Even though we were just dining at casual Japanese-Italian chain Saizeriya for lunch today, our meal felt like a momentous occasion. It’s the first day of Phase 2 post-circuit breaker, and a beaming server handed us a fresh box of cutlery and carefully placed our food on the table. “I’m so happy to see you today,” he said earnestly, though we’ve never met. But we feel the same, bro, we feel the same. “It has been two months,” he mused wistfully.

The circuit breaker has been tough for folks in Singapore, as the country battles the Covid-19 outbreak. Restaurants were forced to shut, and F&B owners saw their businesses plummet by as much as 90%. But today is a new beginning, with eateries reopening for dine-in customers. We could sense the hope in the air, which smelled of industrial sanitiser. Even the usually surly service staff cracked smiles and worked with a spring in their steps.

And it seems like those who have been cooped up at home for the circuit breaker were out in full force today to make up for lost time. At the stroke of midnight on June 19, masked foodies rushed to kopitiams to reunite with their favourite supper, and schlepping to a McDonald’s for breakfast was finally great again.

The 8days.sg team headed out to check out the crowds in the morning, afternoon and early evening (armed with masks and safe distancing awareness, of course), and here’s what we saw at the various F&B outlets.

The well-loved steamboat chain was fully booked almost immediately after Phase 2 was announced. We kind of expected massive crowds at the restaurant, but a check at the Century Square outlet in Tampines revealed a calm scene at dinnertime. The eatery was packed, but the usually bustling walk-in waiting area had been trimmed down to about five tables with just a couple of customers waiting.

The cheap and cheerful Chinese hotpot chain also had regulars flocking back. The JCube outlet with shrunken seating capacity (due to safe distancing) was still full house.

The popular shabu shabu and sukiyaki restaurant attracted a snaking queue at Tampines 1.

Hilariously-named mookata joint Thai Hao Chi at Upper Thomson had plenty of customers on Day One too.

This bubble tea chain’s Bishan Junction 8 outlet had quite a line, but it appears that demand for BBT is surprisingly muted island-wide, even though the beverage sparked national uproar when it was deemed a non-essential, with BBT shops forced to close for CB. LiHo’s outlets at Jem and Bukit Batok Central had just a handful of customers when we passed by in the afternoon.

The tea-centric BBT chain, which usually has a queue, had a short line of customers at Jem today.

The Westgate outlet had a smattering of people waiting for their BBT, but no crowd. A staff member served orders from a portable table set up at the entrance to prevent customers from crowding the small kiosk.

And it was also the same case for R&B Tea, at Jem and Parkway Parade.

There were only a few customers at Koi's Jurong branches, including this JCube one. It's the same crowd strength we see on any other day pre-circuit breaker.

Playmade, which became infamous just before circuit breaker started due to a spat between a GrabFood rider and its staff at the Waterway Point outlet, had just a few customers waiting for their drinks at Nex mall in Serangoon.

The popular Chinese BBT chain’s dine-in outlet at Westgate was also very quiet.

A deceptively empty-looking entrance at Starbucks’ Jem outlet was packed with groups sitting at alternate tables and happily catching up (the Westgate branch was similarly packed, but it could be ’cos of the fact that there are fewer seats). But all was quiet at Nex.

We saw people gratefully tucking into their Extra Value Meals at the IMM, JCube and Junction 8 outlets, but the fast food giant’s safe distancing measures are the strictest we’ve observed among all the F&B outlets. Entire tables are cordoned off with professionally printed stickers, and the entrances sealed off with tape like a, er, CSI crime scene.

Burger King at IMM was pretty empty, though it had plenty of well-spaced seats. The fast food company will be launching a wacky limited-edition Social Distancing Crown on June 22, which will be given to customers for free, while stocks last. It’s an oversized cardboard ‘crown’, the size of a kiddie pool (we kid you not), which keeps everyone a respectable one metre away from you when worn. You can wear it to BK’s restaurants from June 25 to July 4 to redeem a 1-for-1 Whopper Deal. If you’re thick-skinned enough to wear it lah.

The usually bustling Genki Sushi had a few loyal customers waiting for its doors to open at Orchard Central and Westgate, but it was noticeably quieter than usual.

Nearing lunchtime at Sushi Express IMM, the restaurant was unusually empty (during pre-Covid-19 times, it was only this empty at closing time). We're guessing the hordes will be descending later.

The Japanese discount chain’s supermarkets have been open throughout the circuit breaker, but its freshly reopened dine-in food courts at JCube, Jem and Orchard Central were rather deserted and forlorn at lunchtime. And some of their stalls were closed.

The kopi and toast cafe’s outlets at IMM and JCube were pretty crowded in the morning and afternoon as diners loaded up on kaya toast for breakfast and teatime.

Ditto for its rival Toast Box at Westgate.

The food court chain has set up safe distancing transparent acrylic partitions at tables to shield dining groups (we saw this at IMM). But the flimsy partition doesn’t look like it will keep out coronavirus germs, though.

The first bakery we came across on Phase 2’s Day One was Duke Bakery at IMM, which had all its buns pre-wrapped in plastic bags. Could this be the new way of selling bread, going forward? We did a check at BreadTalk and Four Leaves’ outlets in Jurong and found their buns and cakes still stored in the usual display cases for customers to choose. Looks like Duke Bakery is just being extra cautious, which is good.

Singaporeans chiong-ed for Daiso when it reopened its doors this morning. The IMM outlet had a line that wrapped around the entire floor (as the company was apparently limiting the number of customers allowed in the store at any one time). Its Japanese snacks may be only $2 each, but Covid-19 doesn’t rest on weekends, okay?

PHOTOS: YIP JIEYING/ PYRON TAN/ KENDRA TAN