Mall Talk: I love Jewel

Finally, I made my way to Jewel and really enjoyed myself at the mall. It was so, so fun! <3 It is definitely one of my Top 3 Malls to visit and even though it is so out of the way for me, I might be popping by again at least once a year or so for the food :D

Decided to be an angel and compile a to-do list for those of you who have not been there so that you would know what to focus on. :D

1. Burger & Lobster

I love this place so much! Come slightly earlier before meal time to avoid the crazy queues. For what we ate, we spent nearly $70 per pax. Real pricey, but the food is really, really good. I had so much joy munching on it. When the hubs went off to the gents, I just continued eating. Usually I would wait for him, but not this time. Haha.

I guess if you are here, you are probably planning to spend. So go ahead get the lobsters cos they are really quite the highlight. They charge 5 frigging bucks for plain water. So you know what, go grab yourself a coke or something. The drinks ain't my thing and the sweet potato fries get a little surfeiting after a while (so don't upgrade, stick to plain ole fries!)

2. Pink Fish

If you are on a tighter budget, go for Pink Fish instead. The salmon is fresh and delicious. Unless you are Singaporean, please don't waste your time queuing for A&W (fyi, Singaporeans are only queueing because they miss the A&W float) or Shake Shack (the queue is still ridiculously long even though I heard only their beef burger is good).

Pink Fish is rather under-rated given that it serves good food and is affordable. But...don't upgrade to a set meal cos the potato salad doesn't really suit the typical Singaporean's taste palette. Just stick to the good ole burger. Thumbs up and nope, I am not bias cos I have stayed in Norway for 5 months.

3. Desserts

Jewel has an amazing variety of desserts, that is well suited to my sweet tooth. Personal favourites I have tried include the Tokyo Milk Cheese Factory, Birds of Paradise (the cones are amazing by the way! There is a also quite a number of bubble tea brands at Jewel. But I didn't really had it cos there was quite a good selection of other beverages.

 4. Jewel Light Show

This is free. So come in the afternoon so that you will have enough energy to sustain till 7.30pm to watch the show. It reminds me a little of Garden by the Bay. It is entirely mind-blowing, but since you are already here, no harm watching it right? :D Didn't post my video up cos there were too many bobbing heads in mine...sigh.

5. Canopy Walk

This is really my sort of adventure and I can totally imagine hubs and I pretending to be Tarzan and Jane. But I didn't try it out cos (i) it is kinda of expensive and (ii) I was in a skirt that day... So remember to dress appropriately if you intend to do this. Actually, I would have paid for it if we had a kid and the child insisted and going in. But you know what, there is always next time.

And next time, there will be less people on the ropes and we might actually have a kid...and the price may also drop. Hehe.

6. Window Shopping

I am not much of a shopper, but Jewel consists most of my favorite window shopping stores, which include Tokyo Hands, Muji, Klosh and Naiise. If you enjoy checking out novelty items, Jewel won't disappoint you. Special shout-out to NTUC Finest! Unlike the other stores around Singapore, the one at Jewel is packed with our local delights.

Like an aunty, I actually bought quite a bit of local produce/ favourites. You may consider the Himalayan salt, Prima Taste, Hooked Coffee etc. And they have other flavoured lays chips that are not available in the other stores. I would have bought home more stuff if it weren't that heavy!

7. Starbucks Draft Beverages

It is more of a novelty thing but do try out the draft beverages. It is basically coffee and tea running from a "beer tap". I find the latte way too sweet for my liking. But I like the vibe of the store and had a good time chilling and resting my tired legs...so here it is in my list of to-do! #Fan

8. Pokemon Centre

I went there with the intention to spend a bomb. But honestly, the pokemon centre was really small and the merchandise was rather limited. The small plushies were not of very good quality. And I wanted to bring home other things apart from plushies. I wished they had sold more merchandise such as tees, stationary, lanyards etc.

I would actually love to bring home things I could actually use...or even eat. Hopefully, it grows bigger by my next visit. You can pop by if you are free. Otherwise, no need to be to sad if you miss it, which is why I rank this hype last on my list. If you are going to Jewel, you should set aside at least half a day to walk around and eat. If you intend to do some activities, please put aside a day. This is definitely one of the more interesting malls we have in Singapore!

Mall Talk: Queue! Eat! Explore!

Finally, I pulled myself out of bed and ventured outside for a good ole date with the Hubz. We decided to pop by the newly revamped Funan Mall cos of the hype. I am pretty much in awe by the whole mall because there seems to be so much going on. There were a lot of lights, people and much to see.

However, it does feel like everything is all over the place (not in a sense like a maze). Definitely worth the hype to at least explore it at least once cos it does seems avant garde and kept me rather entertained for a good half day :D And I thought, why not bring back Mall Talk!

