buying direct from factory outlets

in tuesday's straits times, there was a feature report about food factories at woodlands drawing more customers during these hard times because of the lower prices. actually, those who live or work in woodlands and those who know about these bargains have been patronising these food factories at woodlands terrace, woodlands link and woodlands loop since 2005. most have started sourcing for bargains at the woodlands loop factory outlets even before that.

i have been buying ice-cream from foodedge gourmet located at woodlands terrace. they even have a mailing list and will keep you informed of special offers, which are usually available towards the end of each month.

fassler is the place to go to if you want to buy salmon and other imported fish. the cold room is so cold that they provide jackets for their customers.

we have been buying fishballs from housen seafood enterprise at level 1 block 15 even earlier, before 2005. then the plain fishballs were priced at 10 cents each and the fishballs with bits of vegetables and other meat were going for 20 cents each. they also sell uncooked fishballs and a variety of fish cakes. over the years, they have added other items like fried chicken wings, fried wanton and ngoh hiang. the fishballs and fish cakes are on sale after 4.00 p.m. they are not open on sundays.

if you want to buy breakfast snacks like carrot cake (the whole piece type), soon kueh and other kuehs, you have to go to block 15 in the later part of the evening, say between 7.00 p.m. and 8.00 p.m. to get them.

another outlet that we often go to buy foodstuff is j&c food industrial on level 3 of the same building (block 15). i go there to buy cakes, cream puffs and sometimes, pineapple tarts. i like their chocolate, butter and banana cakes. they used to charge 35 cents a piece. today, it is $4.00 for a box of ten pieces.

also on level 3 is janur food industry where i went once with my former colleague to buy halal satay. there are at least two outlets selling pork satay on the other levels. both the halal and non-halal satays are priced at about 25 cents a stick.

i usually go to fragrance just before the lunar new year to buy 'bak kwa' and other tit-bits. my friend goes to cecilia minced and dried pork food trading on level 2 at block 15 to buy the same stuff - bak kwa.

there are a few other factories along the same stretch of road that welcome walk-in customers, like the two above. over at woodlands link, which is parallel to woodlands terrace, you can buy fresh pastries from polar. there is also one food factory at the end of this road where i sometimes go to buy otah and chinese-style nasi lemak.

another place which we go to to buy from the food factories is located at bedok north avenue 4. it is called the gourmet east kitchen. i think this place is popular with people who live in the eastern part of singapore. we go there to buy chee cheong fun, chwee kueh, yam cake and pumpkin cake. i have blogged about the chee cheong fun here. my friend, nah, gets his kueh pie tee shells from red lips at gourmet east kitchen.

yet another place we go to to get foodstuff at bargain prices is ben's food at fishery port. it is open on saturdays for two hours only. across the road from ben's is song fish dealer where we buy our frozen cod fish in cube sizes and other seafood products.