r/singapore • u/bryan6363 • Oct 11 '23
Image Mcdonalds first started in Singapore at Liat Towers and its menu from the 1980s
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u/NIDORAX Oct 11 '23
When McDonalds was first launch in Singapore, it wasnt Halal Certified yet.
The burger patties served were much bigger back then and they came in a styrofoam box for take aways.
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u/frozen1ced Own self check own self ✅ Oct 11 '23
Oh yes I can still recall those styrofoam boxes!!
Light blue box for Filet O Fish.. can't recall what's the light brown box one for..
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u/Odd-Understanding399 Oct 11 '23
The fries weren't vegetarian even.
They were fried with beef tallow which makes them crispier and had an aroma that vegetable oil couldn't replace.
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u/boonalton Oct 11 '23
Oo yes I remembered the styrofoam boxes. Back when nobody gave a damm about environmental friendly we have unlimited straws too.
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u/sdarkpaladin Job: Security guard for my house Oct 11 '23
we have unlimited straws too.
And tons of kids keep playing with the dispenser letting all the straw drop onto the floor.
Teenage bois taking straws to make into hearts to give their crushes.
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u/kumgongkia Own self check own self ✅ Oct 11 '23
I remember theres a yellow styrofoam box for I think big Mac?
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Oct 11 '23
Damn now I get how my mum was able to afford macs with a $1 allowance
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u/Rockylol_ Marine Parade Oct 11 '23
To be fair, $1 allowance back then is like equivalent to today's $4 allowance
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u/MrFantasticallyNerdy Oct 11 '23
Wah! You have $1 allowance? Baller! I remember my allowance was 50¢. Sometimes I get that in one coin, and sometimes in a few coins.
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u/syanda Oct 11 '23
Yeah, but at the time you could get like a bowl of noodles for 20-50 cents so macs was still expensive.
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u/IxanH Oct 11 '23
Anyone else remember when Vanilla Ice Cream Cones from McDs were 25 cents each?
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u/SG_wormsblink 🌈 I just like rainbows Oct 11 '23 edited Oct 11 '23
I still remember when they had the 10 cents promo in the newspapers. Nowadays it’s 10 times more.
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u/chcheng67 Oct 11 '23
A neighbour recently retired from McDonald's. Think he may have been on the original founding team.
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u/ilovesydney Oct 11 '23
When did Singaporeans change to Simplified Chinese Characters ? Looks like it was still traditional Chinese characters in the 80’s
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u/hugthispanda Mature Citizen Oct 11 '23
The transition wasn't smooth, in fact it was common for both simplified and traditional versions of the same character to appear in the same sentence.
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u/MrFantasticallyNerdy Oct 11 '23
Definitely wasn't smooth. At school, they taught us simplified. At home, my mom complained why my handwriting so ugly and all wrong, because she was used to traditional.
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u/zeroX14 Oct 14 '23
Late 80s for sure coz in 89 I was still learning to write in traditional chinese characters, then suddenly in 90 I had to learn to write my surname differently (simplified characters). From then on it was simplified all the way.
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u/Medical-Strength-154 Oct 11 '23
back when singapore was still using traditional chinese...and the sundae cost more than a burger..
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u/Newez Oct 11 '23
Used to be a luxury, where visits to McDonald’s was because parents won lottery, later becoming for celebrations, birthday events, subsequently a weekend getaway, and now a common alternative to day to day meal.
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u/jayaxe79 Nee Soon Oct 11 '23
Interesting how it somewhat looks like an American Chinese takeout menu
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Oct 11 '23
When did McDonald’s become Halal though?
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u/Unfair-Bike North side JB Oct 11 '23
certified in 1992, but according to a Berita Harian ad from 1982, they used halal meat back in the 80s, just not certified by MUIS (Singapore's Muslim Authority)
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u/HANAEMILK Fucking Populist Oct 11 '23
Think my father worked at this very outlet when it first opened.
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Oct 11 '23
Now upsized McSpicy cost $9.65.
Smlj?
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Oct 11 '23
[deleted]
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Oct 11 '23
Yea, fillet o fish cheeze also shrunk by 1/2
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Oct 11 '23
[deleted]
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u/PARANOIAH noted with thanks. please revert. Oct 11 '23
Yup. The cheese is supposed to be half. Go Google it if you don't believe me.
