We are the prata hall!

July 14th, 2007 by lynnylchan under Blogroll

Never underestimate the power of opening a business in the vicinity of student residences. After 3 years in Eusoff, I can tell you that when hall residents either praise or slag a shop, lemming-like behaviour will be observed. Of course, this isn’t to say that we brainlessly go where others have gone, but expect to see swarms of students at places that have had their praises sung.

One such place is Sheng Siong, beloved by undergrads for the cheap groceries, foreign beer, and significantly discounted liquor. The vodka isn’t as cheap as it is in duty-free (I would know, I just bought a 75cl bottle) but it’s still cheaper than buying retail. It’s very funny indeed that the same students who go hunting for cheap fruits and vegetables think nothing of dropping 60 dollars on a bottle of JD. That’s what I call odd priorities, and I’m not excusing myself either.

It’s dangerously addictive to wander the snackfood aisles upstairs, because Sheng Siong parallel-imports stuff you’d have difficulty finding elsewhere. Family-size Nestle Crunch bars - because I like Crunch and I want lots of it - has only ever been found here, in my entire uni career. I don’t know why other places stopped carrying it. TKN crispy seaweed is lots cheaper here than it is at Watsons’, because someone carries the Thai stock, ahem ahem. Candy Empire isn’t the only place that has the new-design Aussie Mars bars, Sheng Siong has them in 3 different sizes - mini, 50g and 60g.

Sometimes it’s not the imported stuff that makes me squeal with happiness. I am, after all, a typical Malaysian, with typically Malaysian tastes in munchies. So while I have dried figs and gummy candies in the basket, I also can’t resist jeruk (pickled fruit) and keropok. Despite knowing that I can’t finish a whole bag of keropok in one day, which means the opened packet will get lemau (un-crispy), I chucked it in. So imagine my pleasant surprise when I opened the keropok bag to realise that it had a resealable zipper. No more lemau-ness!

Places like Cheese Prata, Fong Seng and Sheng Siong are why the Freshman 15 is a joke in Eusoff. Try the Freshman 20, or 30, instead. I’d consider it getting off lightly if I graduated from uni having gained only 15 pounds. In between the McDonald’s, nasi lemak, keropok and Double Choco Hello Panda, washed down with copious amounts of booze and Milo peng, I’ve probably accumulated so much arterial plaque that the defrib machine isn’t just a manifestation of cover-our-asses paranoia.

And finally, just to explain the title: Although we are obviously the prata hall since we live nearest to Cheese Prata, the provenance of the phrase is more complicated and current. The stale “This is Sparta!” joke was reinterpreted to be “This is Prata!”, and because our new orientation banner has a decidedly Spartan-300 feel to it, “This is Eusoff” thus implies that Eusoff is the prata hall. Yes. Okay, so I don’t come up with good jokes, but I’m not headlining a comedy show, am I? Oh that reminds me - I should co-opt the Spartans’ whoop-whoop cheer for my orientation group. Can you tell that I’m so overtly heterosexual?