Having been in SMU for almost four years now, I can safely say that students studying in Lee Kong Chian School of Business have it the worst. Food wise of course. When at SOB and in need of a quick bite, your few options are limited to: 1) The automated sandwich machine on the ground floor, 2) Cheers, which is across the road, and 3) Koufu. Therefore, finding quick bite can be frustrating and downright stressful. But fret not, because unlike our other (more westly located) counterparts, our campus is in town. And there's always food in town, if you know where to look.
Raffles Place is one of the most densely populated shopping malls in Singapore, and for good reason. Parked right at City Hall, a majority of white-collared workers and students alike are likely to pass by the centrally-located mall in order to get their coffee fix and a quick lunch. Here, queues can be long and frankly quite expensive for the finger food of questionable quality we buy. However, for a rather upscale supermarket, Market Place offers a surprising number of quality and more importantly affordable eats that you can grab on the go.
Inside, there is an area specifically designated for take out, which they label "Food-to-Go". At this area, you have a wide variety of affordable take-out eats to choose from, such as garden salads, potato salads and cold-cut sandwiches.
T best thing about this Food-to-Go section is that there are usually items going at half price. Some people have reservations about eating food that's on clearance, but personally, I've had a few of these items on sale and the quality is just as good as the rest. So just use your discretion, if it looks relatively fresh, I say go for it if you're on a budget.
For those who aren't too fond of buying pre-packing food, there is a salad and pizza counter, where for where you pick and match 3 ingredients to go alongside your salad for only $4.99! The portion looks relatively large so I think this is quite a steal for salad junkies.
My all-time favourite place in the supermarket- the sushi bar. While it is a slightly pricier option than the pre-packed foods, you can still get a wide selection of fresh and pretty delicious sushi for roughly the same price. Each piece of sushi ranges from $0.70 to $1.50, which I find quite reasonable, considering you can get a decent 6 piece mix for under 5 bucks. The sushi is made fresh daily, so if you're looking for an affordable and healthy option, I suggest you head straight to this section.
Therefore, business kids at SMU, don't lament that you guys have no choice but to eat the stale sandwich from the machine. Just make a dash to Raffles City to grab your next lunch!
Distance from SOB to Raffles City: 470m / 6 min walk
