The Playhouse @ Rochester

Last Sunday we brought the boys to the Playhouse @ Rochester. Heard a few mummies talked about it and read some good reviews online.

We arrived around 11am, following the instruction to park at the HDB multi-storey carpark and then walked over. The walk wasn't too far, just a stone throw away.

We purchased a package of $50 that would allow us 10 access and there was no expiry date to it. Otherwise, a child would have cost us $8 for an hour's play, $10 for 2 hours' and $15 for unlimited.

The Playhouse comprises of indoor and outdoor playground.

A long bench with trays of blocks greeted us. The boys hurried over and started to build the blocks.

colourful blocks

I took a look around, there wasn't many kids but the place seemed messy.

the supposedly kitchen

dress up area

I was a little dismayed that the toys were thrown all over the place and no staff was in the indoor play area to keep an eye on things. There were 2 boys that were throwing balls out from the pits and they had actually aimed to hit the ceiling light. Although there was a notice to say that children need to be supervised all the time, these 2 boys' parents were not in sight.

slide down

However, the indoor play area was spacious that there were 2 Little Tikes houses in there. One was those garden house and the other was a castle for the children to explore. Despite there were less than 10 kids in there, Matt got bullied. He wanted to play at one of the houses but was stopped by 2 sisters (around 3 and 5 year old). I saw one of the girls pushed him slightly and I quickly called out to him. He was upset and started crying. The girls' father was around, chided the girls but didn't apologise to us.


We ventured out to the outdoor play area soon but alas, it was a hot day!

lotsa rides

The outdoor area was spacious. There were plenty of rides, slides, swing, water play and a mini garden. The trampoline was not in use when we were there. Besides the outdoor area, there's alfresco dining. So parents could actually sit there to eat while the children play.

Avocado Salad

We had lunch there. Starter was Avocado Salad ($13.90) with romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, mangoes, tofu and avocado. Dressing was a dash of wafu vinaigrette. The taste was more on the sourish side but it was appetising on a hot day.

chicken, corn, risoni soup

There's a kid menu with a quite bit of varieties. I chose the soupy dish which was chicken, corn and risoni (macaroni) soup ($9.90) for the boys. Then I topped up with chicken nuggets ($3.00) for them. Kid's meal is served with juice and a chocolate chip cookie. We tasted their macaroni soup and it was quite tasty.

Napolitana Penne

For ourselves, we had napolitana penne ($16.90) which was basically a vegetarian pasta dish. Nothing to shout out but the serving was big.

Hawaiian Pizza

We also had Hawaiian Pizza ($18.00) which I personally liked it a lot. It was thin crust, nicely oven baked and generous serving of toppings. The pizza was about 15" and easily could serve 2.


Here's my summary of the Playhouse @ Rochester

Play area

Best to come early. They are opened at 10am and it's better to be their first customer. I also noticed that the staff did not screen the kids e.g. measure the temperature and ensure kids have sanitised their hands before entering the play area. There's a small shoe rack outside but no proper place for kids to sit and wear their socks.

Outdoor area should only be attempted in the early morning or late afternoon. Do remember to use insect repellent. I got a few mosquitoes' bites and lucky the boys had the mosquito patch on. The water in the water play looked dirty, probably got misused by the children. The outdoor area was covered with carpet grass and a part of it was sheltered.


Alfresco Dining

Obviously shorthanded. Basically only 2 female staff attending to the diners and walk in customers for the playground. The eating area was hot and the big fans they put around didn't help unless you could direct one to yourself (which I saw one customer selfishly did that). Despite being short handed, we didn't have to wait too long for our food to be served. Portion was big and generous but only the Hawaiian Pizza impressed me.


Conclusion

Although I bought the package of 10 visits with unlimited play time, I think it would be a long while or even never, before I would bring the kids there. Big minus point was on the lack of screening and ensuring hygiene. Also as it's outdoor too, potentially there could be mosquito bite which nobody likes. Lastly, being a non-outdoor person, I suffered a terrible migraine from the heat. So quite a big deterrent for me.