1. Queue

One true real hit for me were the drinks and desserts selection there. And all the shops came with sigh...a queue. The PPP Coffee smells super aromatic. But because I really can't take strong coffee/tea in the afternoon, I had to give it a miss. Nayuki (my fav!) had an outlet there as well. But there was no way I was going to queue for it given that you can pretty walk it and get what you want at the Vivo outlet.

We ended up queuing for Milksha and I really enjoyed the yam chunks in my drink. Nasty Cookie also set up a store in Funan Mall. There was quite a bit of satisfaction watching the staff pump in the sinful cream and chocolate. Didn't get one in the end, because I like to think I am health conscious. Haha.

2. Eat 

There is quite a good selection of food and at a pretty affordable price-point. Unfortunately, I wasn't entirely prepared so I didn't go there with an empty stomach (totally regretted that) since it was a last minute venturing decision :P But, I did a see a few joints which I would totally be trying out in future. So keep a look out for these future posts!

With my limited tummy space, we decided to settle on Tsuta Japanese Soba Noodles cos it is an one-star Michelin store and there are no other joints in Singapore. To be very very honest, i am not much of a fan of this authentic Jap taste. >_< I guess there is no harm in giving it one try, but you definitely won't be seeing me stepping in for a second time.

3. Explore

As mentioned earlier, there's quite a bit to see. So wear comfy shoes. I walked so much, my calves hurt! For me, interesting shops include Iuiga, the rooftop garden, Think (where you can check out cute stationary while queuing for Milksha), Kiap Kiap (I enjoy spectating as people catch their prizes) and Xiaomi.

Dyson Beauty Lab was pretty intimidating. There was like no one even in the store, so I didn't even really dare to step in to play with their stuff. If you are a fan of mobile gaming, you can sit around to watch teams compete with one another. But honestly, I thought it was extremely underwhelming as compared to computer gamers, really not my thing. Legs were really tired, so that was basically the end of my journey! :P

Mall Talk: Clementi Mall

Okay, this is the mall I always frequent, not because it is the best mall on Earth, but because it is right beside the MRT station, so I bobian everyday walk past it. Haha. This is under SPH Reit. Yup, which pretty much means that this is a no frills mall. Everything about it in my opinion screams practicality.

I can always be seen there if I need something out of need not whims.

1. Clementi Library

Yup, this is the "entertainment" in this mall. It is really good for Clementians cos we used to have to go to the over-crowded JE library. For the young, it is a place to start their reading habits cheaply. For the studious, it is a great study area. For the old, this is where you can read free papers.

Though hard to believe, I actually hang out here if I am waiting for someone at the mall. It is easy to pass time and also on the pocket flipping books. There's also free WIFI in the mall so you can "Google" on the difficult words you read. Outside the library, there's a mini playground indoors, highly popular with toddlers. But so far, they have been a really obedient bunch. You can read in peace! :)

2. Popular Bookstore

If you lived here a pretty long time, you would have heard about the Big Bookshop. It is a dead giveaway on my age as well. If anyone asks me about this, I pretty much can do a guesstimate on how old they are LOL. So Big Bookshop used to be like the favourite place for Clementians kids to buy their assessment books and assorted stuff (The variety of unrelated stuff they sell is amazing!) And I guess a lot of my money secretly went to Big Bookshop accumulating things that are junking my house now. Well, I call them childhood memories.

But then, one day it just closed. So, Popular had a good chance to infiltrate Clementi. And I am not complaining cos we really need a decent bookshop (that sells lotsa unnecessary stuff). The good news is Popular is like the old Big Bookshop, it sells everything and doesn't have a bag bay!!! Okay, at least so far whatever I have been looking for have been sold there. Yea, the stationary junkie even got herself a damn pretty membership card!! Buying something, go there if you live in the west!!

3. Seoul Garden

Putting this here for old time's sake, cos it is like a real affordable BBQ for kids even back in my days. (Am I starting to reminisce the past like an old woman already?!?) The nearest used to be at Jurong Point if I remembered correctly.

To date, I have yet to eat at this outlet or any outlet. LOL! It seems that the more convenient it is, the less I actually patronise them. What is wrong with me!!! But Clementi has lots of school littering around, so they definitely have more than enough customers. We used to have a street that have 5 bubble tea stores and they all strived. That's what a student town this place is. If you are planning to open anything related to education, you should really come here.

4. Ichiban Sushi

So where do I eat in this mall? This! :) Okay, Swensen's next door also always tempt me. I always go there with my friends. But with the BF, he comes first, so Jap food it shall be. And they serve really good Jap food. I don't go there much (cos broke ma, must eat at home) , but still I have a loyalty stamp card...HAHAHA.

