Singapore - Restaurants

Restaurants
Gastronomic

Les Amis
Les Amis is Singapore's undisputed Grande Dame of fine French dining. New resident chef Armin Leitgab (who has worked in several three-Michelin-starred restaurants in Europe) creates modern French food with classic techniques. Using the best ingredients from Europe, America and Asia Pacific, signature dishes include carpaccio of scallops with fresh black truffles, roast pigeon with soya, and pan-roasted clams with cep mushrooms, ending with chocolate souffl with Tahiti vanilla ice cream. A three-course business lunch is good value, and so is the vegetarian option. The dcor, by a Japanese interior designer, is tasteful and minimalist, using natural materials, and there are two private dining rooms in addition to the main restaurant, which holds up to 44 diners.

2-16 Shaw Centre, 1 Scotts Road
Tel: 6733 2225.
Website: www.lesamis.com.sg
Price: $$$$

Raffles Grill
The classic French cuisine and top-class service has made Raffles Hotel's Grill restaurant the most exclusive restaurant in town, and deservedly so. It has previously been named as the island's top restaurant and the old colonial interior is innately stylish, while the food is exquisite. Signature dishes include pan-fried duck liver with puff pastry and wild mushrooms, and pan-seared Angus beef rib-eye with truffle mash, finishing with the rich chocolate moelleux. No lunch Saturday, closed Sunday.

Raffles Hotel, 1 Beach Road
Tel: 6412 1186.
Website: www.raffleshotel.com
Price: $$$$

Saint Pierre
With awards and fine reviews galore, chef Emmanual Stroobant (awarded Chef of the Year at the 2006 World Gourmet Summit) unites his Belgian roots and Asian experience in an elegant and modern restaurant, proving that fine French cuisine does not have to mean a formal and stuffy dining experience. The menu includes delicacies like foie gras mousse with apple compote and lobster dressing, crispy kurobuta pork belly with roasted scallops and white-miso-marinated black cod fillet with millefeuille of cauliflower. For dessert, Grandma Stroobant's flourless chocolate cake lives up to its reputation as unmissable. Reservations recommended. No lunch Saturday, closed Sunday, closes at 2130 Monday to Friday.

Central Mall, 3 Magazine Road
Tel: 6438 0887.
Website: www.saintpierre.com.sg
Price: $$$

Au Jardin
Surely one of the best settings for Singapore dining, in the midst of the Botanical Gardens, Au Jardin has won a plethora of awards since opening in 1998. Set in an elegantly restored 1920s black-and-white residence, it offers fantastic views from its two balconies, over lush greenery and cascading waterfalls. Its unique charm and intimate dining space (it has just 12 tables) is particularly good for wining and dining clients, with contemporary haute French cuisine. There are several fixed-price menus, including the Provenal Sunday Brunch and various choices of degustation menus. Favourite dishes include Wagyu beef carpaccio with parmesan and truffle oil, roasted Pyrenees baby lamb with garlic gnocchi, and shark fillet with Avruga caviar and dry sherry. The wine list is as respected as its food. Reservations highly recommended.

EJH Corner House, Singapore Botanic Gardens, Cluny Road
Tel: 6466 8812.
Website: www.lesamis.com.sg
Price: $$$

Doc Cheng's
Specialising in trans-ethnic cuisine, Doc Cheng's uses unusual combinations of Asian ingredients, which is the restaurant's signature, in a modern European style. Fusion cuisine tends to be an overused description but here is one place that offers the real thing, appropriately enough in a colonial-meets-Euro style setting. A typical starter would be venison with melted foie gras or Peking duck served in blinis. Mains are typically meaty, like 48-hour marinated Szechuan rack of lamb with spices or drunken chicken with saki. The semi-private booths are popular so requesting these when making reservations is essential. There is a five-course set menu, with or without matching wines.

Raffles Hotel Arcade, 328 North Bridge Road
Tel: 6412 1816.
Website: www.raffleshotel.com
Price: $$

Harbour Grill and Oyster Bar
With a cosy, old-world dcor, ornate furnishings and an open-kitchen area, Harbour Grill has enjoyed a long-standing reputation for continental food and of course its oysters, flown in fresh from all over the world. Starters include pan-fried foie gras with raisins, and some of the main course highlights are prime rib served from the trolley (the traditional way) or rack of lamb with fresh rosemary and thyme. The dessert menu changes regularly, but usually includes a chocolate or Grand Marnier souffl. The range of set meals includes a four-course set lunch and five-course dinner. No lunch on Saturday, closed Sunday.

