The Grandstand

I've seen various articles about the reopening of The Grandstand, and keen to check it out. So, that's what we did today.

Preparing to go The Grandstand

Hubby was pleasantly surprised that there is no parking gantry when we arrived, so that means parking is free. The first thing we saw was the huge variety of restaurants that had opened since the old Turf days. Like wow, almost the whole of first floor was dedicated to eateries. The food court was about half or even one-third the size of a usual one though, so I guess one would come more for the (expensive) restaurants.

There were signs pointing to the kids retails section on level 4, so we checked that out next. Sigh, most of level 4 did not come with aircon, which is no good for the weather these days. We ventured to the Aircon section but found that most of it still looks like work in progress. This is especially so if you want to go to Fidgets at level 3. Hubby took a look at the walkway and declared that's the last time he's stepping into this building.

We beat a hasty retreat and quickly went back to the restaurant area. We were so spoilt for choice for dinner! Eventually, we narrowed down to Treehouse Cafe and an Italian restaurant opposite. Prices looked more affordable at the Italian restaurant, but I wasn't very keen on feeding P pasta noodles just because it's much more difficult than feeding rice or anything else you can easily cut. Noodles are long strands and a pain when feeding toddlers. Besides, I noticed a play area at Treehouse Cafe that could potentially keep P occupied while we ate, so that's where we went.

Main courses are in the range of $18-20, not cheap by our standards coz the bill will come up to about $50. We rationalised by telling ourselves to take it that we spent some $ for P to go to an indoor playground, haha. Like I mentioned, Treehouse Cafe has this play area that comes with primarily Lego and books on a magazine rack. If you venture up the stairs, you will find a similar play area but with much lesser toys. The toy offerings are limited and they could do a lot better. An activity table, some FP toys will raise the standards by quite a bit. They had the space to accommodate much more toys, so hopefully they can leverage on this.

Food wise, I opted for Fish n Chips (so P can have some fish and fries) while hubby went for their Gourmet Burger. Both cost $20 each. We didn't get a pic of the Fish and Chips, for hubby attacked it immediately when it arrived (ya, he was starving I guess). Served piping hot, the dish was actually worth the cost, a fat slab of fish and generous servings of fries, yum! The burger arrived 5 min later and this time I got a picture. The bread was slightly crispy, but the beef patty takes the cake. Thick and juicy would be how I describe it.

We thoroughly enjoyed the meal and as expected, the play area kept P occupied for most of the time. However, I got quite concerned towards the end when I spotted P trying to climb the stairs up to the 'treehouse'. Each step is fairly high and the railings didn't look very safe, as if she can slip through it easily and fall from a height. I carried her off the stairs and she pulled the collapsed starfish stunt, totally releasing her body and collapsed to the floor. Hubby asked me to stop trying to convert her and just being her upstairs. Sigh, do I have to burn off the fish and burger immediately?!

After dinner, we went to Twelve Cupcakes at the other end of the floor to grab some cupcakes. To my delight, they were having a Buy-1-Get-1-Free!! That's equivalent to 50% off, haha! We bought half a dozen and that rounded up our weekend perfectly. Hopefully that will alleviate the blues tomorrow!