Cheap restaurants and bars in Orchard rd area?

It's a bit far away from Orchard Rd but try Circular Rd off Bridge St. Plenty of good pavement cafes and a fraction of the price of restaurants on Calrke's Quay for example.

I think the previous writer meant Clarke quay.

In the Orchard Road area, you can try Food Republic in Wisma Atria (it's a food court, but a step up from the hawkers' and typical food courts).

If you want a proper restaurant, The Simple Life on the second floor in Wheelock Place (above Borders) serves pretty good, reasonably-priced set meals.

I most definitely second Amchua's recommendation about the food court in Wisma Atria. It's very reliable, inexpensive, and the stalls have a wide variety of really good food for very little.

I was there a couple of weeks ago (I go to Singapore a lot on business) and ate at Wisma several times. The best meal I had was a really nice mutton curry set meal, and it was less than S$6, a real bargain.