal stingray.

In place of the stingray was a barbecued dory fillet slathered with a generous amount of sambal chilli. Placed on a banana leaf, it gave the BBQ fish an expected fragrance, almost like that of nasi lemak. Like all good sambal chilli, this had an immediate spicy kick which elevated the taste of the lightly salted dory fillet.

The only thing that fell short was the butter rice, tasting more like plain white rice. Despite not being what the menu promised, the white rice still complemented the sambal fish well. The dish came with a crunchy and appetising coleslaw which was better than the sides of fruit salad and mash.

It’s almost instinctive to associate the looks of a dish to how it would taste, but I’ll close an eye to how their Mushroom Chicken (S$8.90) looked. While the dish was not the most visually appealing, it definitely tasted better than it looked.

The chicken chop is covered in a thick and pale-coloured mushroom gravy which tasted similar to a concentrated Campbell’s stock. Having had their Chicken Chop With Black Pepper Sauce (S$8.90) before, I would recommend that over the mushroom sauce.

Instead of a flat mushroom flavour that gets a little overwhelming, the black pepper sauce brings out the grilled smokiness of the chicken.

The side menu listed the regulars like fries, onion rings and nuggets. Only their Mozzarella Cheese Sticks (S$5.50) stood out for us. The breaded sticks had a nice crispy thin crust coating the mozzarella sticks.

Though enjoyable, they were a little too salty. It also isn’t the one to go for it you’re looking for the stringy cheese effect. As we tried to pull the stick apart, we couldn’t go very far without the cheese separating from the crust and coming out as a whole chunk.

Waffletown is probably one of those places that falls under the exclusive “only ’90s kids know this” label. The number of chicken and waffles combinations have definitely skyrocketed with the insatiable appetite Singaporeans have for waffles.

It’s quite a pity this classic seems to be missing from all, if not most of the top 10 waffles lists out there! Revel in nostalgia at Waffletown; it’ll be a good break from fancy cafes.

Expected damage: S$10 – S$15 per pax