Singapore: St. Regis

St. Regis conjures up images of grande old dames, the iconic Brooke Astor in particular. So their hotels have never been top of my list of places to stay, with the exception perhaps of St Regis in San Francisco. When EO suggested I check into the St Regis in Singapore, I protested, "but it's on the wrong end of Orchard Road!" By wrong end, I meant that it wasn't next to my usual stomping grounds -- Borders, Sky Pilates, Starbucks and a block away from Pure Yoga and Kinokuniya -- which Four Seasons happens to be. I was in for a pleasant surprise though.

St. Regis opened in Singapore at the end of December last year, so it is still in soft-opening phase. The entrance lobby is a bit sparse, even more so than Four Seasons in Hong Kong. The decor of the rooms, however, has the restrained plushness of an old world hotel given a 21st century face lift. The rooms are spacious and comfortable, but the best part is the bathroom. There's the stand-alone tub with a television built into the wall on one end (it wasn't working though) and the thoughtful detail of having anti-fog mirrors in the shower. I love anti-fog mirrors. That, along with Toto heated toilet seats and heated towel racks and floors should be mandatory features in all ski hotels. And there was plenty of counter space between the two vanities.

I didn't get a chance to check out any of the F&B outlets, but I did get to enjoy a morning poolside latté and orange juice with a copy of Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, Haruki Murakami's short story collection. It was a good thing I had the book, because the pool was a disappointment. It is tiny and can barely accommodate two lap swimmers at a time. Murakami's stories, on the other hand, are very engaging. And I've always admired writers who could turn out a good short story; it takes ingenuity, skill and a discipline with words. While I never got beyond the first few pages of Kafka on the Shore, when I scanned the titles on the display table at the airport bookstore, I was the drawn to the book's cover (so it's not always bad to judge a book by its cover). I guess I was still in my Japanese mood.



St. Regis staff are competent and helpful, but they probably need a bit more time before they are at a level to deliver service that leaves an impression. I had left a scarf in the room after checking out. It is quite a regular occurrence that I leave things behind and to me it's a bit of a litmus test as to how good a hotel is. A bad hotel never finds what I left behind. A good hotel finds it when I call and can arrange to send it back to me. A superb hotel would be one that just sends it back to me before I even realize I've lost it. By that definition, I've yet to stay at a superb hotel. After a couple days of phone calls, my scarf has arrived.

Urbanespaces dig up designer diggs in Singapore

It's always fascinating and inspiring to come across other people who merge their passions with their work. Hajar's email introduction of urbanespaces, a "boutique real estate firm in Singapore specializing in architecturally distinguised, unique properties", landed in my inbox this weekend. I clicked on the link and was intrigued by this very trendy-feeling site (Mercan Dede's music paired with a series of very arty photos). Then I started going through the site and came across a lot of beautiful properties in Singapore for sale and for lease. I like this one in East Coat, whose asking price is S$2 milliion, but if you go through the listings, they're all pretty nice. And then it made me wonder why a company such as this took so long to appear (Hajar says the company's only slightly over a year old). How did it all start? Hajar wrote: "Generic real estate depresses me and I realized this when I first saw a truly well-designed house that was up for rent." And so urbanespaces was born. But what really got me interested in the company was not just their focus on beautiful properties (a lot of companies do that elsewhere in the world), but also their desire to do good and be an active participant in the creative community (for example, organizing an architectural tour for the Singapore Design Festival and an exhibition having to do with critical theory in architecture). In the works now is a charity flipbook project to educate Lebanese children on the dangers of cluster bombs (Hajar's all-time favourite city is Beirut). Am looking forward to hearing more about this project.

INSEAD Meeting In Asia: TNT & WFP Partnership

The theme for this year's INSEAD Meeting In Asia was Risk & Responsibility. When I saw the program had a session on Partnerships between Business and NGOs, and saw that one of the speakers was INSEAD alum and good friend Brett Rierson (he works at the UN World Food Programme), I became interested in attending. The rest of the programme, was pretty much business as usual -- much of the topics addressing risks as it pertains to the financial markets. The theme of the weekend and BR's session inspired me to sponsor copies of our Little Cream Book: Goodwill for the Councils Dinner, because I do believe that a lot of the risks that businesses face stem from social and political instability and that the corporate community can and should take responsibility for mitigating some of the risks through corporate & social responsibility programs.

