5 Things to Do in Singapore This Week: Mid-Autumn Edition
Mid-Autumn Festival lands on **Friday, 25 September** this year, and Singapore’s malls have spent the past month building lantern gardens, mooncake fairs and at least one giant custard pudding dog. This is a shortlist for anyone with a free evening between now and the weekend, plus a Tokyo hamburg steak shop that opened to the public at Lau Pa Sat on 22 September, ahead of its official opening on 5 October.
## 7 Metres of Pompompurin at VivoCity
VivoCity‘s **Sky Park on Level 3** has been running the **Sanrio Characters Moonlit Garden** since 25 August, and the whole setup comes down on **Sunday, 27 September**. Six themed zones hold glowing installations of Hello Kitty, Cinnamoroll, Kuromi, My Melody and Hangyodon, but the one everybody is queueing for is the **7m-tall Pompompurin** perched on an oversized mooncake. That is roughly two storeys of golden retriever pudding, and it photographs exactly as ridiculously as it sounds!
The paid extras sit in **Kuromi’s Carnival Kingdom** , where six Sanrio carnival games run at **S$10 per game** , the Mini Express Train charges **S$10 a ride** , and the themed photo booth is **S$8 a session**. Character meet-and-greets happen on selected weekends and need a **minimum S$80 single-receipt spend** to unlock. A **Sanrio Retail Pop-Up** at Level 1, East Court carries a selection of official merchandise and collectibles until the garden closes.
Here is the honest maths: three games and a train ride is S$40 before anyone has bought a keychain. The installations themselves cost nothing to stand in front of, which is where the good photos are anyway, so budget for one game and spend the rest on dinner downstairs.
📅 **25 August to 27 September 2026** · 📍 **VivoCity Sky Park, Level 3** · 💰 **Games S$10, train S$10, photo booth S$8** · 🎁 **Meet-and-greet with S$80 single-receipt spend**
## Last Call for Mooncakes at Great World and NEX
If the boxes have not been bought yet, this is the week. **Great World** is running **Moonlit Treasures** , its mooncake and gifting showcase for the season, while **NEX** has its own fair stocked for the same deadline. Both are the sort of set-up where the samples do more persuading than the signage.
Great World’s Moonlit Treasures plays to the family table: mooncakes, lanterns and a gifting deadline of Friday
The reason to move now is simple. Mid-Autumn falls on **Friday** , and both fairs run to 25 September. Buy for the family gathering, then buy one box you have no intention of sharing.
📅 **Through Mid-Autumn week** · 📍 **Great World and NEX**
## City Square Mall Enters the Playverse
Over at **City Square Mall** , **Enter the Playverse** runs until **27 September 2026** , with a Collectible Toy Fair, a Mid-Autumn Fair and a Mental Health Fair under its banner. The rewards all route through the **CityNexus** app, so sign up before shopping rather than after, when the receipt is already in the bin.
City Square Mall’s Enter the Playverse campaign artwork; the campaign runs until 27 September
The pick of the redemptions is the **two-piece mooncake set worth S$30** , which needs a **minimum S$50 spend** (S$100 if the receipts include Don Don Donki or Eagles Mediation & Counselling Centre) at participating Basement 2 stores, entertainment, gifts and hobbies outlets. It runs from **14 to 27 September** and is capped at the **first 100 redemptions** , so that is the one to chase early in the day. Bigger spenders can take the **Eco Mama bag charm plushie and a S$5 CDL e-voucher** at **S$120** or **S$170** , and a **S$20 spend** earns triple points, capped at 1,000 bonus points daily.
Worth noting for the weekend after this one: from **2 to 4 October** , a **S$20 single receipt** gets a round of _Supā Bōru Sukui_ (super ball scooping, the Japanese festival game with the paper scoop that always tears) or a **yukata experience for up to a family of four** at the Anime Earth Game Booth. First 500 redemptions daily.
📅 **Until 27 September 2026** · 📍 **City Square Mall** · 🎁 **Mooncake set worth S$30 from S$50 spend, 14 to 27 September** · 📱 **CityNexus membership required**
## Pre-Loved Racks From S$10 at Parkway Parade
**Parkway Parade** has pre-loved fashion on the floor this week with pieces starting at **S$10** , which is less than a bowl of ramen and considerably better for the planet. Thrifting in Singapore usually means a trek to a warehouse in the east or a Carousell meet-up that falls through twice; having the racks sitting inside an East Coast mall removes both excuses.
The appeal is not only the price. A rack of second-hand clothing is the one shopping experience an algorithm cannot flatten, because nobody else is getting the same jacket. Go early, because the good sizes disappear before lunch.
📍 **Parkway Parade** · 💰 **From S$10**
## A Tokyo Hamburg Legend Lands at Lau Pa Sat
**Yamamoto’s Hamburg** opened for a soft launch at **Lau Pa Sat, 18 Raffles Quay** on **22 September 2026** , with the official opening set for **5 October**. For anyone who has not met _hambagu_ : it is a seasoned minced-meat steak, seared hard on the outside and kept loose and juicy inside, served with rice rather than a bun. Calling it a burger undersells it badly.
Yamamoto’s Hamburg plates its hamburg steak with sides at the Lau Pa Sat debut
The name behind it is **Shohei Yamamoto** , who founded the restaurant, known in Japan as **Yamahan** , in **Ebisu, Tokyo, in 2005**. Singapore diners may already know his other concept: **Hikiniku To Come** , started in **Kichijoji in 2020** , opened at **VivoCity in May 2026**.
Two decades of a Tokyo following is a stronger opening credential than most CBD launches manage, and putting it in a hawker centre rather than a mall unit is the smarter call. Lau Pa Sat at 12.30pm is a contact sport, so the soft-launch window before 5 October is the calmest run at it anyone will get.
Meat and greens cooking in a wok at Yamamoto’s Hamburg, with bowls of white rice alongside
📅 **Soft launch 22 September, official opening 5 October 2026** · 📍 **Lau Pa Sat, 18 Raffles Quay** · 🍽 **Japanese hamburg steak**
## If There Is Only Time for One
Take VivoCity. The Sanrio Moonlit Garden and City Square Mall’s Playverse both end on **27 September** , so once that date passes the 7m Pompompurin is gone, while Yamamoto’s Hamburg is only just getting started. Go on Friday night with the lanterns lit, skip the carnival games, spend the S$30 on a mooncake box on the way home, and consider the evening well spent. Our running things to do in Singapore guide tracks what replaces all of this in October. Mid-Autumn comes once a year, so make Friday count!
**_Visuals courtesy of VivoCity, Great World, City Square Mall, and Yamamoto’s Hamburg._**