I am in Singapore for a quick trip to explore the luxury side of Singapore as a destination for a group of girlfriends intent on having a good splurge.
I arrive one early morning at lovely efficient Changi airport, am out in a jiffy and am whisked off to the very discreet, very up market St Regis hotel (www.stregissingapore.com). St. Regis Singapore feels like Upper East Side New York, with its touches of French Beau Arts style décor. The art collection is tremendous – Picasso’s Toros series of lithos in the Astor Bar, Joan Miro outside the ballroom, Botero on the first floor, Marc Chagall as well as an impressive collection of well known Singaporean and Chinese artists all over the hotel. Our room is splendid but the cherry on the cake has to be the 24×7 butler service offered to every room and complimentary tea and coffee at any time of day. It’s really the details that count at St Regis, and this is one of them.
I have a Vichy treatment at the hotel’s Remède Spa. The general theme of the spa is water and white marble and the whole place is very spacious, a real sanctuary (heated wave loungers…oh yes) for a city spa. If this isn’t shameless enough, I hear they are the only hotel in Singapore to have Bastien Gonzalez pedicures (www.remedespasingapore.com). Haven’t had one? It’s the king of pedicure treatments developed by a darned good looking French chap called Bastien Gonzalez who is now probably the most famous and most sought after name in pedicures in the world.
I meet a friend for lunch at the newly opened restaurant Pollen at Gardens by the Bay (www.pollen.com.sg). Just as you think that Singapore has surpassed all expectations in terms of new attractions, they find space and funds for another one. Gardens by the Bay are several tropical landscapes with shrubs, trees, rare plants and foliage all transported here from around the world and their environments and re-created under temperature controlled glass. In the Flower Dome is this pretty restaurant, the flagship of Michelin star chef Jason Atherton from the UK. The food is more effete than spectacular but the dessert of Banana Madras curry ice cream wins me over.
Dinner is at Burnt Ends (www.burntends.com.sg) a trendy new restaurant in Chinatown by André Chiang, the hottest young chef in the city whose restaurant ‘Andre’ was recently ranked 5th in Asia and 38th in the world. This is his ode to the grill and cooking on wood fire and is the first of its kind in Singapore. It only seats 24 so it is advisable to book. With two week’s notice, we get 2 seats at 6.30 pm! We are served simple but exquisite preparations of smoked quail eggs, warm oysters with a Japanese dressing and gigantic scallops in XO sauce. I am stunned that they have onglet (hanger steak) once considered an inferior cut of beef by the French who as far as I know, are the only people who relish this cut. It is both tasty and extremely well prepared. And does all the wood smoked this and that really make a difference. Yes, despite all the hype, it really does, I have to say.
The next day, I check out of the St Regis and move to the W in Sentosa. On the way, we stop for brunch at Halia (www.thehalia.com) the Botanical gardens. It is right in the middle of flora and fauna and right next to the beautiful ginger garden – a great Singapore sling to start any Sunday and a far better version than the one at the Long Bar at Raffles, chilli crab spaghettini and young ginger nougat frozen parfait, with roasted fresh pineapple and spiced pineapple sauce. All reasonably priced and served with a smile.
As you approach the Cove in Sentosa, you feel like you’re entering a resort although it’s only 20 minutes from the city. The W Sentosa (www.wsingaporesentosacove.com) is less than a year old and already making waves as a ‘party destination for the hip and happening’. It’s a design dream with lovely touches like stenciled floor lights and chocolate toothpaste tubes, underwater music in the pool, bird cage lights and hanging chairs in the lobby’s WOOBAR. It’s very “new and next”. The room overlooks the South China sea and the entrancing Sentosa Cove. It combines thoughtful luxury (the 350 thread count linen) with Bose speakers and a fabulous round the clock “whatever whenever” service.
Restaurant Skirt at W Singapore
Dinner is one of the most exquisite of this trip. Skirt, the W’s signature restaurant, dedicated entirely to beef, is probably one of the best dining destinations in Singapore, In keeping with the W design philosophy the whole restaurant has discreet touches in line with the theme – the salt and pepper horns to the leather chandeliers. Most of the beef on the menu is sourced from David Blackmore, an Australian cattle breeder who specialises in 9 + wagyu, (a Japanese grade to gauge the marbling or thin lines of fat which render the meat rich and succulent). Anything above 8 is considered outstanding. 12 is the top and is actually too fatty. They have even installed an Argentinian parilla, a wood fired barbecue grill to cook the steaks. There are other cuts of beef on the menu, like the amazing prime rib (Cape Grim from Tasmania), Hereford from Ireland and American corn fed from Creekstone, all considered the best in their respective countries, but it is the, normally regarded inferior, Skirt steak that you should try…it is simply the tastiest cut of beef I have had in a long time, with a defined texture which is buttery at the same time. Aside being a carnivore’s dream, what I am really impressed with are the sides… a mouth watering spinach and goat cheese gratin, served in a little copper saucepan; a deliciously creamy saffron potato puree and asparagus served with quail eggs and burnt butter.
That afternoon I am taken to a presentation by Janice Wong, an intelligent young woman who has made waves with her restaurant 2am desserts (www.2amdessertbar.com). This time she is showing us her rendition of Singapore favorites in a slightly irreverent manner – candy floss which is flavored with kaffir lime and chilli to represent tom yum soup and a jellified sheet which gives you a taste of Laksa. It is all a bit strange, but intelligently produced in her extraordinary lab. She’s a sort of Ferran Adria of the East.
View from the Ritz Carlton bathroom
I check into the very special Ritz Carlton hotel (www.ritzcarlton.com). I visited several years ago when it first opened and I must say it looks exactly the same with the extraordinarily beautiful Dale Chihuly sculptures on the left and right as you walk in. The grandeur and opulence of this modern space is what strikes you. Our suite overlooking the South China seas is spectacular to say the least and yes I do have a bathtub with a view. It is so spacious that you almost need a GPS to find your way around. Ritz Carlton suites and club floor rooms pamper their guests by offering them more than just breakfast and cocktails in the evening. They also serve morning snacks afternoon tea and evening snacks which seem to be a Ritz Carlton standard the world over. Before leaving for the airport, I indulge in a Bernadeau afternoon tea at the Chihuly Lounge – lots of Singapore’s smart set and corporates languishing over 8 courses of afternoon tea, which begins with a timid little Singaporean cracker and house XO sauce, meanders through a salmon roll or beef Wellington, then cavalcades across Kaviari Beluga caviar and Dom Perignon to the classic three tier cake stand, berries and Bora Bora vanilla cream and a choice of exclusive teas, most of them blended for the hotel and finishing off with chocolates and cookies…which I have to pack and take with me as I tear myself away into the car for the airport.
The Ritz Carlton Chihuly Lounge
Afternoon tea at Ritz Carlton
Difficult to top 5 days of whirlwind excitement and quality beyond all expectations. Even the Great Singapore Sale at the airport doesn’t tempt. If you’re looking for great food, great service and affordable luxury…Singapore still scores ten out of ten for me.