If you are a lover of Japanese food and prepared to pay for premium products straight from Japan, you should pay a visit to the Spring Kyushu Fair which is currently being held at Tampines Mall. The pre-sale was held today from 3pm onwards where there are a lot of stalls selling various foodstuff products from the Kyushu region. Most of the stalls are located in the lobby on level 1 but there are some stalls spread out on the second floor. You may just miss them if you focus on the main area only so be sure to check out those "outlying" stores as well.
Just to give you a feel of what's on offer: roll cakes created in conjunction with Sakai Hiroyuki (second Iron Chef French), ramen, seasoned seafood, deep-fried seafood, croquette, fruit jelly, ice-cream, puddings in dorayaki, Yame tea, grilled squid, karage, mini taiyaki and the list goes on and on. However, be prepared to shell out good money for the food here because coming straight from Japan would mean that there's a premium to be attached to such products. Besides, some of the products aren't common here so it's no wonder that the prices tend to be on the steep side due to their rarity. Frankly speaking, I like Japanese food but biting the bullet to pay top-dollar for the best food can be a huge dent to my pocket so I tend to be very selective about what I buy at such food fairs. In the past, there was only the Hokkaido food fair which was an annual event but in recent years, Isetan has brought in food from other regions of Japan which is good for us because it brings the local produce to us rather than us having to fly all the way there to try everything.
Despite it being a pre-sale today (the official event begins tomorrow), there were loads of people around probably due to it being a public holiday tomorrow so I didn't get to buy anything. In fact, the crowds were so "intimidating" that it was difficult for me to squeeze in so I only managed to check on the stalls on the fringes rather than those situated right in the middle. The picture on the right was taken when the crowds just started to flow in at 3pm but an hour later when I returned to check out the stalls, the aisles were really packed to the brim. It always strikes me that the atrium area here isn't that suitable for such food fairs because it is too cramped and the aisles always end up to be jam-packed with people. Looks like the crowds might get worse over the upcoming long weekend but for those game enough to brave the sea of people and willing to pay top dollar for your food, you will definitely be handsomely rewarded! ^__^
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