Categories: FeaturedShopping

What the reopened Mustafa supermarket looks like inside

How Singapore has missed thee and your well-stocked shelves, Mustafa Centre.

After it emerged in early April that Mustafa Centre was a cluster for Covid-19 cases, the 24-hour megamall was shut for more than a month for professional disinfection. While most supermarkets did roaring business as shoppers stocked up on essentials and groceries, Mustafa – known as the mecca for coveted baking ingredients as well as vegetarian staples – was forced to sit out on the biggest nationwide grocery run of all time.

Channel News Asia reported that as of May 3, there have been 124 cases linked to the Mustafa cluster. Mustafa has reopened its supermarket since May 6, but are you wondering whether it is safe to shop there? Is the current selection of goods enticing enough to make a trip there worth your while?

We paid a visit on Friday (May 15) and here’s what we found out.

Yes, there’s instant yeast here, but no Philly cream cheese

Let’s cut to the chase. You’d probably want to know if there’s dry instant yeast, Philadelphia cream cheese, and Bob’s Red Mill organic flours. The answer is yes, no, and yes/no.

At 8pm on May 15, there was no sign of Bake King Instant Yeast; Saf-Instant Dry Baker’s Yeast was sold out; but if you don’t mind trying an unfamiliar brand, you can buy 500g of Yowe Instant Dry Yeast for only $4.30.

Yowe Instant Dry Yeast sells at $4.30 for a 500g pack.

There was no Philadelphia cream cheese in the fridge, sorry to disappoint. But other than that, all other dairy and cheese products, including the vegan options, were in stock.

These were the butter and margarine products available at Mustafa on the night of May 15.
Philly cream cheese was noticeably missing from the cheese shelf.

Bakers would also be wondering if their favourite Bob’s Red Mill flours were available. Sadly, only the pastry flours were found on the shelves, and the bread flours and all-purpose flour were nowhere to be seen.

The section where all the Bob’s Red Mill products can be found. Baking soda, egg replacer, pastry flour, rolled oats and protein powders are available, but there’s no AP flour, regular wholewheat flour or bread flour. Below: large sacks of basmati rice.

So, what is available at Mustafa Supermarket?

In stock: Basmati rice, spices, tinned tomatoes, canned food

Obviously, shoppers have returned to Mustafa Supermarket in droves to buy popular essentials. So what else is there left to buy? Plenty.

Tinned tomato products galore. Most of the Arrighi brand tins are gone, though.
All the tinned tuna, mackerel and sardines you could wish for.
Mustafa has the widest variety of dairy and non-dairy UHT milk products, and they’re all in stock.
The McCormick spice rack here is also properly stocked.

There are sacks of basmati rice, Indian stoneground wheat flour (that you can use for baking bread and fermenting sourdough starter), tinned tomatoes, the full selection of McCormick’s dried spices, all manner of canned food (even the good sardines), UHT milk, and of course, given the Ramadan season: dates.

The confectionery section is also open and freshly baked breads and cream cakes are available. Mustafa is probably one of the few rare places in Singapore where you can buy an emergency cream cake past 10pm. Oh by the way, Mustafa’s new opening hours are from 11am to 11.30pm nowadays.

Consider using Rajdhani stoneground 100% wholewheat flour ($6.90 for a 5kg bag) for baking bread and feeding your sourdough starter.

Oh yes, you can also get face masks and infrared thermometers here. Bulk price is available.

Blunt Bird Infrared Thermometers at $75 a piece when you buy one or $69 a piece when you buy 40.

But is it safe to visit?

When Mustafa announced that it would reopen, it naturally would have received clearance from the authorities, including the National Environment Agency and the Covid-19 multi-ministry task force.

Mustafa Centre is accessible only via Entrance/Exit 3 facing Verdun Road.
Infrared temperature scanning in progress before stepping in.

Only the supermarket on level 2 and level 3 (new wing) is open and all other sections have been cordoned off. Shoppers can only access the mall via Entrance/Exit 3, which faces Verdun Road and is on the same side of the street as the Mustafa travel agency (now temporarily closed). Before entering, shoppers must log in to Safe Entry and go through an infrared scan. At the door, each shopper is given a pair of disposable plastic gloves to wear. Needless to say, face masks must be worn at all times. When you exit, you must check out of Mustafa via Safe Entry again.

Each shopper is issued a pair of disposable plastic gloves for use within the store.
The pharmacy section of Mustafa Centre is out of bounds.
Much of the 55,000 sq ft megamall remains closed.

When Alvinology.com visited on Friday night, two social distancing ambassadors were stationed at the entrance while a couple more were seen patrolling the aisles.

Many fresh veggie shelves were empty but dill, parsley, pennywort and other local herbs and veggies were available.
Not all the shelves are full, but they sure are clean.
Mustafa feels brand new after the massive decluttering and disinfecting.

Mustafa Centre had not undergone any renovation during the month-long hiatus, but the interiors looked drastically different because every surface was squeaky clean, and the aisles were free of clutter. All the fresh produce from before the closure had obviously been tossed out, and their receptacles thoroughly cleaned.

This corner used to be really cluttered, but it has now been sorted.
Dates are neatly stacked and arranged on the shelves.
These 5-kg jumbo boxes of Medjool dates ($135) were too big for the shelves, so they’re stacked on top of an overturned crate.
Natural Delights non-organic whole Medjool dates (red lid), $12.90 per box. Organic Medjool dates (not in frame), $24.50 per box.

The section of the supermarket (the space which connects the old wing to the new one) used to display dried dates is usually cluttered with stacks and stacks of dates at this time of year, but not this time. All shelf space is utilised to the max and some of the stock of Medjool dates have been moved to the shelves near the fish.

Getting there

Do note that both the basement carpark and the multistorey carpark of Mustafa Centre are closed. If you are driving there, you will need to park in a street parking lot. There are plenty of parallel parking lots in the adjacent streets like Sam Leong Road and Syed Alwi Road.

If you are headed there by taxi or private hire car, direct the driver to the Verdun Road entrance. If taking MRT, get off at Farrer Park station and walk in the direction of PARKROYAL Hotel for the fastest way to get to the current entrance of Mustafa Centre.

Also, please take note that its new opening hours are now from 11am to 11.30pm.

What did you manage to find at Mustafa Supermarket? Tell us in the comments!

Rachel Chan

Rachel is a media content strategist who started her career in traditional TV and newsprint companies. She has 10 years of writing experience under her belt and is currently the editor of entertainment website thepoppingpost.com.

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