A Swedish Christmas Dinner at IKEA Alexandra
"What?! IKEA Again?!?"
This was my entire team's reaction when I told them one afternoon that I'm heading to IKEA after work. No, they weren't over-reacting and I don't blame them for the disbelief too. IKEA is one of my favorite places here in Singapore and I just love shopping and eating here. I'm glad that Paul shares the same fascination for this Swedish home store too that we would frequent it at least every other week and immediately signed up to be part of the IKEA Family Club weeks upon moving in to the Lion City. As we were busy buying gifts last Christmas, we somehow managed to visit IKEA 3 times in one week. Thus, the shock from my team when they found out I'm going back to IKEA again.
So, to celebrate the yuletide season, Paul and I invited our friends I, O and C as well as our cousin J to join us for a fun Swedish dinner at IKEA last December 19. This Christmas Dinner ran for only two days and they had only two sittings per day. We decided to get the second seating (8PM-10PM) on the first day. Tickets were sold for only S$30 where IKEA Family Members gets a S$15 coupon with it (so it was like a buy-1-get-1 deal for me and Paul) and non-members got a S$5 coupon.
The start of the buffet was a bit chaotic. We got there just in time and were lucky to enter without having to queue yup but O was there a few minutes earlier and was shocked by the long line that snaked through the store. As we got to the entrance, we were given wrist bands to help them identify who's part of the buffet.
First things first, we got a round table that would comfortably sit all 6 of us then off to the battle ground. I'd say, we were a bit disappointed upon seeing that almost ALL of the chafing dishes were empty. Servers on ground assured us that these will be replenished so everyone just stood in line not moving making the wait even longer. Finally, the replenishment came one by one -- Meatballs, Salmon, Fries, Pasta, Soup...
It was a very long spread with a number of our IKEA favorites and some new ones. Here are some of the dishes that I particularly liked that evening:
Marinated Shrimp on Broccoli Medallion
Imagine crisp baby shrimps on top of a creamy potato and broccoli croquette. It was so good and definitely the highlight of my dinner at IKEA. Wish they can have this as part of the regular menu.
Roasted Turkey Breast Roll with Chicken Gravy
I was sad for not being able to celebrate Thanksgiving in Singapore after years of doing so in Manila. Imagine how happy I was to see that IKEA had included a delicious turkey dish for their Christmas buffet. It was very juicy and tender, exactly the way I love my turkey to be. Yum yum!
Baked Swedish Meatballs with Picked Gherkins
Of course, what's a meal in IKEA without having their meatballs...lots and lots of meatballs? We definitely made IKEA proud as we had plates of this.
Dessert in IKEA is another thing. We loved the Mini Chocolate Donuts, Mini Lotus Buns (of course, we're in Singapore!), Gingerbread Cookies and their Chocolate Cupcakes too. This was actually the first station that I checked out as I wanted to make sure that I'm saving space for all these dessert. Seeing the dessert table was enough to put me in a good holiday mood.
Lastly, I just had to end my meal with some of these melt-in-your-mouth Daim candies!
It was a fun dinner where we started off feeling a bit stressed out and disappointed but ended happy and satisfied. It was truly a Merry IKEA Christmas for us last year!
This was my entire team's reaction when I told them one afternoon that I'm heading to IKEA after work. No, they weren't over-reacting and I don't blame them for the disbelief too. IKEA is one of my favorite places here in Singapore and I just love shopping and eating here. I'm glad that Paul shares the same fascination for this Swedish home store too that we would frequent it at least every other week and immediately signed up to be part of the IKEA Family Club weeks upon moving in to the Lion City. As we were busy buying gifts last Christmas, we somehow managed to visit IKEA 3 times in one week. Thus, the shock from my team when they found out I'm going back to IKEA again.
So, to celebrate the yuletide season, Paul and I invited our friends I, O and C as well as our cousin J to join us for a fun Swedish dinner at IKEA last December 19. This Christmas Dinner ran for only two days and they had only two sittings per day. We decided to get the second seating (8PM-10PM) on the first day. Tickets were sold for only S$30 where IKEA Family Members gets a S$15 coupon with it (so it was like a buy-1-get-1 deal for me and Paul) and non-members got a S$5 coupon.
The start of the buffet was a bit chaotic. We got there just in time and were lucky to enter without having to queue yup but O was there a few minutes earlier and was shocked by the long line that snaked through the store. As we got to the entrance, we were given wrist bands to help them identify who's part of the buffet.
First things first, we got a round table that would comfortably sit all 6 of us then off to the battle ground. I'd say, we were a bit disappointed upon seeing that almost ALL of the chafing dishes were empty. Servers on ground assured us that these will be replenished so everyone just stood in line not moving making the wait even longer. Finally, the replenishment came one by one -- Meatballs, Salmon, Fries, Pasta, Soup...
It was a very long spread with a number of our IKEA favorites and some new ones. Here are some of the dishes that I particularly liked that evening:
Imagine crisp baby shrimps on top of a creamy potato and broccoli croquette. It was so good and definitely the highlight of my dinner at IKEA. Wish they can have this as part of the regular menu.
I was sad for not being able to celebrate Thanksgiving in Singapore after years of doing so in Manila. Imagine how happy I was to see that IKEA had included a delicious turkey dish for their Christmas buffet. It was very juicy and tender, exactly the way I love my turkey to be. Yum yum!
Of course, what's a meal in IKEA without having their meatballs...lots and lots of meatballs? We definitely made IKEA proud as we had plates of this.
It was a fun dinner where we started off feeling a bit stressed out and disappointed but ended happy and satisfied. It was truly a Merry IKEA Christmas for us last year!
