Have you guys been to Woodlands Terrace yet for your CNY shopping? I was there on the weekend – people mountain people sea as usual. Managed to snag salmon fillets, smoked salmon and squids from Fassler, assorted CNY cookies from DJ Bakery, sauces from Chuen Cheong and a bunch of different steamboat ingredients from Li Chuan – pretty fruitful trip. I’m not going to blog about it this year as I’m sure most of you would have read about the CNY food factory sales in my previous post, Chinese New Year 2015 Food Factory Wholesale Shopping. The range of products on sale this year was very similar to last year’s except I found new salted yolk flavoured fish skin, potato chips and tapioca chips at Fragrance factory. I sampled them but didn’t like them cos’ I couldn’t taste the salted yolk flavour so I didn’t buy any though the sales people kept saying how good and addictive the chips were.
By the way, I noticed prices for many items had gone up again at some of the factories (particularly meats and seafood) so unless you’re cooking for a huge family or like to buy food stuffs in bulk to stock up, then it’s worth making the trip here to shop otherwise you wouldn’t be seeing a significant amount of savings.
Anyway, my mission today is to explore a new place for food shopping and that brings me to Mustafa Centre at Little India. I’ve been to Mustafa Centre a number of times but I only window shopped during those visits because this is the only mall in Singapore that opens 24-hour and it’s just perfect when I want to jalan-jalan on those sleepless nights.
This time round, I spent a long time checking out the dry goods section of the supermarket in Mustafa Centre and spotted these great buys.
Baked cashew nuts from Brazil at S$15.90/kg. Almonds from USA at S$17.90/kg. Way cheaper than what I usually get from Albert Centre Wholesale Market. And these were of pretty good quality too.
These Californian Golden Raisins were selling at $10/kg at Albert Centre but they only cost S$6.50/kg here. What a deal! Sunflower seeds without shells at S$2 for 250g which wasn’t the cheapest compared to Teck Sang at Hong Kong Street.
Canned beans and chopped tomatoes from S$1.20 to S$1.80 each which usually cost S$1.95 and above each at supermarkets or online grocers. I love to stock up on beans for salads and often use chopped tomatoes for pasta sauces.
Found some new superfood snacks that only cost S$2.90 per box. Each box had like 12 individually-wrapped bars in it which was retailing at S$1.60 per bar but if you buy a box, it only cost 24 cents each bar! These crisps tasted quite good. A little like our Chinese-style hard peanut candy.
I was super excited to see these new wraps. Never have I tried wraps of chia, rye or oat flavour. Each pack of 8 sheets cost S$3.90. I liked that they were quite low in calories (about 140kcal per 2 pieces) and that they were rectangular in shape so it was quite easy to roll and wrap ingredients in. You can eat them straight from the packet but I prefer to steam them warm.
Nut lovers, you will be pleased to also find other nuts like walnuts, pistachios, macadamias and more at Mustafa Centre. Given the quality and price, they are really value for money. One good point about buying nuts from here is that the origin of the nuts is clearly stated on the packaging. It’s not the same case if you buy from Albert Centre Wholesale Market where I believe most of the products come from China with very selected nuts from USA.
Anyway, there are so many products (each with several brands and origins) on the shelves at Mustafa Centre that it will probably take me another trip down to explore. Let’s see what I can fish out again. 😉 Till next time! 🙂
Mustafa Centre
145 Syed Alwi Road
Singapore 207704
Tel: +65 6295 5855
Website: http://www.mustafa.com.sg/
Opening hours: 24-hour daily
Hi after reading a few of your wholesale centre posts, may i ask which do you think is best for nuts and dried fruits?
I’ve previously ordered from garden picks, but i got more excited to try the other wholesale centres you mentioned.
Do the other wholesale places like albert complex sell chia seeds?
By chance you have any lobang for fresh coconut water? Not the canned/packet ones.
Hi JJ, I think it all depends on what quality or country of origin you prefer. Nuts can be quite cheap in Mustafa and though they are from US or South America, I still like the ones from Albert Complex (I believe most of the nuts are from China) that seem to be fresher, crunchier and overall taste better because of a higher turnaround rate. And I like that I can sample the nuts first before making my purchase so I know what I will be getting plus I can buy nuts at smaller portions like 300g or 500g instead of fixed 1kg packs that Mustafa sells. I’m not sure if the shops at Albert Complex sells chia seeds because I didn’t really look before since I normally buy chia seeds from Qoo10. (read my blog post http://www.springtomorrow.com/2015/12/31/chocolate-chia-seed-pudding-recipe/ for more info). Sorry I don’t have any lobang for fresh coconut water but you might want to check out Pasir Panjang Wholesale Market because if you buy in bulk or large amount, you can negotiate with the seller for further discounts. Good luck!