Im Qalb by Pun Im is soft-opening at Tampines Mall on 1 September 2026, with a scheduled public opening on 2 September. The Level 4 restaurant is chef Vincent Pang's second full-service dining room after Im Jai in Tanjong Pagar, and it is built for East-side tables that want Southern Thai cooking with Malay kitchen habits. The official site lists no pork, no lard, and no alcohol. Halal certification is in progress, not finished, so Muslim diners should check the latest MUIS status before booking a group.
Why Tampines, not another CBD lunch crowd
Pang told The Business Times he opened Im Jai in Tanjong Pagar in 2025 after years of running Pun Im as a private dining kitchen in his apartment. That first restaurant has not broken even. He still chose Tampines because Im Jai kept getting questions from Muslim diners, and because a heartland mall diversifies him away from office lunch. He is a former hedge-fund analyst who speaks and writes Thai, which is a more useful fact here than another "passion project" line. The name Qalb is Arabic for heart. The house tagline on press materials is "Many traditions. A Full Heart."
Sethlui's walkthrough of the fit-out is the best public description of the room so far. Floral wall motifs nod to the ratchaphruek, Thailand's national flower. The ceiling is designed to read as a paddy field. That is a mall Level 4 dining room doing extra work, and it will look better at dinner than at 11.30am when the lights are still hunting for a lunch crowd.
Address from the restaurant's own listing: 4 Tampines Central 5, Tampines Mall #04-02, Singapore 529510. Phone is 8145 6713. Hours listed are 11am to 9.30pm daily. Nearest MRT is Tampines, a short covered walk through the mall. Official site is imqalbsg.com.
The Golden Crab Tahu Kai Jeow is the plate to order first
The signature is Golden Crab Tahu Kai Jeow at S$18.80. It fuses Thai kai jeow, a deep-fried omelette, with Malay tahu telur. The kitchen puts tofu, jumbo lump crab, and acacia leaves in the batter, then sends it with a house sweet sauce and a rich egg-yolk sauce. It is a sharing plate, not a one-person lunch if you still want soup. If you only have 45 minutes between errands at FairPrice Finest downstairs, skip it and get a soup plus rice.
Two soups sit at S$16.80 each. Tom saap is the Isaan-style spicy sour beef broth with roasted rice powder, herbs, and premium beef cuts. Gaeng lueang is the Southern Thai fish soup with Spanish mackerel, morning glory, green papaya, and a broth that press copy calls full-bodied and fiery. Gaeng lueang is the more relevant dish for a restaurant that claims Southern Thai-Malay cooking. Tom saap is the safer order if your table is mixed on heat.
Coastal plates, prices, and what is still unknown
The coastal dishes published so far are Stir-Fried Petai with Wild-Caught Black Tiger Prawns at S$19.80 and Stir-Fried Squid in Black Ink Sauce at S$19.80. Business Times also flags crab tahu kai jeow, goreng pisang-style banana fritters, and ayam percik done Southern Thai style. Those last two have not shown a public price on the official site's current landing page, which is still a thin delivery-and-pickup shell. Trust the published dollar figures from Sethlui and The Business Times, then confirm on the day if the printed menu has shifted after soft opening.
The Tampines Mall food floor already has Casa Vostra and Yeah Gelato from the mall's 2026 refresh. Im Qalb is not competing with pizza. It is competing with every other "Thai but actually Malay-friendly" stall in the East, from kopitiam tom yum to the older Thai spots at Century Square. If the kitchen can keep the crab omelette crisp and the gaeng lueang properly sour, it has a reason to exist. If it cooks like a mall Thai chain with a nicer ceiling, Tampines will notice by October.
Pang's group also sells Im Sabaai snacks, including housemade pork floss at the Tanjong Pagar restaurant. That line will not travel to a no-pork dining room. Ask staff what snack SKUs, if any, sit on the Tampines counter. Corporate bento and mini buffet catering are the growth engines he named for Im Jai. Tampines may pick up some of that weekend family trade that Tanjong Pagar never sees after 3pm.
Walk in for the first two weeks if you can. Soft openings in Singapore malls often mean a short menu, a few missing condiments, and a kitchen still timing the omelette. That is useful information, not a complaint. Bring cashless. Check the Instagram @imqalb.punim the morning you go, because opening-week hours in CapitaLand malls sometimes slip a day.
Practical Details
- Dates: Soft opening 1 September 2026; scheduled opening 2 September 2026, ongoing
- Time: 11am to 9.30pm daily
- Venue: Im Qalb by Pun Im, Tampines Mall #04-02, 4 Tampines Central 5, Singapore 529510
- Nearest MRT: Tampines
- Price: Signature Golden Crab Tahu Kai Jeow S$18.80; soups S$16.80; seafood stir-fries S$19.80
- Website: imqalbsg.com
