This post marks the first post of the three that I shall "marathon" today before I go for my dreaded hair cut. Why must I always be cutting my hair like every two weeks? It's not as though I want to be born with thick hair~ Oh well~ Stupid regulations that doesn't make sense always drives us crazy, no?
Well, shall get back to the topic because I haven't got much time to dawdle now. Since last week, my friends from my platoon were considering singing this Saturday because Shaun wanted to and thus, he was the official organizer though Jun Sheng did most of the bookings and logistics. It was meant to be somewhat like a "farewell" thingie before he goes over to Australia.
Considering that it was my first time heading over to this KTV called the $10 DOLLAR CLUB located along Smith Street at Chinatown, hidden behind the popular Food Street (or at least that's how I call it), I shall review it a little over here to evaluate if it's worth going for a second time, yes? Hopefully this post will be informative for people who are looking for cheap and good deals.
And what's my blog post without pictures, yes?
Here's the entrance of the 10 Dollar Club and yes, I know it looks a little sleazy but it's perfectly
clean. At least that's what I can say when the sun's up. If you have difficulties looking for it, just keep looking on the right side when you're walking down Smith Street (the Food Street) and you'll definitely find it. If you are anyhow taller than me, you should be able to spot the signs on the top of the building.
To get to the KTV, you have to take this wooden stairs all the way up to Level 3 to ask for the rooms. Weird, no? Considering that Jun Sheng already made a booking before we went there, we were kinda secured a room. I suggest you do the same too because after this post goes public, I believe more people will go there. Yes - I hope my blog's that influential too.
Once everything's settled, you will go to your room on your own. No escorts like K-box or PartyWorld but they don't really need one because there are not many rooms to begin with. Therefore, you should make early reservations all the more because even though this place is not popular, the number of rooms just won't support too many singers too.
The room is so much better than the ones at Teo Heng @ Tanjong Katong Mall. They may not be as spacious but at least they are not cheap-looking. The sofa (pictures later) and stools are comfortable and most importantly, the air con is working! The last time I went to Teo Heng, the air con was almost
not there and I proclaim that the hottest K-session I've ever been to.
Unfortunately, the room's still quite small but should fit 4-5 people comfortably. Oh by the way, we got a smaller room because the bigger ones were taken up so too bad for us. The television looks okay and compared to some of the rooms in Ang Mo Kio's K-box, I say this is better because AMK's K-box are still using the old bigass TVs.
One of the most important factor of choosing a place to sing is of course, the song selection. I would say that the song selection is pretty reasonable - considering that they have some of ayumi's later songs like "Last angel", just like K-box and Teo Heng but they lack a lot of the older songs. Not to mention that some of the songs are misspelled. But that's just for my case.
In terms of Chinese songs, I don't think there's much to complain about because the system is pretty updated as far as I'm concerned. Shouldn't lose out to the likes of Teo Heng. For English songs, I think it's still okay. The overall song selection, I would say, is surprisingly solid but probably just a few notches below the more popular K-box or PartyWorld.
What bugs me a little is the system they use for you to pick your songs. They use a touch screen that's a little unresponsive but nevertheless, gets the job done. However, I would suggest just sticking to the remote because trying to wrestle with the screen is a little annoying. The photo above shows the main menu of the interface.
The system does not sort the artistes into their respective languages and therefore, you have to go through a long list of artistes before you find yours - a little time wasting. However, once you get the hang of it, it should be easier. They should really polish their song selection system to make the experience better. Definitely a huge minus in terms of singing experience.
Here's Aaron and Shaun singing together, as always. Like I said, the room's really squeezy so even trying to take a picture with myself all cornered there proves to be a challenge but this is the best I could do. The sound system is okay but I believe K-box's better.
Close up close up~ Random photo that has nothing to do with the ratings of this KTV.
If you are a fan of free flow stuff, then you would love the 10 Dollar Club because all drinks on their menu are free flow! However, the down side is that their selection is pretty limited as compared to the other popular KTVs, less Teo Heng which doesn't even provide drinks. BUT!! Free flow things are always better, no? I got the hot honey yesterday and it was really, really good! And if you get tired of drinking the same drink throughout your session from 2pm - 7pm, you can request for a change at no extra charge!