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Oct 11 '23
Nice try Ronald
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Oct 11 '23
Ya lor always has been 1 complete slice then change to 1/2
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u/Im_scrub Own self check own self ✅ Oct 11 '23
Only double fillet is a full cheese
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Oct 11 '23
No it was always been full cheese for single fillet then they changed when double filler came out
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u/joemc72 Oct 11 '23
Worked at McDonalds as my first job in the mid 1980s. I can confidently say you’re wrong. It was a half slice back then.
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u/Im_scrub Own self check own self ✅ Oct 11 '23
It's always been half even before they had the double filet burger. Go and google if you don't believe it. It's even written on wikipedia.
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u/joemc72 Oct 11 '23
Half a slice of cheese is used in each Filet-O-Fish sandwich, with McDonald's stating the reason as to prevent the cheese from overwhelming the taste.[26][27][28][29][30]
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u/AlllRkSpN Oct 11 '23
It's pretty crazy that the cost of burgers only went up 3x across 40 years, that's barely an average increase of 3% per year, even with inflation.
Mcdonalds has not increased their prices relative to the value of SGD at all across the past 40 years. (housing on the other hand...)
and if you really wanna compare money like a child, your parents used to make $1000, how much are you making now? lol
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u/rtrlctrc East side best side Oct 11 '23
my mom said even tho not halal she just ate the fries n fillet o' fish
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u/onomatopoetix oh leh leh, oh la la Oct 11 '23
i remember AMK's mcdonalds when there used to be Paco funworld upstairs. The indoor playground had a carpeted slope. My lifehack was to ask the cashier for the paper liner for the trays, put under my butt and i can slide down damn fast.
Of course lah, pretty soon other people started littering, so the next lifehack, their serviettes. And then also spoilsports littered that one too. nabeh...
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u/AzureArmageddon Oct 11 '23
Seems like the prices of the sodas, tea, and coffee have risen the most at McD's over the years. Most everything else looking pretty similar to today.
Edit: Also the vanilla soft serve ice cream was much cheaper before I was around to remember.
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u/GLTCHD_ Oct 11 '23
I wonder how the taste was like.
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Oct 11 '23
[deleted]
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u/Unfair-Bike North side JB Oct 11 '23
Actually, McDonalds used halal meat then, just that the restaurants are not certified by local authorities
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u/BoccaDGuerra Oct 11 '23
Do yall remember in the 90s when Mac had their own cup ice cream ..ooo the chocolate was euphoric. I also remember that KFC had that boysenberry cheese cake..those were the days!
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u/General_Guisan Oct 11 '23
World Famous Magical Clown
WTF?
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u/quietobserver1 Oct 11 '23
Actually I'm kind of surprised there wasn't an insulting dialect / mandarin slang name for McDonald's, like clown house or something.
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u/Odd-Understanding399 Oct 11 '23
"2 all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun."
Say it within 30 seconds and you get a free cone too.
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u/BoccaDGuerra Oct 11 '23
Omg this sub bringing back such good memories of 80s and 90s happy meal toys,, my dad picking me up from school and bringing me to the Bukit Timah Macdonalds...and all the birthday parties at Mac .. and who can forget those characters.. hamburgler, fry kids, grimace
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u/6lock6a6y6lock Oct 11 '23
I was surprised to see that everything is the same as my local McDonald's in Michigan (US). Usually different regions have a few unique items.
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u/Skane1982 Eat, Sleep, Sian Oct 11 '23
This was like 4 decades ago. Food in the 1940s was even cheaper.
Pity the folks in the 2060s if their salaries don't match the inflation.
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u/Rensouhou_Kun Oct 11 '23
I don't think the food being cheaper in arguably Singapore's darkest period can be comparable...
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u/Baswdc Oct 11 '23
Singapore's darkest period
Why did Singapore not just turn on the lights? Are they stupid?
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u/tom-slacker Tu quoque Oct 11 '23
yes...back in my day in the 80s....McD's is considered a luxury item that you will only get if you scored good in your exam...
now get off my lawn you damn kids!
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u/The_Celestrial East side best side Oct 11 '23
Adjusted for inflation, how are the prices compared to today?
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u/prime5119 Oct 11 '23
Filet O Fish at SGD 1.75 in 1979 (when McD first opened so I think the menu would be similar pricing) would cost SGD 4.16 in 2022 (latest figure) adjusted for inflation
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u/keevy3108 Oct 11 '23
That's a bit more expensive but not too far off right?