As panel moderator, Luk van Wassenhove (Henry Ford Chaired Professor in Manufacturing, Professor of Operations Management at INSEAD) put it, "It's not about doing good; it's about doing what makes good business sense". While the bottomline benefits of a CSR program are not often immediately apparent, the business case that BR and Luke Disney, Global Director of Communications at TNT, presented made a strong case that doing good can be good for business. Their partnership has been a real success story. TNT's partnership with WFP is more than just about making a one-off cash donation. In fact, it is really an effort that started from the top and has gotten TNT employees of every level involved. The story on how it all started with CEO Peter Bakker reading an article with the appalling statistic that a child dies every few seconds from hunger is just one example of how great things can be inspired by simple things. Much of TNT's nearly EUR10 million annual support is helping WFP get food to where it's needed, especially in emergency situations such as when the tsunami hit. The key to the partnership's success, I believe, stems from the fact that TNT's management treats the partnership like a business unit; they expect the partnership to yield results and dividends for both parties rather than just seeing it as charity. The benefits for TNT can be measured in a boost in goodwill from the positive publicity, but more importantly, there is the boost in morale among TNT employees, leading to better employee retention, higher levels of job satisfaction and performance. On WFP's side, the TNT partnership has allowed them to feed on average 90 million people, 10% more than before. WFP has also benefited from TNT's knowledge transfer and investment in IT and training within their organization.

So now all this has got me thinking about what CSR programs companies in the travel industry such as airlines, hotels, tour operators, etc. can get involved in. Any ideas??

Singapore: homes and shops

I love Sunday brunches; it's the most laid-back, relaxing meal one can have in a week. Best enjoyed with a group of family or friends. Had booked Au Jardin, another one of Les Amis Group's restaurants. The setting is charming and idyllic, in a little, old house set amidst the Singapore Botanic Gardens. As we were shown to our table upstairs, who should be sitting at the table next to us? It was none other than Chubby Hubby and his S! "I see you're really enjoying all the best that Singapore has to offer!" greeted CH. Suffice it to say, Au Jardin is the most civilised place to spend 3 hours of any Sunday afternoon filling stomachs with great food and drink while catching up on all sorts of gossip (intrigues within the Thai Royal family, for example).

Stomachs filled, we headed over to check out DH's new pad at Robertson Blue along Robertson Quay, situated along the Singapore River front in between Zouk and Butter Factory and a 5-minute walk to great lifestyle shops and restaurants such as Sage (another CH fave, DH agrees that it's great food at great prices), La Maison du Whiskey, The Chocolate Factory, Canelé pastry and chocolate shop etc. This whole neighborhood is really going to take off in terms of it being a young, vibrant residential area, a bit like Yaletown. People walking their dogs or going for a morning jog along the riverfront before they pop into one of the posh cafes for breakfast. Wonder if we'll see any punters or rowers soon?

Robertson Blue is beautifully-designed. It has 36 units with the Penthouse units having their own rooftop jacuzzis. DH's is a ground floor unit and his patio steps right onto the pool/jacuzzi area. In Hong Kong, I've not come across a new, boutique development as well built and designed as this. But then, I was told who the developer is -- HPL (Hotel Properties Limited; i.e. owner of Four Seasons Jimbaran Bay, Four Seasons Sayan, Four Seasons Kuda Huraa, Metropolitan Bangkok, among other properties).



Chocolate Factory is nearby. I had heard lots about this shop. BK, owner of Chocolate Unlimited here in Hong Kong, had raved about the shop's freshly-made truffles (she was also the one who tipped me off on iggy's white truffle white truffles. the night i was at iggy's though, we had yuzu white truffles instead, of which AP asked for and managed to get 3 extra!). S confirmed this, but also mentioned that the French chocolatier has a bit of an attitude. If you want to be well-served, you had better be a fine-looking female without a wedding ring on her finger.

Canelé is at Robertson Walk. The pastries here are amazing. The chocolates are good as well and there isn't the high price and attitude of The Chocolate Factory. Check out the meringues!!