Level 3, Hilton Hotel Singapore, 581 Orchard Road
Tel: 6730 3393.
Website: www.hilton.com
Price: $$$

Mezza9
Simple Zen and urban chic make a winning combination in this diverse restaurant with 450 seats. Mezza9 serves four cuisines (Chinese, Thai, Japanese and Western), divided into nine dining experiences, including a European deli, a Chinese steam basket and a yakitori grill, and sushi and sashimi bar. The la carte menu has an ever-changing selection of each, including lobster noodles, tom yam soup and Australian, aged Wagyu beef rib-eye. Their famous Sunday Munch draws in the crowds for a buffet from their full range of cuisines plus free-flowing champagne.

Grand Hyatt Singapore, 10/12 Scotts Road
Tel: 6732 1234.
Website: www.restaurants.singapore.hyatt.com
Price: $$$

Morton's of Chicago
This slice of America is best known for its superb, succulent steaks, huge portions and unrivalled service. The atmosphere is plush yet intimate, in true gentleman's club style with huge upholstered seats and Sinatra crooning in the background. Dishes like the Maine lobster, oysters on the half shell and baked scallops wrapped in bacon come highly recommended. The house speciality is porterhouse, a double delight with one side filet mignon and the other New York strip. Apart from huge succulent hunks of US steak, there is also a small selection of chicken, fish and seafood mains. For the sweet tooth, the Morton's hot chocolate cake is renowned.

Mandarin Oriental Singapore Hotel, 5 Raffles Avenue, Marina Square
Tel: 6339 3740.
Website: www.mortons.com/singapore
Price: $$$

Forlino
Opened in 2008, this inventive upscale Italian restaurant, helmed by Michelin-starred chef Osvaldo Forlino (and his family), quickly wowed both critics and local diners. This place is seriously hot, so make sure you book in advance. Forlino's acclaim is rooted in the chef's masterful blending of Italian cooking with choice ingredients from across Europe and Asia, resulting in exquisite dishes like tagliatelle with duck ragout and foie gras, free range roast rabbit with sweet peppers and a dessert of pannacotta sweetened by plum golden figs. Situated beside Marina Bay, the location is a perfect complement to the extraordinarily good cooking.

One Fullerton, 1 Fullerton Road
Tel: 6877 6995
Website: www.forlino.com
Price: $$

One Rochester
This stunning restaurant occupies a converted colonial bungalow, with fine gardens and an outdoor terrace. The menu tiptoes back and forth between Asia and Europe in upscale gastropub style. Despite having a huge and original variety of Martinis, the stylish venue, set in a lush compound inside Rochester Park, has a small dining capacity. It is, however, unfailingly romantic and a popular setting for couples. In addition to serving up hearty snacks like crab cakes, the dinner menu dgustation changes every month. Starters might include Pan-fried foie gras with caramelised plum, toasted brioche and green beans salad. The ambience is one of a well-heeled but coy wine bar; not surprising, given the selection of over 250 wine labels.

1 Rochester Park
Tel: 6773 0070.
Website: www.onerochester.com
Price: $$

Blue Ginger
Although at the pricier end of Budget', Blue Ginger is a tasty and cosy dining experience in the heart of Chinatown, located in a traditional Peranakan shop-house. Peranakan food is Singapore's most multi-ethnic cuisine, having emerged from traditional home cooking, and blending Malay and Chinese culinary styles and flavourings. Blue Ginger recreates something of Singapore's formative life of the times, while dishing up favourites like Ayam Buah Keluak (braised chicken with turmeric and galangal cooked with Indonesian black nuts) and Babi Pong Tay (stewed pork shoulder in preserved black bean paste with cinnamon bark). There is a private dining area on the veranda. The dcor is ornate yet homely, rather like dining inside a great aunt's house filled with family treasures.

97 Tanjong Pagar Road
Tel: 6222 3928.
Website: www.theblueginger.com
Price: $$

East Coast Seafood Centre
For a brash, no-frills dining experience, this string of reasonably-priced restaurants specialises in fresh seafood cooked in Asian spices. Locals love this place at weekends, and most seem to have their particular favourite. The restaurant features freshly-paved patios and diners find it worth the 20-minute taxi ride from the city centre to be by the sea to choose between the famous chilli Sri Lankan crab and deep-fried Tiger prawns, plus the day's best catch. Most famous is Jumbo Seafood (one of several chains; this one at 1-7, Block 1206; tel: 6442 3435; http://jumboseafood.com.sg)which also means the most crowded. The perfect way to dine on a hot evening, as long as you don't mind getting your hands greasy!

East Coast Parkway
No general tel or website.
Price: $$

Food Republic
Located on the fourth floor of the Wisma Atria shopping mall on Orchard Road, this slightly mid-range Hawker Center is a popular hangout for hungry shoppers at lunchtime and an eclectic mix of diners in later afternoon and early evening. A broad selection of Asian cuisines - ranging from north Indian curry to Hokkien fried noodles and Hainanese Chicken Rice - are served from almost 100 well-managed kiosk-style outlets, with central seating in a large food court. Make your choice, and sit down to eat a tasty, on-the-run lunch among a mix of local shoppers, schoolkids and families. For sweet-toothed diners, look out for several specialist dessert kiosks selling Asian snacks and sweet puddings.

