NO LONGER are teens content with canteen food. Neither does a bowl of laksa from the hawker centre or a burger from a fast food chain suffice any more.

Most teens these days are saving up to splurge on more upper-crust dining experiences once or twice a week. Some even spend more than $20 at one sitting.

Meet the new teen gourmands, who willingly part with their cash, all in the name of good food.

Four popular hangouts are Aston's Specialities, Miss Clarity Cafe, Pepper Lunch and Botak Jones.

Meals at these joints are not as wallet-friendly as hawker fare for the average teen, but that does not stop him from forking out the cash.

Seah Yao Ting, 16, spends around $20 each time he eats at Aston's. He saves up by not spending on meals in the canteen. Instead, he takes food from home to school.

The Secondary 4 student from Bedok South Secondary School said: "I am quite tired of school food and I want to try something else other than home-cooked food."

Jacqueline Koh, 16, enjoys the Mini Beef Pepper Rice at Pepper Lunch.

The Secondary Four student from Anderson Secondary School heads there once a week and feels that the student meal deals offer great value for the price paid.

In fact, almost all the teens IN spoke to felt that, above all, it was great value that kept them returning to the restaurants.

Secondary 4 student Kelvin Ho, 15, from Beatty Secondary School, said the huge portions at Botak Jones more than made up for the higher-than-hawker-stall prices.

The owners of such places agree that teens make up a good number of their customers. A check with the restaurants revealed that one in 10 patrons was a student.

Mr Yeow Tak Keong, outlet manager of Aston's, said: "The student crowd is quite sizeable now. It makes up close to 20 per cent of our clientele."

Miss Nora Pang, owner of Miss Clarity Cafe, said that some students even lingered in the cafe to work on
their school projects.

She said: "(The students) come in groups, then hang around after their meals to do their school work or just to chill out."

Miss Clarity Cafe also provides a free wireless Internet connection in all three outlets, a boon for constantly wired-up teens.

Palatable eats, a cool ambience, perceived value for money plus academic kick-backs...no wonder teens are happy to put their money where their mouth is.

This article was first published in The Straits Times (IN) on Apr 7, 2008.