CaptainBullus wrote:I've also just recently heard about it and plan to check it out. What were the beer prices like?
Not cheap, but then they're small-batch craft beers so I'm not hugely surprised. I.e. even back home they're going to be something special. The two 500ml bottles were maybe $16-18 each. But I tend to follow a strategy with beer similar to wine. Start with a glass of the good stuff, when your palette is fresh and clear, maybe have a second, and then swiftly go down the scale to Heineken, Carlsberg or God forbid if you're desperate enough Tiger.
The third bottle I bought is an unusual thing. It's German, but brewed in Sweden ['Hmmm, curious']. BeerAdvocate (BA) tells me that the brewer collaborates with established breweries to brew individual one-off small-batch beers. And indeed this explains why BA lists more than 100 different brews to his company, which had had me very puzzled indeed! The one I have is something curious, a pale ale, but unfiltered. He styles his brews with some highly eccentric names, this one included, it translates as 'Nut bag ale'...
So I picked up those three 'special treats', and then dropped by Giant and bought a case of Becks.
zzm9980 wrote: How crowded was it? When I first visited (almost a year ago) it was ridiculously packed, like Orchard iON on a weekend before Christmas.
Good question. We didn't get there until about 5.30, and we found it refreshingly calm. But by maybe 7pm some of the shops were closing. I understand the restaurants stay open until 10pm IIRC. At 7pm downstairs the Giant was almost deserted... brilliant!
It is a curious place. Pasar Bella is one floor of an approx 8 floor enclosed ex-grandstand - which is vast, like a typical Orchard Road mall - Giant is another floor. We checked out a couple of other floors which seem to be a kindergarden, a gym, and so on *100 - all pretty deserted. All this overlooks what is now a rugby pitch. There are three (or more car-parks) you can use. Then if that hasn't confused the heck out of you, there are another two totally separate stands that aren't located even in view. Very strange place, it might be a bonus to visit with someone who has figured it all out! I'm even going to Google/Map it now and try and see if I can figure how the three stands all fit together...
That said getting to Pasar Bella alone was relatively simple. We drove there but there is a shuttle bus that I've seen downtown, so it must have a route there. When we were leaving we had to navigate around a few taxis parked up outside on the kerb. I suspect they might have been waiting there to scoop booking fees...
p.s. @Akimbo, yes definitely a big change from the usual. Lots of interesting shops, very different, good looking F+B. My wife was talking about taking a friend of hers there when he visits soon. He was a SGn but is now naturalised in the EU. She suspects he'll like it, and is sure he's never been. It's a curious place, like this huge, quite bustling, but 'rather unknown/hidden find'. If you asked me where such a place might exist the last place I'd have suggested would have been here. Indeed my wife likened it to a similar'ish place she visited earlier this year in Florence.
Meanwhile I was back home and ended up at McDonalds, purveyors of the 100% authentic American burger experience... 
