I must admit I had high hopes for The Canteen after reading the many reviews of it. Unfortunately, this reincarnation fails to be an improvement and really does reflect it's moniker of a canteen.

Up on the list of must-tries were the tiger prawn toasts, the famed lo shi fan, crab mee pok, and two desserts.

The tiger prawn toasts comprised flattened bread rolled with a prawn paste stuffing and deep-fried. This came piping hot, very crunchy (though a tad over-fried), with a fresh filling. Unfortunately, it was a little on the bland side and my dining companion and I found ourselves drizzling each roll liberally with the accompanying lemon sauce.

The lo shi fan came next and suffered from the same lack of "zing". It was nowhere as spicy or fragrant as we'd expected and my dining companion ended up adding salt to the dish. Perhaps this is a good thing from a health perspective but we'd expected the noodles to be liberally coated with and tasting of the XO sauce.

The crab mee pok fared better with springy mee pok noodles, crunchy beansprouts, bits fresh crab meat and a very well done soft shell crab topping.

The stars of The Canteen must be the desserts. We tried the red bean potong ice-cream which comprised of red bean ice-cream done japanese style sitting on a bed of sago and coconut cream. The taste of the azuki with the sago and coconut was a unique take on an old school dessert. The lychee jelly with pandan granita also got the thumbs up with it's very refreshing sweet lychee juice, soft jelly and ice-shavings.

Overall, with the steep prices (around $16 for the noodles) and lacklustre noodles, The Canteen would fare better as a tea house with the inventive and competent desserts and unique range of tea-time toasts; it's central location offering weary shoppers a respite in the middle of Orchard Road.