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Singapore
Singapore loves to do champagne brunch on a Sunday, and it has become something of an institution with most of the big hotels serving it. You get a buffet selection that includes seafood, sushi, cooked breakfast, roast dinner, dim sum, cheese and several deserts and the champagne is free-flowing. Set aside at least three hours and make sure you haven’t got anything to do for the rest of the day. I had a fabulous brunch at the Fullerton, which has wonderful views across the river. They serve from 12pm until 3.30pm with unlimited champagne until 3pm and a total cost of about £60 per person.
If you think that going to dinner in a hotel is tantamount to some kind of defeat, swallow your pride, and go for it in Singapore. Morton’s in the Mandarin Oriental is a genuinely great hotel restaurant. It may be an American chain but, when every guide book tells you that it will be one of the finest dining experiences of your life, they’re not lying. Its atmosphere is vibrant, the beef extraordinary, the service flawless and the wine list award-winning. Steak fans are kept very happy, and the menu also features veal, chicken, seafood and fantastic sides: fresh green asparagus with hollandaise, creamed spinach, sautéed mushrooms, and several versions of the humble potato are all perfectly prepared and plentiful.
Dessert is a must, particularly one of the soufflés or the hot chocolate cake.
Mandarin Oriental, 5 Raffles Avenue, Marina Square, Singapore 039797 Tel: +65 6338 0066 Fax: +65 6339 9537
mandarinoriental.com
If Japanese is your cuisine of choice, then try Nogawa at Le Meridien on Orchard Road. Named after legendary chef Yoshio Nogawa – who has delivered a production line of talented Japanese chefs on the island – his eatery serves the freshest, scrummiest sushi, sashimi, tempura and teriyaki in the region. The menu varies with the seasons but the quality is consistently high. His other restaurants in the city – Akane and Nogawa at the Sentosa Golf Club – are also brilliant.
Le Meridien, 100 Orchard Road, Singapore 238840
+65 6733 8855
starwoodhotels.com/lemeridien
For a less mainstream dining experience – and one outside a hotel – try IndoChine Waterfront at the Asian Civilisations Museum. It’s located in the most romantic setting in town, with lovely views of the river; has an amazing décor with oriental antiques and modern furniture; and its Vietnamese-Laotian-Cambodian-French fusion cuisine is just gorgeous. Things to try: seafood galangal soup, black pepper beef, grilled scallops and basil chicken. The service can be slipshod but the food’s good enough to forgive them. After dinner, stop by the adjacent Bar Opiume; a super-stylish spot that's popular for cocktails and celebrity sightings.
Asian Civilisations Museum, The Historic District, 1 Empress Place
65/6339-1720
Two great Chinese restaurants are Hua Ting – in the Orchard Hotel – and Iggy’s – inside the Regent Hotel. Both have won a host of international awards. The former specialises in rare Cantonese dishes - bird's nest, preserved egg, fish maw and other dried seafood may sound hideous but they’re actually delicious. The latter has a German chef and his mastery of the art of Chinese cooking is impressive – his sea scallop topped with foie gras purée and yuzu juice is divine.
Hua Ting, 442 Orchard Road, Singapore
Iggy's, 1 Cuscaden Road 249715, Singapore
The new Singapore has drawn in some of the world’s best known DJs and the Ministry of Sound. Like its London division you'll find house, trance, progressive, techno and breaks here. It’s the place to be seen but, unlike its Elephant & Castle counterpart, not at all closed to a slightly older crowd who might have thought their hardcore clubbing days were behind them. In fact, the clientele is so mixed and the atmosphere unintimidating that even the relatively conservative Business Traveller magazine (a bible to so many business travellers!) was touting its virtues earlier in the year.
If you’re looking for somewhere to wind down, there are plenty of sedate but hip options in Singapore. Art-bar fusion is currently a big thing in the city. The Majestic Bar features the 7.6m tall ‘Living Man’ metal sculpture by Zadok Ben David and other works by regional artists Yuki Chong, Donna Ong and Sandra Lee. And Night & Day – Bar + Gallery + Friends, which opened in September. Set up by Kelley Cheng and Randy Chan – founders of iSh magazine and zArch Architects, respectively – the revamped four-storey Art Deco building serves as a space for gallery-goers to chill out with a drink in hand, while soaking up graphic art. Another option is the Merbau Gallery Bar. It’s ultra-trendy and has recently hosted architectural photography exhibitions, social events and networking cocktails.
But if all this hipness turns you off, try the Post Room at the Fullerton. Its modish décor and comfy couches and chairs are wonderful, and it might just be the best place in Asia to enjoy oysters with Dom Perignon. Finally, Harry’s Quayside Bar is the best place for jazz on the island, ideally positioned on the beautiful Boat Quay and was the haunt of renegade Barings Bank broker Nick Leeson. You can't really ask for more than that!
