Woman asks, ‘Is it just me, or has ‘just a quick dinner’ turned into a S$30 outing now?’

SINGAPORE: A local woman recently took to social media to voice her surprise over how even a “quick dinner” now seems to cost around S$30.

On the r/asksg subreddit, she explained that not too long ago, grabbing a simple meal with friends didn’t require any fuss. You’d just pick a nearby eatery, order a main meal and maybe a drink, and that was it, but now, according to her, “even simple meals somehow end up close to S$30 without you realising”.

“It’s not that the food isn’t good or worth paying for,” she wrote, “it’s just how quietly everything’s gone up bit by bit.”

“You tell yourself it’s fine; maybe it’s just that one place, but then it happens again. A bowl of noodles, one side dish, and a drink—suddenly it’s a full dinner bill, and when you think about doing that a few times a week, it really starts to hit.”

Because of this, the woman said she now finds herself carefully checking menus before even sitting down, trying to figure out which items won’t blow her budget. Sometimes, she skips that extra drink or dessert just to keep the total bill reasonable.

“It’s not about being stingy; it’s just that what used to feel like a normal, casual dinner now feels like something you have to think about,” she said. “Singapore still has great food everywhere, but it’s funny how even the small, everyday meals are slowly turning into mini-investments.”

“These days, having coffee and dessert at a cafe would already cost more than S$20.”

In the comments, several Singaporean Redditors pointed out that paying around S$30 for a meal has, unfortunately, become pretty much the norm these days.

One user shared, “I agree. I was out of the country for over 10 years, and every time I came back, I could feel the increase, with the biggest jump being the mid-range restaurants. The real attas ones (>S$100/pax) have been surprisingly reserved in price jumps.”

“But for the average places, what used to be S$10 is now S$15, and S$20 is now S$30–40. That’s a 50% or more increase in a few short years.”

Another commented, “These days, having coffee and dessert at a cafe would already cost more than S$20. Unless you’re willing to settle for hawker or food court dinner, S$30 is pretty common for a meal and is considered inexpensive.”

A third wrote, “I feel you. I sometimes share a meal with my toddler to save money when we go to restaurants because each visit (family of 3) easily goes over S$40 now, and these visits can easily be 3–4 times a week because of the SG weather.”

However, some users argued that the original post’s idea of a “quick dinner” was a bit misleading. To them, ordering a main and a drink at a cafe or restaurant isn’t really a quick, casual meal—it’s more of a proper dinner.

“I’m middle-aged, and when I meet my friends for a quick dinner, it’s usually hawker or food court,” one wrote. “That’s a quick dinner. What you have described is just dinner out, no? If you step into a cafe or restaurant, that’s to be expected.”

In other news, a furious mother has blasted Grab online, demanding that the company “take action” after a driver allegedly mocked her daughter and unfairly “slapped on a S$3 late fee”.

In a post shared on the ‘COMPLAINT SINGAPORE’ Facebook group on Tuesday (Sep 23), she explained that her daughter, accompanied by the family’s helper, had arrived punctually at the designated pickup point.

Read more: Mother outraged after Grab driver ridicules daughter on crutches and charges $3 late fee