Another great shop along the way, next to The Chocolate Factory was La Maison du Whisky, which stocks around 700 whiskies. RB, who works for Diageo, was amazed that they stocked their own whiskys, which his company did not distribute in Asia! Next stop along this Champagne, chocolate and pastry-filled afternoon was a visit to RB's home on Blair Road, a newly-renovated shophouse. The place is awesome, especially the pool which has panels that can be placed over the pool for dinner parties. I happened to be flipping through the latest issue of ish magazine (7.4) that KC, the editor, had given me at our meeting and lo and behold, RB's home was featured!





Love the "Days of Being Wild" feel of this balcony!

Singapore: Justin Lee, Iggy's

Another action-packed day: breakfast at P.S. Cafe (my fave breakfast hangout in town), speaker sessions at INSEAD on Women in Management and Partnerships between Business and NGOs, checked out some of the Singapore Biennale exhibits at Tanglin Camp, met artist Justin Lee, dinner at Iggy's, then checked out Butter Factory and Hacienda.

Old army barracks were converted into exhibition spaces.


My favourite installation was Takashi Kuribayashi's "Sometimes I feel like I'm in an aquarium". Located in Block 73A. It occupied the ground floor and the lower floor. I walked into the ground floor and saw only an aquarium in the middle of the room. Two Japanese women were staring at it. Disappointed, I walked out and ventured downstairs. On entering, all I saw was a black, plastic, blow-up seal. Nearby was a sign politely asking visitors not to physically abuse the seal. I was ready to leave when I notived a ladder in the middle of the room. Funny, I hadn't recalled an opening in the ground floor. Where did the ladder lead? I walked over, looked up and saw a hole in the ceiling, so i climbed up the ladder and realized I had climbed up through the ceiling and into the aquarium! Too bad the two Japanese women weren't still there. It would have been funny to see their reaction to me popping up into the aquarium. When I descended, I noticed another ladder at the far end of the room. This one led up to a jungle environment.

Next art stop of the day was Asian Art Options' office where I met up with Audrey Phng and Justin Lee to see my first art acquisition! I met AP earlier this year in Singapore and we really hit it off. While browsing her site's list of artists, I came across Justin Lee and really took a liking to his whimsical, kitschy work appropriating and re-interpreting Asian motifs and icons. So when I found out that Justin had designed several of the rooms at New Majestic Hotel, I made sure to request his rooms for my stay. I loved the rooms so much that I ended up commissiong a piece from Justin. And here are the fruits of his labours, which I absolutely adore. Many thanks to AP for making my first art aquisition happen! We celebrated the event with a bottle of VCP Rose and a box of Springli Grand Cru truffles (fresh from Zurich) courtesy of EO and Triple Chocolate Brownie from The Brownie Factory (at Takashimaya) courtesy of Justin. I was trying very hard not to ruin my appetite for dinner at Iggy's, but the truffles and brownies were just too tempting...

There are a lot of Justin Lee motifs here: paper-cut, double happiness, lightbulbs, the powerful female figure (in this case, guanyin dressed up in a super-hero cape). There was one new element that I hadn't seen before, but it also happened to be the first thing that caught my eye -- a tiny, little sheep on the bottom right corner of the canvas. A lot of Justin's art work deals with themes about Asia's place in the world, it's struggle to embrace Western culture and brands of status while trying not to turn its back on its own past. He asks questions about the power of brands and consumerism, women's role in society (are they goddesses, Wonder Woman or prey (the antelope headdress) or both?), are we free-thinking and acting or or we slaves to our ambitions to keep up with the Joneses?

On the way to Iggy's, we popped into Ambush (not knowing that it was a shop), a couple shops down from AP's office and ran into another one of AP's artists: Miguel Chew shopping for a new shirt (he also designed rooms at New Majestic)!

We arrived iggy's late and found Chubby Hubby and his S as well as AP's D had been waiting for us for half an hour (I had mis-read the email. So, so sorry guys!!). It is always a treat to dine with Chubby Hubby and his S, because they are like walking food and wine encyclopedias, not to mention that they know the chefs and get extra good service. To say the least, our 10-course tasting menu was nothing short of fabulous. Highlights were: Onion gratin with 2g of Alba white truffle, Crispy roasted suckling pig with apple puree and tumeric oil, Cappellini with ssakura ebi and home-made scampi oil (AP actually asked for and got seconds!!) and a panna cotta (at least I think that's what it was) with candied tomatoes and basil ice cream (meant to be a reinterpretation of a caprese salad). But the food adventure of the night was one of the canapes. On the menu, it said: Pan-fried shirako with green curry foam. Shirako, a beautiful sounding name, is actually sperm of whale!!!