Wisma Atria Mall
435 Orchard Road
Tel: 6737 9881.
Website: www.wismaonline.com
Price: $

Madras New Woodlands Restaurant
Little India is a wonderful place to find a huge selection of good cheap places to sample South-Asian food, and Madras New Woodlands is one of the tastiest. With a purely vegetarian menu, weighted towards south-Indian cuisine, its thali is a satisfying complete meal with several varieties of spiced vegetables, curd, dhal, sweet raita (chopped vegetables in yoghurt) and papadum. Popular is the dosa, a typical south-Indian dish of a huge thin pancake stuffed with spiced vegetables and assorted sauces. No credit cards.

12-14 Upper Dickson Road
Tel: 6297 1594.
Price: $ (Unlicensed)

The Cliff
Perched on the edge of a cliff-top overlooking the South China Sea, this Yasuhiro Koichi-designed restaurant in the Sentosa Resort and Spa is the perfect place for a refreshing alfresco dinner. The seafood is cooked with a French flair, like a starter of caramelised Hokkaido scallops or baked oysters with wild mushrooms fricassee and foie gras hollandaise. Pan-roasted barramundi or char-grilled yellow fin tuna lead on perfectly to a refreshing melon soup or the warm chocolate truffle cake.

The Sentosa Resort and Spa, 2 Bukit Manis Road
Tel: 6371 1425
Website: www.thesentosa.com
Price: $$$

Empress Jade
Perched atop Mount Faber with fabulous views over southern Singapore, the Jewel Box development's newest dining concept serves Singaporean-Chinese heritage cuisines. Created by Hong Kong-born masterchef Jereme Leung, who created the Whampoa Club restaurants in Shanghai and Beijing, this elegant, sophisticated restaurant serves contemporary takes on traditional dishes that Singaporeans have grown up, with either at home or in restaurants. The origins of the menu hail from different parts of China, but Leung has successfully infused Singaporean flavours and flourishes into tasty dished like fried noodles with prawns and scrambled eggs, and fried caramelised king prawns.

The Jewel Box, 109 Mount Faber Road
Tel: 6377 9688.
Website: www.mountfaber.com.sg
Price: $$

Michelangelo's
For a healthy dose of Italian romance, encouraged by ambience and a beautiful mural inside, with some pasta and lamb chops for good measure, Michelangelo's has been a gem of a restaurant for years. Its larger-than-life chef and owner, Angelo Sanelli, is amazingly popular, and cooking fresh food to perfection further earns him a loyal following. Favourite pasta dishes include clams in white wine, garlic and angel hair pasta, and fettuccine with salmon and artichoke hearts. Carnivores will love the grilled veal with horseradish sauce, and grilled venison sausage with apples and herbs, plus a decent choice of fish. The wine list is excellent, and the restaurant 'closes when the last guest leaves'. No lunch Saturday.

Block 44, 1-60 Jalan Merah Saga, Chip Bee Gardens, Holland Village
Tel: 6475 9069.
Website: www.michelangelos.com.sg
Price: $$

Original Sin
This is one of Singapore's few European vegetarian restaurants, a stylish venue in the expat suburb of Holland Village. There is a tempting choice of bruschettas, salads and starters, the best of which is the mezze plate with six Middle-Eastern specialities, like babaganoush (roast aubergine dip) and koresh (pumpkin, pine nuts and cinnamon), served with hunks of pitta bread. Pizzas boast toppings like cumin and coriander-spiced eggplant, and the Bosco misto (patties of spinach, feta and tofu with mushroom plum sauce) is popular. After sampling all that, a sinfully mouth-watering dark cherry truffle and liqueur coffee finish it off perfectly. The wine cellar is admirably stocked with over 1,000 bottles. Dishes can also be adapted to cater for vegans - and even non-vegetarians come back for more! Closed for lunch Monday.

Block 43, 1-62 Jalan Merah Saga, Chip Bee Gardens, Holland Village
Tel: 6475 5605.
Website: www.originalsin.com.sg
Price: $$

Hotels
Luxury

Raffles Hotel
A national monument, named after Singapore's founding father, Thomas Stamford Raffles, Raffles Hotel is a high point on the sightseeing trail (see Key Attractions). Still one of the world's most opulent, luxurious and award-winning hotels, it was restored in 1991 with an arcade added, containing shops and restaurants. Residents relive the past in one of its 103 high-ceilinged suites, many with their own veranda and parlour. Royalty, celebrities and writers all stayed here and homage is paid to them at every turn, particularly in the hotel museum. But it is also abundant in modern luxuries, like the Amrita Spa, swimming pool, business centre, nine meeting and function areas, florist, hotel arcade, boardrooms and its Jubilee Hall theatre. There are many options for drinking and dining, from the famous Long Bar, serving up Singapore Slings since the 1920s, and the adjacent Long Bar Steakhouse, to the contemporary New York-style Seah Street Deli and Oriental cuisine at Doc Cheng's.

