I have probably walked past this casual Asian restaurant umpteen times whenever I head to Sembawang Shopping Centre as it’s just located outside Daiso and Esprit on the ground level. My folks had been here several times previously and they’d always rave about the free-flow ice cream which seemed to be the only highlight of their meals, lol. So when G and I came by to run errands again recently, we decided to have dinner here.

Everything was pretty much self-serviced here. Just tick your orders on the form, hand to the cashier and make payment.

The food here was mainly Asian cuisine (with a few selections of pastas) ranging from Chinese, Japanese, Korean to Thai. Every set meal or main would include free flow soft drinks, coffee/tea and ice cream.

(No pork and no lard. Poultry, beef and fish product are halal certified. For their full menu, please visit their website here.)

The cashier will also hand out a tray with mugs, ice cream cups, green tea bags, cutlery and serviettes when you’re done with the ordering/payment.

Barely moments after getting drinks from the dispenser, we saw the mains already sitting on our table. How quick was that! Impressive.

I ordered the Spaghetti Aglio Olio with Chicken Teriyaki Set (S$10.30). The spaghetti was done al dente with a nice bite, exactly how I liked it but taste wise, it was a little bland (well, at least not greasy!). The teriyaki chicken was tender and its sauce was quite sweet. I’d suggest to mix everything up thoroughly so the teriyaki sauce could flavour the rest of the pasta.

G had the Creamy Tom Yam Chicken Spaghetti Set (S$10.30) which was quite spicy and tangy but it didn’t have a full-bodied flavour of a real tom yam. There was a generous amount of ingredients like chicken and mushrooms. However the spaghetti was overdone and hence was too soft. Anyway, I would still prefer the Tom Yum Seafood Pasta from 49 Seats.

I was happy to see the soft serve dispenser! And that they had the classic flavours of Chocolate, Vanilla and my most preferred, Mixed.

The soft serve ice cream wasn’t the creamy type like those of Mac N Dee or Ikea. The texture of this was more between creamy and icy which I quite enjoyed as it didn’t taste too heavy or cloying. Wasn’t overly sweet too. A pity there wasn’t any toppings to dress up the ice cream.

There was also a good selection of tubbed ice cream – 10 flavours to choose from.

Cookies ‘n’ Cream and Mocha

Paddle Pop Rainbow, Chocolate and Rum & Raisin

We thought the Rum & Raisin was the best!

While I didn’t think there was any wow factor in the mains we tried, they were still decent fare like what we would make at home. And for such prices (GST applies but no service charge) in a restaurant setting, it was still a value for money meal especially if you like sodas and ice creams. I don’t fancy soft drinks that much but I wouldn’t mind coming back for a meal just for the soft serve and Rum & Raisin.

Just Acia
604 Sembawang Road
#01-39, Sembawang Shopping Centre
Singapore 758459
Tel: 6555 7798
Opening hours: 11.00am to 10.30pm daily
Website: http://www.justacia.com/

(Other outlets are located at NUS Medicine Faculty, Downtown East and Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station – click here for more details.)

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