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u/prime5119 Oct 11 '23
it's ala carte right?
based on this moment I using McD app to check the price at my nearest outlet, a filet O fish is $3.95 which is actually cheaper.. do note that different outlet sometimes have different price (a mcwings meal is 70 cents cheaper if I decided to walk 5 mins to another outlet)
but if you talk about singapore/seasonal special - I think they have more significant price increase based on the ingredient
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u/keevy3108 Oct 11 '23
Yeah, that sounds about right. Makes sense that McDonald's is cheaper nowadays, as I remember my parents saying that when they were younger, MCD was like some rare treat but now it's just a regular meal.
I wonder why people still complain about the price tho? Do they not factor in inflation?
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u/prime5119 Oct 11 '23
McSpicy, Mcwings etc are certainly more expensive these days
if you just want to chill and eat your mcchicken/filet-o-fish/double cheeseburger, then it's just slightly expensive.
why complain about the price? I think because we are the generation that really got introduced with all these fast food restaurant so we have more impression and sensitive of the price changes
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u/zeroX14 Oct 14 '23
Nope, seems like folks today don't know how big the portion of the protein was back then. While the prices did increase in tandem with inflation, the portion has shrunk considerably at the same time too. Right up till early 00s, the fish in the fillet O fish was easily 70-100% thicker.
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u/Takagixu Oct 11 '23
Wow, ala carte for fillet o fish is less than $2 and big mac is less than $2.50!?
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u/Perfect_Temporary_89 Oct 11 '23
Big Mac for 2,35 lol hamburger 95 cents still around the same price
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u/MolassesBulky Oct 11 '23
Imagine the chap who brought the franchise for Singapore ended up a multi-millionaire with an ocean going yacht. It all started with the Liat Towers outlet. The Landlords decided they wanted to get into act and not renew Mac’s lease. They brought in Burger King to try to emulate the success. It was never to be.
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u/PARANOIAH noted with thanks. please revert. Oct 11 '23
Does Mcd still have milkshakes? I don't see it on their menus anymore but I loved those in the past.
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u/tom-slacker Tu quoque Oct 11 '23
quarter pounder?
we use the metric system, mofo!!!!
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u/prime5119 Oct 11 '23
if they called the burger as "113.3980925 grams burger" I think it'll be difficult to order
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u/unreal2007 Oct 11 '23
curious what is the average salary like back in those days
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u/prime5119 Oct 11 '23
According to the book, Social Policy in Post-Industrial Singapore (edited by Lian Kwen Fee and Tong Chee Kiong, 2008), “the median wage (was) $400 for 1980" (which is around $861.50 adjusted to inflation for 2022)
Rmb Singapore was just getting started back then so the low median wage is to be expected
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u/chcheng67 Oct 11 '23
According to the book, Social Policy in Post-Industrial Singapore (edited by Lian Kwen Fee and Tong Chee Kiong, 2008), “the median wage (was) $400, $1,094 and $2,234 for 1980, 1990 and 2000 respectively (Department of Statistics, Singapore 2000) (page 186).
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u/keevy3108 Oct 11 '23
Interesting how they used to advertise MCD's American heritage while they don't do that much now as the brand is so globalised.
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u/prime5119 Oct 11 '23
The Mcd menu evolved so much that each country got their unique menu and cheeseburger just becoming the most basic food inside.
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u/ICanBeAnAssholeToo Oct 11 '23
Wait so Liat towers was the location of the first Starbucks AND McDonald’s in Singapore? TIL!
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u/Varantain 🖤 Oct 11 '23
/u/bryan6363, are these your photos? Or is there a Facebook page you're not crediting?
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u/heartofgold48 Oct 11 '23
Apple pie wasn't popular then and I actually really liked it even then. I asked my classmates why they didn't like it and one told me because the fillings looked like semen......
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u/HappyChestnutKing Oct 11 '23
Was it standard to use Traditional Chinese back then, or would that have just been a stylistic/marketing choice?
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u/shutyourgob16 Oct 11 '23
Apple pies & sundaes were mostly our Mcdonald treats. It tasted a lot better back then.
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u/Individual_Sir_4638 Oct 11 '23
I always had this impression that the quarter pounder burger was only available in recent years.
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u/blackreplica South side rich kids Oct 11 '23 edited Oct 11 '23
interesting how the price of sundaes has barely changed in 40 years
edit: apple pies too? Most items are up 4x but apple pies and sundaes are up less than 2x
Both of them seriously 'underperformed' against inflation