1 Beach Road
Tel: 6337 1886.
Website: www.raffleshotel.com
Price: $$$$

The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore
This 32-floor high-rise has some of the best rooms on the island. Designed by prize-winning architect Kevin Roche, all 608 rooms (including the huge bathrooms) have panoramic views over the Singapore skyline or Marina Bay. The rooms, larger than in most other hotels, are stylish with light timber and Tibetan-style floor covering, and include broadband Internet access, multilingual voicemail and walk-in wardrobes. The top floor Ritz-Carlton Club has a lounge with a 360 view and cocktail bar. The hotel houses one of the largest collections of modern art in Southeast Asia, including works by Warhol and Chihuly, and offers the only Vintage Champagne Sunday Brunch in town. There are also seven acres of landscaped gardens surrounding the swimming pool.

7 Raffles Avenue
Tel: 6337 8888.
Website: www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/Singapore
Price: $$$$

Hotel 1929
As Chinatown's first HIP boutique hotel, Hotel 1929 has managed to combine designer cool with affordability in an unpretentious part of town. The winner of a host of prestigious awards and rave reviews, it comprises five colonial-era shop-houses that were conjoined to create this 32-room hotel. The result is funky, fresh and finely detailed. Each room is small but individually styled, with retro-style furniture, flat-screen TV, broadband Internet access and a designer shower. Guests can enjoy a rooftop bathtub - and the owner's private collection of designer chairs - or Jacuzzi on the second floor. The lobby area has free Wi-Fi Internet access. Added to that, Chinatown is rapidly becoming gentrified, with good nightspots in addition to its fabulous shopping. Room rate includes breakfast. Also check out their sister hotel New Majestic Hotel (www.newmajestichotel.com) with equally quirky designer kitsch.

50 Keong Saik Road
Tel: 6347 1929.
Website: www.hotel1929.com
Price: $

Naumi
This rather sumptuous 40-room boutique hotel is superbly situated in downtown Singapore, near Raffles Hotel and Chijmes. Pronounced No-mi and named after the ninth day of the Hindu calendar, this chic property betrays many subtle and very cleverly understated Hindu design motifs. Dressed in almond tones, the rooms feature mostly contemporary comforts, including designer swivel armchairs, a large plasma TV, free Wi-Fi, Bose speakers, Nespresso coffee machine, complimentary Fiji water and fresh-cut flowers. The sixth floor is dedicated to female travellers. For relaxation, head to the rooftop bar and infinity swimming pool, and posit yourself in one of the extravagantly large pod-style' wicker poolside sofas.
41 Seah Street
Tel: 6403 6000.
Website: www.naumihotel.com
Price: $$

Gallery Hotel
The stylish Gallery Hotel adds some colour and energy to the business hub, thanks to its award-winning bright interiors and designer cool. Notable features include interactive doorway CCTV, free Wi-Fi Internet access in all rooms and executive women-only floors. The 221-room hotel consists of three blocks linked by bridges and open walkways, plus a fifth-floor cantilevered glass-sided pool overhanging the street. The red-, blue- and yellow-framed windows will appeal to anyone who enjoys a splash of colour, and there are art galleries on levels two and three. Facilities include multilingual voicemail and digital safes, in rooms immersed in bright furnishings and frosted glass bathrooms of polished marble. Larger rooms are available in The Glazzhaus (which even has extra long beds), with junior suites in The Observatory facing the river and king-sized beds in studio suites in the Executive Studio. The Gallery also houses a decent gym, Ayuthaya Spa, plus bars, clubs and restaurants. A great location on the river, it is a 20-minute walk to the nearest MRT station, Clarke Quay.

1 Nanson Road, Robertson Quay
Tel: 6849 8686.
Website: www.galleryhotel.com.sg
Price: $$

The Sentosa Resort & Spa
This luxury resort hotel is located on a cliff top overlooking the South China Sea, within 11 hectares (27 acres) of tropical woodland on Sentosa Island. Each room, decked out in soothing and stylish pale fabrics and dark wood, boasts a 42-inch plasma TV, plus advanced DVD player and high-speed Internet access. The hotel's 205 rooms include 27 suites, and four spacious garden villas, each with their private pool and garden. Business visitors are well catered for, with a two-storey conference centre containing meeting and function rooms. The luxurious Spa Botanica, Singapore's first tropical garden spa, is located in the grounds, with mud pools, steam baths, treatments and massages.

2 Bukit Manis Road, Sentosa
Tel: 6275 0331.
Website: www.beaufort.com.sg
Price: $$$