By Mei Feifei (22A13A), Sophie Goh (22S07B)
This is part two of our ‘Chill Go Where?’ series. You may access part one here.
Your friends just jio-ed you on an after-school outing. The day has come and your squad is faced with the perennial question—chill go where? Here is a non-exhaustive list of hang-out spots off campus that you may wish to consider.
1. Junction 8 Roof Garden (on level 3, ironically)
The mother of all OG and CCA lunches and dinners, you’ve definitely seen students hang out here. Not your picturesque Marina Barrage or Botanic Gardens, but definitely a classic spot for “picnics” with friends over dabao-ed food from J8.
SDAs galore, so please socially distance yourselves and keep your masks on unless you are eating or drinking.
2. Denzy Gelato (Ice cream cafe)
Though a less well-known spot amongst RI students, this cafe, conveniently situated next to Junction 8/S11, is a great place to hang out as well.
If you’re looking to treat yourself to some dessert after an exam, or congratulate yourself for getting through the week, this is the place to go to get ice cream with waffles for $8++, and single-scoop ice cream for $3.60.
3. Upper Thomson stretch
Tired of the usual Junction 8 or Nex fare? Check out Upper Thomson!
This road is filled with eatery after eatery, so you can pretty much never get bored with the options there. Some places we recommend would be the Roti Prata House, which serves delicious, crispy prata at extremely wallet-friendly prices (Plain prata for 90 cents!), and the Beach Road scissor-cut curry rice.
For cafe lovers who don’t mind spending a bit more, Upper Thomson also has places like Udders (ice cream parlour a few shops from the Roti Prata House), Project Acai, and more.
There are now two options to get there:
- Bus 410G (4 stops from Opposite Bosch to Bef Thomson Ridge)
- MRT (From Marymount to Caldecott, change to the TEL, and take to Upper Thomson)
4. Marymount “stretch”
Although not so much of a literal stretch like Upper Thomson, our school’s beloved neighbourhood has several excellent hang-out and dining spots as well.
For one, there’s the famed Bosch mala, sold in the Bosch coffeeshop just a short walk from the Marymount gate. Being the nearest Mala spot from our school (and an affordably-priced one as well!), this place is easily near the top of the list of favourite hang-out places for RI mala fanatics. Ornithophobes beware: this coffee shop is sometimes crawling with pigeons, so if you don’t want to spend half your meal getting up from your seat and creating a public ruckus, we recommend dabao-ing your Mala to eat elsewhere!
Turn the corner around the coffeeshop and you will find a small cafe aptly coined ‘The Hideout’. The cafe serves typical Western dishes (think burgers, pastas, pizzas and the likes) and is, of course, more expensive than the coffeeshop. However, it is air-conditioned—a definite plus considering Singapore’s weather.
Head even further up Jalan Pemimpin and at Clover Way, you will see another row of eateries and Marymount’s hidden gem—Jai Thai. It is, as its name suggests, a Thai restaurant that sells excellent Thai food.
Words can hardly do Jai Thai justice, so perhaps a better illustration is that one writer’s classmate once made a mad dash for Jai Thai during a one hour break between lessons, only narrowly making it back in time but without any regrets because his pad thai was that good.
AND NO CHILL GUIDE IS COMPLETE WITHOUT…
An obligatory safe distancing reminder. We hope this article has given you some new ideas on where to hold your next OG or friend group meetup, and remember, stay safe (and socially distanced) at all times!