If you are a regular singer like I am, you would have experienced the hassle of trying to add up all the hidden fees of K-box and PartyWorld. The KODs, the charges for the services, beverages and snacks, extra costs for the ridiculous wet tissues you probably will never use, etc. No fancy fancy stuff at the 10 Dollar Club. Just look at their hand written receipt! $10 means $10 and that's that! They even waived off the 10% service charge because of their promotion! Promotion or no promotion, price wise, 10 Dollar Club wins HANDS DOWN!
Service wise, I would say that even though we were served by an *ahem* talent, she was really hospitable! Using the remote or touch screen, you can call for service and she will appear promptly to take your orders or refill your drinks. On top of that, what amazed me was her initiative. You know sometimes when you sing, you get those nasty feedbacks (the EEEEEEEeeeeeeeeEEE!!!! sound)? She heard it from another place and came over to assist us even without us asking! That's good service!
Verdict of the 10 Dollar Club? I say if you are looking for a cheap place to chill out, drink some non-alcoholic drinks non stop and sing your hearts out until you get tired, you can try the 10 Dollar Club because it's cheap and reasonable. The song selection and system may be a little annoying but once you get over it, you will definitely enjoy yourself there, I promise. On top of that, the service is also not bad and pretty prompt as compared to the K-box where you have to call nonstop to pester them for refills.
Therefore, I would recommend the 10 Dollar Club! Go experience it yourself~
Contacts to the 10 Dollar Club:
Well, after singing our hearts out, some of them left to meet their other friends for dinner while Victor, Shaun and I walked along the Food Street to search for our potential dinner. More pictures!!
The evening scene at Chinatown's Food Street which boasts a wide selection of local delights which are amazingly good but slightly pricey because they are not meant for locals anyway - they are aiming at the foreigners' wallets. One good thing about singing at the 10 Dollar Club is that you hardly need to consider where to go for dinner because you have a whole variety to choose from the moment you step out onto the street! How convenient!
Are you ready for some FOOD PORN?! This is the Laksa (noodles with a thick gravy made of spices and coconut milk for y'all Non-Singaporean readers out there!!) that I had for dinner yesterday and because of it, my voice sounded real sexy yesterday night. The laksa costed 5 dollars but it was really good though - springy noodles soaked in the fantastic gravy accompanied with a generous serving of huge cockles! Yummy~
Eating with 2 big eaters have some perks when you get to taste a bit of the food that they order. Besides their main staples, they ordered lots of sides, like this oyster omelet where I took out the oysters just to photograph while they went on their food hunt. The oysters are reasonably big and juicy and of course, it's delicious in that chilli sauce!
The Char Kway Teow that Victor and Shaun each had yesterday evening. Even though it looked real normal, from what they said, it was pretty awesome~ Maybe I will go try it out one day.
Stingray anyone? Topped with sambal and accompanied with lime and some chopped onions - or what looks like onions. Really good this one!! Sadly, my stomach went KO after I finished my laksa and I couldn't swallow more food so I only had a little bit of this but that little bit was heavenly!
And of course, we had satay as well. Yes - they are monstrous eaters and when they kept bringing food back to the table, my jaw went down and down and down. Well at least they lived up to their reputations of being extremely huge eaters. These satays, like the rest of the food, are good too! Gosh I wonder how much calories I took in yesterday... :S
The food on the table yesterday evening and this is not even all of them!
Victor and Shaun enjoying their dinner. I was struggling to find space to rearrange the food for the photos because there were so many plates on the table!
And to wash everything greasy and fattening down, we had glutinous rice balls (
tang yuan) for dessert. They are really good and they costed only $2 for 5 amazing rice balls served in this delicious peanut soup! Just look at how generous the peanuts are in the soup! You can choose to either have all 5 of their flavors (peanut, yam, red bean, green tea, sesame) or do it your own way~ Cheap and extremely delicious dessert!!
Okay then! Enough of the food!! Making me hungrier as I type. Shall end here and go have my lunch of instant roti prata with curry and maybe after that, go for my hair cut. Hate hair cuts because the queue's forever so excruciating long. Oh well~ What to do what to do??
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