The Business LunchLes Amis
Shaw Center 02-16, 1 Scotts Road;
Closed: Sunday; May Day; Chinese New Year.
Cuisine: French
The Power Lunch with a private touch is a parade of tycoons and tai-tais and little people who look great, at least. Plate-glass window front for casual waves, granite-and-glass dining room for cool chic and French cuisine for gourmets.
The Business Dinner
Latour – Hotel Shangri-La
Cuisine: French/International.
A lower of the good life in luxury on the hill: the Shangri-La was probably voted among the best hotels of the world as much for its status restaurant as for its service. It attracts the city’s elite, for Don Ashton’s interior. The Latours date back to before the independence of the state.
The Social Lunch
Tiffin Room – Raffles HotelCuisine: Tiffin curry
The chic melee in the Raffles’ pillared dinning room has taken to heart Rudyard Kipling’s advice to “feed at the Raffles when in Singapore”. How much more beauty can you expect? Film-set-spa-like interior with historical touches, an abundant buffet or traditional dishes (mulligatawny soup, curries galore, durian cake) and interesting people from all over the world. The Tiffin Curry Buffet, featuring traditional North Indian and Asian specialities, is a hot favourite with tourists and Singapore residents alike. The curry buffet is available for lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch. Tiffin Room also serves American and Continental buffet breakfast daily. High tea includes a traditional English Afternoon Tea set with a buffet of Local Favourites.
Capers - Hotel RegentLocated on the second level of the hotel, this all-day dining restaurant serves an eclectic mix of Asian and Western fare, creative cuisine for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Go tropical if you wish and indulge in some breezy al fresco dining, while overlooking its landscaped pool. With the team of friendly and efficient staff, you will be pampered not just with good food, but great service too. Capers - The Restaurant can seat up to 244 people, plus another 20 at the poolside terrace.
Capers is open from 6.30 a.m. to 11.00 p.m. daily.
Romantic Dining
L’Aigle D’Or – Hotel Berjaya
Cuisine: French
Harmonizing with the country-house charm of this luxurious little hotel, the dining room is all marble and mirrors, crystal and chandeliers, classical music, unobtrusive service and French cuisine a la perfection. Foie gras, truffled fowl, seductive soufflés and Grands Crus add to the ingredients favorable for a sophisticated love affair. Also with the place itself.
The Institution
Raffles Grill – Raffles HotelClosed: Sat & Sun, lunch
Cuisine: International
Beauty, prestige and perfection: Raffles is the power and social arena of the city and the world. Chippendale furnishings, Oriental carpets, landscape paintings, antique silver and grand chandeliers ennoble the ambiance. French doors allow an Elysian view of the Palm Court.
The Friendly
Harry’s Quayside Café
28 Boat Quay; Tel: 538 3029
Nick Leeson doesn’t stop by any more, but his former cronies still sip margaritas whilst networking away to the nightly sounds of cool jazz whilst the staff serves salads and sandwiches in the river-view dining room. Breakfast/brunch comes with the IHT before work and blues and bubbly on Sundays.
Outdoor Dining
Bugis Corner
Bugis Street
Drag queens no longer jitterbug on the roof of the public lavatory, but Bugis Corner is boogying again after a physical and moral clean-up of Singapore’s human open-air funfair. Food stalls, boutiques and alfresco restaurants invite a mixed crowd for leisure in a mini-Oktoberfest mood. Feast on simple Chinese dishes on wooden tables and celebrate the night in high spirits – spirits do flow aplenty.
The Eclectic
Doc Cheng’s
Level 2, Raffles Hotel Arcade, 328 North Bridge Road
The spirit of the eccentric medicine mancum-bon vivant, whose therapy was largely based on spirits, pervades the trio of dining areas, from the outdoor verandah to the red-leather, speakeasy-style bar. Chef takes you on a Grand Tour of the world’s great cuisines, accompanied by Doc Cheng’s secret recipe Elixir of Life. It’s just what the doctor ordered.
