MINT Museum of Toys is located beside Chjimes. My friend and I decided to go there on the day after Youth Day as we wanted to go somewhere interesting and different. We alighted at Cityhall MRT and walked a short distance to the museum.

We had a discount for the tix as we were students. So $7.50 per student. It's the same price as the ticket for child! So cheap!
Inside the museum, we were fascinated by the amount of toys inside! Plus it's all old toys, meaning they're somewhat a kind of antique? Expensive, the toys.

There were 5 levels (including 1st level) open for visitors. Space characters, collectibles, childhood favorites, and characters.

We cam-whored a lot on the 4th level as there was not much people and a comfortable sofa for you to rest on. It was like being at home!

Basically, it was fun and interesting. So, head down to the MINT Museum of Toys now!

On Friday, it was an honour to be invited to Yebber’s 1st anniversary event. The event was held in Mint (Moment of Imagination and Nostalgia with Toys) – Museum of Toys, across from Raffles Hotel. Showcasing an extensive collection of vintage toys from all over the world, it is regarded as one of the finest in the world and the largest in Southeast Asia. At the basement was Mint Café – Asia’s very first toy-themed café.

I arrived early and did a quick tour of the place before the event started at the 3rd Level and was greeted with toys and characters that I was familiar with – from Popeye to Ultraman, to retro Matchbox car collectibles, Kampung toys and even the Beatles.

All the guests were later treated to a sumptuous buffet dinner consisting of Parmesan Crusted Chicken, Seafood Platter (Calamari, Dory Fillet, & Scallops), Bruschetta (Wild Mushrooms, Tomato Checca & Salmon Cream), and Linguini with Crab Sauce.

Personally, I thought the Wild Mushroom Bruschetta was the best – the toast was crispy and the mushrooms were flavoursome. I bet the salmon cream ones were just as great but unfortunately, I didn’t managed to lay my hands on them before they were cleared out. Oh, the desserts were pretty lovely as well, especially the Strawberry Panna Cotta - the sourish berries was a delightful complement to the sweet pudding.

You can view the photos and other reviews @ His Food Blog.

Lovely place with lovely food

Together with a few Yebbers, we met at mint cafe for an informal gathering. The cafe is cosy and comfy. Located at the basement of mint museum, decorated to the theme of the museum. The cafe is filled with retro looking movie posters and toys. Even the cushion on the seats were printed with robot (if I'd not remembered wrongly). The cafe thou small, house quite a good variety of food.

Some of us ordered their set lunch at $13.80 and some ordered the tea set at $7.80 .

There's a few mains that one can choose for their set lunch. And the set comes with soup, main, dessert and drink. As for the tea sets, one can choose any cakes/desserts in the menu and any of the tea/coffee available.

The soup served was nicely cooked and thick. For my set lunch, I ordered the Crispy Chicken Chop as my main. When it was served, I could smell the aroma coming from the generous piece of chicken. The main was served with mashed potato and side salad. One cut into the chicken and I knew I'm going to love it. Taking my first bite, I could taste the crispy crust and the meat inside was marinated and I love the taste. (Know when I'm writing this, I think this is the same chicken served at the night of Yebber's anniversary! No wonder it tasted familiarly delicious that night. Hot favorite by everyone.)

The dessert served with my lunch set was a tad too sweet for my liking. Couldn't remember what is its name thou.

On my other visit to the cafe, I ordered their tea set with Mississippi pie as the dessert. The chocolate mousse covering the layer of chocolate pie was not too sweet and complements the entire pie pretty well. I would recommend to enjoy the pie together with the whipped cream at the side. It's there for a reason. If you are not a whipped cream person, I recommend you try their other selections. Cos the pie gets a little "sick-to-eat" if eaten on its own.

Will surely be going back for their lunch set if I've the chance to. The spaghetti in their lunch set selection looks nice too.

Footnote
After the event at mint, I would personally recommend anyone who's looking for a classy place to host your events at Mint museum. The staff are all very helpful and despite my long-winded conversation and constant reminders, the lady planning the event with me is always friendly and helpful. Thanks Mandy for the wonderful coordination and effort! As for the food, I'm sure many whom attended will agree with me that its good. Right?

If you mention the word mint, I'll probably think of peppermint or Singapore Mint. No no... it's neither the two. This "mint" place which I went today is the meseum of toys!

So what does mint mean in this case?

It actually stands for 'memories of imaginative & nolstalgic toys' (if I didn't remember wrongly!) The place consists of 5 floors plus a cafe at the basement. The exhibits (toys) were spread over the 4 levels, with each level having a different theme. Some of the toys which we managed to catch a glimpse of include tin tin, felix the cat, popeye, mickey mouse, betty boop, a collection of snow white & the seven dwarfs. Haha... it's such an interesting place! Many of these toys I've not even seen them before when I was young.

The toys in the meseum will be rotated every few months, so you don't have to worry about having to see the same collection of toy everytime you go. Yes, you'll be amazed by the wide collection of toys the owner has.

Another interesting point about this toy meseum is that the lightings on the display shelves were done in such a way that they will not cast any shadow of the toy. So it definitely helps when it comes to phototaking. No matter which angle you take from, the picture will look good. But one important thing to note when photographing here is that no flash is allowed. This is to prevent the flashlight from degrading the colour of the precious toys.

We were brought around by a tour guide, who had patiently explained the history of some of the toys to us. Yes, I think without him, we would not have learnt so much about toys if we just walk around on our own. So do get a tour guide if you intend to visit the meseum.

The admission ticket costs $10 for adult and $5 for children (aged 2 - 12 years old). But note that this excludes the tour guide fee.

Hmm... we have not really tried out the cafe. Shall try it next time & review it!