Personally, I find their food quite reasonably priced. And their gyozas are super delicious. So far, we have been trying different stuff on their menus. There are hits and misses. I don't like some of their combination meal and I know better places around this area for fresh Sashimi, so go for ala-carte if you want to eat like me. :)

5. BHG

We also have NTUC in this mall, but everyone has it. So I choose to highligh BHG in the top 5 instead. So here, you can get your luggages, make-up stuff (luxury retail-counter, we have also a SASA for the other non-luxury retail-counter brands) and mature, quality clothes/ accessories. This is where the woman/man would shop. So it is targeting a whole different set of age group.

So by now, you can tell this mall (according to my Top 5) is a one-stop mall for all my household needs etc. Haha. That's because I live too near the mall, and hence it functions like this for me. I am sure other people's Top 5 are bound to differ greatly from mine. Share with me your list ok? By the way, all the photos are taken offline from various sources. (I LIVE TOO CLOSE TO THE MALL TO TAKE PHOTOS OF THE SHOP'S EXTERIORS. WHAT IF THE SALESGIRL THINKS I AM WEIRD!!! Den every time, I walk past their shop, they will point at me and make snide remarks....)

Hehe, I am still not done with the malls I am familiar with, so before I tour around new malls, I will still give personal commentaries on the malls closer to home. :) More details on Clementi mall here.

Mall Talk: 321 Clementi

Finally got around to doing posts on sub-urban posts since my last post! Decided to start closer to home simply because I am more familiar with them and also closer to the heart.

So I am going to start off with - 321 Clementi. For those who live around this area, yeah, you might have seen me loitering around there before. But because it is so close to home, I dress pretty shabbily so you probably can't recognise me. Hehe!.

1. WE Cinema by Eng Wah

This is probably the most exciting thing that happen to people who live around this area. Our nearest cinema used to be at Jurong East, but now we have one right at our door-step. The plot of land used to house another old cinema- Queen? I think. But since it closed down, Clementi just became an old town. So now, we are all very, very happy with this new cinema.

We now have mascots during previews to spruce up our life and maybe because of the location, it is not always fully occupied. So it is so damn easy to get a seat!!! No more last-minute disappointment! With Cathay and Shaw at Jurong East, Eng Wah at my backyard, I now have the choice of 3 Cinemas to choose from. Still, I usually pick the one and only WE Cinema by Eng Wah. Right at my doorstep what, save transport money!

2. Doi Chaang Coffee

Although I am a huge fan of anything Thai, I am actually not a huge fan of coffee. I only drink Starbucks-non caffeinated drinks, like WTH right! But Doi Chaang ice coffee is the only coffee I take. I go there so many times, I am surprised if the shop keeper doesn't recognise me! 

This is literally "the place" I share with everybody with my big mouth. Lol, they should really pay me for "word-of-mouth" advertorial. Haha. I have the Sugar App, so I would order the discount coffee or take the cake set. You can check out more of my photos on my Instagram or steal my phone to see my pictures in it! :P (I think I always # them wrong. They are a double A!!)

3. Saizeriya

It is a very familiar for all students, cos it serve very affordable western food. The only branch that was convenient for me used to be at The Cathay. But now, Saizeriya is just at my backyard I can eat whenever I like...or not. It is the most crowded restaurant here at 321 Clementi. So come early, if you don't want to queue!

My favourites are escargot, always have them without fail. You can easily get a pasta at less than 5 bucks!! The price is friggin affordable, but yet the food is not inedible, so it is like a spot for cheap dates and family meals!

4. Arch Angel Brow

Honestly, I have never been to this shop. But...it has a lot raves online and every time I walk past it, there is always a customer that the "browist" (is that even what they are called!) are attending to. And so, I concluded this shop must be pretty decent.

Given my character, I should totally be trying it out...BUT...it looks kinda of painful. You can check out their FB here although everything is in mandarin or read up some of their reviews online. But it is definitely one unique shop not to be missed.

5. Wimi

It was really tough finding 5, because there are quite many stores that serve interesting food and made my life more convenient. But it seems ridiculous if I am going to write about every store as being the 5 Must-Go! Picked Wimi as the last store because not every place serves it. 

Traditional Coconut ice-cream Yum! Of course I may be bias to the Thai Food haha and oblivious to the goodness of some services I haven't used, but this are my Top 5 in 321 Clementi. There is also one other dessert place that I like to go too and quite a lot of restaurants I haven't tried cos of my Brand Loyalty.:P

Do share/comment here if you think another store should be in the Top 5 instead!!