Panoramic Dining
Compass Rose – Hotel Westin Stamford
Cuisine: International
Singapore’s economic might is reflected gloriously at night from the world’s tallest hotel’s penthouse restaurant. Attractive grand-hotel interior on the 69th floor high-standard cuisine of Sino-French derivation and professional service from the basis for a panoramic evening among hosting politicians, upper-echelon businessmen and starry-eyed tourists.
The Seafood Place
Long Beach Seafood
1018 East Coast Parkway, Telp: 445 8833
Closed: Chinese New Year
Cuisine: International.
This popular rustic canteen near the Tennis Centre is not exactly the height of gourmet fame and social prestige. However, the barn-like dining room and terrace are brimming with food and fun. Don’t bother with the menu: the seafood is the freshest and drunken prawns and black-pepper crabs are always available.
The Cantonese
Jiang-Nan Chun – Hotel Four Seasons
You can’t smoke, but you’re allowed to use your mobile phone if you get nervous. Eat your heart out on chef delicacies, instead. Call it dian xin or dim sum, the dumplings are to die for. So are the prawns with sesame and lime mayonnaise, the scallops with pear, the steamed soon hock fish and the deep-fried durian dessert. Cool art-deco-art-nouveau elegance overlooked by Geraldine Goh.
The Pekingese
Pine Court – Hotel Mandarin; Tel: 737 4411
The middle Kingdom’s influence is less perceptible here than in Hong Kong, but its dominance in the kitchen is no less welcome. The culinary outpost on the 35th floor commands a view of the city and admiration for its shark’s fin. Peking duck and other specialties. Classic Chinese lanterns lend an air of romance, a spectacular silk painting a touch of oriental splendor.
The Shanghainese
Chang Jiang – Hotel Goodwood Park; Tel: 737 7411
Colonial splendor has always been the hallmark of this Singapore hotel legend. The colonnaded dining room overlooking the garden pool is no exception. Pastel colors, affable service and excellent food put you into a gently festive mood, The ‘Eight Treasures; in hot bean sauce, served with golden chopsticks, reflect oriental savoir-faire in the kitchen, appreciated with occidental savoir-vivre by the habitués.
The Malay
Aziza’z Restaurant
02-15 Albert Court, 180 Albert Street; Tel: 235 1130
Closed: Sunday lunch
Singapore, mostly known as the world’s greatest Chinese city, reflects its peninsular heritage in many ways. The roots are obvious in the kitchen of grande dame Aziza Ali, who introduces visitors to her intimate, batik-hung dining room to the traditions of Malay culture and the joys of nasi ambang and ayam panggang hasturi, in a pleasant kampong-like atmostphre.
The Peranakan
Blue Ginger
97 Tanjong Pagar Road; Tel: 222 3928
Descendants of the Straits Chinese traders who settled on the coast of the Malay Peninsula between Penang and Singapore, developed their own distinctive culture and cuisine. In Lian Chin Kiat’s old shop-house, renovated to folkloric luster, Nonya Lian Vivian’s casalinga dishes are served under local Gauguin Martin Loh’s master pieces: ayam buah kulak, chap chye masak titek, babi asam, and durian cendol.
The Indian
Kinara
57 Boat Quay; tel: 533 0412
Ever since Indian computer-scientist Parvinder Singh and his interior-designer wife Lisa Tong filled this generations-old haveli on the river shore (hence kinara) with Rajasthani antiques, the atmosphere of a home and the best Punjabi cuisine in the Far East, the success was guaranteed. Yuppies queue up for an alcove table to geast on exotic naans, spicy samosas, succulent rare dum kinara, and sweet kulfis.
The Japanese
Nadaman – Hotel Shangri-La; Tel: 737 3644
The Japanese Ambassador entertains his official guests from the homeland here and Nippon’s salarymen follow suit. After all, the restaurant has a tradition of a century and a half in Osaka. With the panoramic view over the city, mega-acquisitions can be strategically plan over seaweed soup, sushim shabu shabu and mango sorbet. The teppanyaki tables along one side are popular for close encounters.
