IKEA Tampines is one of our favourite hangout places! We can spend hours browsing through the many displays, getting ideas for our own place. Shhh, don't tell anyone, but most of my FB pictures are taken at IKEA, posing in the elegant furnishings. I could never get our place to look like that!
The marketplace is also a great place to impulse buy. From tealights and candles to little oddities, you can get almost anything quaint, adorable (and sometimes functional) from this section.
Take a break in between browsing to catch a quick bite to eat at the restaurant (try the Swedish Meatballs!) and rest your legs. Then shop some more!
After the checkouts is the deli, which is where you can pick up a soft drink, coffee, ice cream cone or hotdog at relatively cheap prices. Judging from the queue, seems everyone has the same idea!
Here's a suggestion for two ways to visit this cool outlet.
With my parents. Early in the morning, enjoy a leisurely McDonalds breakfast set with free-flow refill coffee/tea and read the newspapers and basically chill-out. Then walk through West Coast Park over to the sea front to catch some cool breezes.
With my kids. In the evening, take the kids for a light dinner and adjourn to the playground to get all that pent-up energy out of their systems. Or join the groups of people flying kites in the breezy evening sky.
Just the wife and me. Drop off the kids with a sitter, then enjoy a soothing coffee drink at McCafe. Although situated next the the restaurant, you won't be bothered by the noise as you sit back in comfortable chairs and nurse your hot beverage. And relax.
For affordable, good-tasting pastas and pizzas, we always head for Pasta Mania. Very good range of pastas & sauces and thin-crust pizzas. Pastas are cooked al dente, sauces are authentic home-cooked, pizza crusts are crisp. To complete your meal, there are three combo meals featuring a drink, choice of two soups and garlic bread.
The Suntec branch is good for snacking in between shopping at Suntec City Mall, waiting for a movie at Eng Wah, or working out at True Fitness. Only gripe is that the seating is very very close together and arranged in rows, so it can quite hard to get a seat or get to your seat.
The ongoing promotion of pasta and drink for about eight bucks is excellent value if you don't want to fill up with the combo and main.
Otherwise, select a pasta, upsize for a small fee and share with a friend. Enough for a small meal, or add the combo for a fuller meal.
We made a trip down to the City Square outlet as we had had a wonderful visit previously. This time, however, we were ushered to sit in the outside dining section, which is situated along the corridor of the shopping centre.
The decor of this area is garish, featuring tiles with a colour scheme that resembles a bathroom. Together with the disconcerting feeling of passersby peering at you while you eat, it was very uncomfortable sitting in this section. The inside area is the more familiar tea-house inspired decor which gives Soup Restaurant its ambience.
Surroundings aside, we enjoyed our dinner of signature Samui Ginger Chicken, Sweet Potato Leaves, Tienchi Herbal Chicken Soup, Sliced San Yu Fish Slices and Claypot Beggars Rice Bowl with Chicken and Mushrooms.
Of all the Daiso outlets, this is the most conveniently and centrally located one. Unfortunately, like the other outlets, it is also very very cramped inside. With all the crowds drawn to the cheap ($2) products on sale, the queues can be rather daunting. Especially when they have new arrivals, and staff are deployed throughout the store packing new items, it is even more crowded and hard to manoueuvre around.
But who can complain about the wide range of products on sale! Sometimes even when I am not thinking of buying anything I love to browse through the shelves to see all the weird and wonderful gadgets the great Japanese minds come up with. Good reference when I do actually need such items.
1=SGD 0.0587
The marketplace is also a great place to impulse buy. From tealights and candles to little oddities, you can get almost anything quaint, adorable (and sometimes functional) from this section.
Take a break in between browsing to catch a quick bite to eat at the restaurant (try the Swedish Meatballs!) and rest your legs. Then shop some more!
After the checkouts is the deli, which is where you can pick up a soft drink, coffee, ice cream cone or hotdog at relatively cheap prices. Judging from the queue, seems everyone has the same idea!
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With my parents. Early in the morning, enjoy a leisurely McDonalds breakfast set with free-flow refill coffee/tea and read the newspapers and basically chill-out. Then walk through West Coast Park over to the sea front to catch some cool breezes.
With my kids. In the evening, take the kids for a light dinner and adjourn to the playground to get all that pent-up energy out of their systems. Or join the groups of people flying kites in the breezy evening sky.
Just the wife and me. Drop off the kids with a sitter, then enjoy a soothing coffee drink at McCafe. Although situated next the the restaurant, you won't be bothered by the noise as you sit back in comfortable chairs and nurse your hot beverage. And relax.
West Coast outlet is screening World Cup matches!
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The Suntec branch is good for snacking in between shopping at Suntec City Mall, waiting for a movie at Eng Wah, or working out at True Fitness. Only gripe is that the seating is very very close together and arranged in rows, so it can quite hard to get a seat or get to your seat.
The ongoing promotion of pasta and drink for about eight bucks is excellent value if you don't want to fill up with the combo and main.
Otherwise, select a pasta, upsize for a small fee and share with a friend. Enough for a small meal, or add the combo for a fuller meal.
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!i like the pizza there better.
21 Jun 2010 at 10:46 pm
The decor of this area is garish, featuring tiles with a colour scheme that resembles a bathroom. Together with the disconcerting feeling of passersby peering at you while you eat, it was very uncomfortable sitting in this section. The inside area is the more familiar tea-house inspired decor which gives Soup Restaurant its ambience.
Surroundings aside, we enjoyed our dinner of signature Samui Ginger Chicken, Sweet Potato Leaves, Tienchi Herbal Chicken Soup, Sliced San Yu Fish Slices and Claypot Beggars Rice Bowl with Chicken and Mushrooms.
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!
But who can complain about the wide range of products on sale! Sometimes even when I am not thinking of buying anything I love to browse through the shelves to see all the weird and wonderful gadgets the great Japanese minds come up with. Good reference when I do actually need such items.
Wonderful store!
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!lots of things to see but place too cramp
21 Jun 2010 at 10:52 pm