Great cocktails served outdoors. The bar is located in the garden in front of the villa housing the French restaurant and action theatre.
It is located at 42 Waterloo Street (just off Bras Basah Rd, across from the arts museum).
Tel. 62388682
manager@lpdv.com.sg
Raffles Hotel is the home of the 'singapore sling' or 'gin sling'. If you are visiting Singapore then going to Raffles and sipping one of these in the Bar & Billiard or the Long Bar is simply a 'must do'.
Even though I don't usually like Gin they were so delicious I had to have two.
1 Beach Road, Singapore
singapore-raffles@raffles.com
A cosy and inviting French restaurant in the art district of Waterloo Street serving excellent food and a good wine selection. Cocktails in the alfresco courtyard and dine in comfort in a private bungalow.
42 Waterloo Street Singapore 187951
Tel: 65-62388682
www.lepontdevie.com.sg
A sheesha bar on the river-front. Run by a friendly bloke and not too expensive, a good way to relax after an exhausting day shopping or seeing the sights of Singapore.
The Park View building on North Bridge Road has a vast and magnificent neo-Art-Deco bar on the ground floor. A glass cabinet houses the most expensive bottles at ceiling height; if one is ordered, a barman allegedly has to be hauled up on a rope to fetch it.
The bar is open to the public only when it's not being used for business entertainment, so try your luck if you're passing by or phone ahead to enquire.
81 Beach Road
Singapore 189692
Tel: (65) 6338 8558
Take No. 7 bus or MRT to Bugis.
From Penny Black to BQ, the bars at the top end of Boat Quay are a world class place to hang out in the early evening.
Where else can you find a place as idyllic as this, just seconds from the centre of the city's financial district? Light rippling off the water, multi-coloured converted "go-downs", old river taxis still plying the river and historical buildings on the other bank?
Yes, the restaurants further down the river really are pure tourist fodder, so you'll want to go somewhere else to eat, and Harry's Bar might be more famous for Nick Leeson than anything else, but don't let the stigma of going to an "expat hangout" divert from a genuine part of Singapore's culture.
The expats have been here since the place began, after all, and you may know someone who works nearby - an ideal excuse to drink in the atmosphere.
If this doesn't appeal, stroll up to The Fullerton, cross the bridge, and head for Indochine and its Opium Bar where you can stare back at Boat Quay from the other bank - and probably get some better food.
Boat Quay, Raffles Place MRT.
The riverside walk along the Singapore river goes from Robertson Quay to the Esplanade. It is a very pleasant stroll on wide pavement, away from the traffic and with mostly subways under the main roads. There is plenty to see along the way and plenty of places to sit or to eat and drink.
Best of all is BREWERKZ microbrewery on the other side from Clarke Quay, which has an outside terrace with retractable sun blinds, or inside comfort away from the heat. This place has a range of ten or so different beers brewed on the premises. Try the "sampler" of several different small glasses, or cut straight to my favourite,the best of all ........ IPA. Good food is available at Brewerkz and there is a wine bar adjacent.
Clarke Quay itself has lots of restaurants, music pubs and shops. Walk on to Boat Quay then to the fabulous Fullerton Hotel. This was the old British era Post Office and has been expensively refurbished as a top hotel. There is a nice bar where the old counter room was. Over the bridge from the Fullerton is the centre of British Colonial Singapore.
MRT Clarke Quay
Great cafe: hard to believe it's in Singapore. I don't know what this building was originally, but the owners have transformed it into some sort of organic-Scandinavian-modernist-but-not-too-new-looking environment, with eclectic furniture, fantastic music and a view across a small green valley which had me, as a one-time Singapore resident, scratching my head and going 'where the hell am I?' Highly, highly recommended for a weekend brunch or dinner any night of the week.
28B Harding Road, off Dempsey Road, which is off Holland Road in the direction away from town;
tel: 6479 3343
The New Asia is on the 72nd storey of one of the tallest buildings in Singapore. It offers spectacular views of the city centre and the whole of Singapore - you might even see Malaysia on a clear day. Drinks are reasonably priced (for Singapore!) as long as you go before 9pm. Expect to pay around S$7-9 (£2.50)for a beer.
About 72 floors above City Hall MRT station
Brunch and as much champagne as you can drink - eat 12 courses of foie gras and drink 2 bottles of champagne before 2pm on a Sunday. I think it only costs about $100sg.
Raffles Hotel (but they might have stopped the free flow champagne part -grrrr) or the Fullerton Hotel (where they definitely still do the free flow champagne part.)
Is this your business?Search Been there