The Italian
Bice – Hotel Goodwood Park; Tel: 735 3711
The little bistro that started its success story seventy years ago in Milan went on a Grand Tour in the 80s via New York, Chicago, Washington, Buenos Aires and Tokyo to arrive here in full gear. Avant-garde design enhances the slick décor and Maestro Sandro adds brio to the charming service. Tuscan-international cuisine with enough imports to spoil cosmopolitan locals and appease homesick Italians.
The Business bar
Captain’s Bar – Hotel Oriental; Tel: 338 0066
Seafaring captains like those depicted in the decorative portraits are not regulars of the Oriental’s nautical-theme lounge on the fourth-floor. Guests who come here for a roast-beef and Yorkshire-pudding luncheon from the wagon and an Olde-England feeling, are more of the captains-of-industry kind. In the evening the ambiance turns a little more private and live entertainment relaxes the business minds.
The Social Bar
The Bar – Hotel Regent; Tel: 733 8888
No better place for a peaceful moment between business confrontations than in this palm-fringed hideaway on the hill. Recline in one of the leather fauteuils of this civilized lounge under the wood-paneled ceiling and have a glass from the limitless wine list while listening to an international jazz combo. Watercolor prints and ethnic art adorn the room, as do socialites after shopping or before Maxim’s.
The Rendezvous
The Lobby Lounge – Hotel Ritz-Carlton; Tel: 337 8888
You’ll be hypnotized by Dale Chahuly’s masterpiece on the marble wall: hundreds of pieces of hand-blown glass like a burst of sunshine onto this Art-Deco salon. Afternoon tea has become a favorite pastime, drinks on the patio a pleasant respite. Suede and velvet lend warmth to mental band and a jazz singer at night the atmosphere for a romantic tryst.
The Hangout
Fabrice’s World Music Bar
Basem, 320 Orchard Rd; Tel: 738 8887
Singapore’s adopted son Fabrice de Barsy first leased the world as a globetrotting hotelier before retiring to his hobby of entertainment gastronomy. Success-venture Saxophone encourage him to open this intimate club in the center of town, where among African and latin-American artifacts international guests meet to relax from the materialistic ret-race or dance quietly to live music.
The Jazz Club
Saxophone
23 Cuppage Road; Tel: 235 8385
Cuisine: International
In honor of his compatriot Adolphe Sax, creator of the instrument 150 years ago, Belgian entrepreneur Fabrice de Barsy has introduced shades of {reservation Hal to the Lion City. In a Peranakan-style house and courtyard garden off Orchard Road, the duplex bar-restaurant serves as stage for international performers, atmospheric dinners on the terrace and jazzy nights.
The Nightclub
Velvet Underground
17, 19, 21 Jiak Kim Street; Tel: 733 2225
Singapore’s entertainment gastronomy can easily compete with that of Hong Kong, for beauty, quality and pizzaz. Zouk’s bistrotheque compound in a restored warehouse has added another magnet: civilized and wild, trendy and funky, the intimate club is the most popular hangout for local TV and film personalities and celebrities in town for self-promotion. Here, everyone becomes a star.
The Discotheque
Studebaker’s
Penthouse, Pacific Plaza Building, Scotts Road; Tel: 736 0006
The latest addition to the bar-and-club scene of Singapore takes on the elegance of the Golden Twenties, thereby winning habitués among the jeunesse doree. The attractive duplex salons on the 17th floor of the Pacific Plaza – a long bar downstairs, a cozy one upstairs – provide disco dancing in a subduel fashion so as not to disturb romantic trysts.
The Madhouse
Sparks
191 Orchard Road, Ngee Ann City, Level 7; Tel: 735 6133
Five clubs in this mammoth shopping center entertain a mixed crowd, from teenie boppers to big spenders, with Latin rhythms and jazz, discomania and karaoke intimacy. The rock bands are of fame, the acquaintances forgotten the morning after.
The Circus
Fire
04-19 Orchard Plaza; Tel: 235 0155
Whoever said Singapore is for business and early nights has not been to Fire yet. The city’s largest disco, packed and romping over three levels, sports gigantic video screens, psychedelic laser graphics and high-tech ;space-ship’ show. With Energy playing in the fun pub downstairs and karaoke booths for quieter moments upstairs, this flaming hothouse easily out-shiner its counterparts in Hong Kong.