Singapore: Les Amis, Vivo City and INSEAD Meeting in Asia

Had a pretty amazing day today. It all started with an 8am pilates class with Ole at Sky Pilates, followed by a meeting with Page One's editorial team, white truffle lunch at Les Amis, a wander through Toyo Ito's amazingly whimsical urban beach in the sky on the rooftop of mega-shopping mall Vivo City and a very moving auditorium naming ceremony at INSEAD that kicked-off INSEAD's Meeting in Asia weekend of events.


White Truffle Lunch @ Les Amis (1 Scotts Road, #02-16 Shaw Centre; T: +65 6733 2225). Had quite an amazing lunch with EO. Asked the sommelier to recommend a Spanish wine and the bottle of 1997 Cims de Porrera from Priorat was excellent and went very well with the absolutely divine Spanish ham from Jabugo. EO ordered a sunny-side up egg with white truffles for starter, while I decided not to overkill on the white truffles and ordered the grilled toro with sunny side-up egg and oscietra caviar on blini. I saved my truffle quota for the chargrilled pork belly and chocolate fondant with white truffle ice cream. The ice cream was heaven! After lunch, I popped into That CD Shop next door. They have a house compilation label called High Society, pretty decent complilations ranging from Shanghai Divas to classical to lounge to soul etc.




Next stop was Vivo City. Had read about Toyo Ito's mega mall and the renderings looked interesting enough, but every Singaporean I mentioned Vivo City to was not all that enthusiastic about it. TW managed to muster some excitement over the cinema which has electronic reclining seats, but that was about it. Inside the mall, well...it did look like any other suburban-sprawl mall.


But once I got to the rooftop, I was able to experience Toyo Ito's blurring architecture, the melding of Vivo City with its Marine City/Sentosa surroundings. The rooftop garden has an urban beach (which mirrors the beaches of Sentosa on the opposite side) and outdoor amphitheatre.


Interesting how the cranes, which could be aesthetically a real eyesore, are made less so because they just kind of blend in with the palm trees.



The rooftop garden makes Vivo City a great public space, offering a great leisure venue for families.

I love Singapore

I'm not out of my mind, I do love Singapore. I always have a great time in this city-state.





One of the reasons I love Singapore is because a pilates studio such as Sky Pilates can exist. Sky is trying to do for pilates what Pure Yoga has done for yoga. However, unlike yoga, the upfront investment in equipment is a lot higher, therefore class fees are higher, which means a more niche clientele than yoga. Sky is an extremely well-equiped, stylish and spacious pilates studio in the conveniently-located Liat Towers on Orchard Road. There's a room full of allegro machines for group classes, a curtained-off tower section, next to the reformer section with cadillac, barrel, chair as well as two gyrotonic machines. I met Teresa Woo, the studio owner, a few years back. She was working for a venture capital fund and getting her pilates instructor certification. Then she got married, got pregnant and started Sky Pilates in her last months of pregnancy. Teresa is really amazing. I know very few people who can juggle the birth of two babies at the same time -- an infant child and a brand-new business. I took a few classes with Ole during my stay and enjoyed them immensely.



I also love the fact that I can have a real brunch in Singapore. For me, a real brunches are not served in a five-star hotel; the atmosphere is all wrong. For some reason, a real brunch for me must be casual in a setting filled with sunshine and greenery, as well as a menu of staple breakfast foods (e.g. eggs any way you like them, sausages, bacon, hash browns, waffles, pancakes, salads, pastas, strawberries and Champagne) and great company. Hong Kong seems to be sorely lacking in such brunch places. I had Saturday brunch at P.S. Cafe (28B Harding Road; T: +65 6479 3343). The setting was perfect -- located in a pocket of seclusion off Dempsey Road, but still very close to Orchard Road/Botanical Garden area, the simple glass and brick building has one wall of glass that runs the full length of the building facing nothing but greenery. The cafe is opened by the same guys behind retail shop Blood Brothers. There's an emphasis on vintage chairs and lamps. The floor is rough, unfinished wooden planks. I had a delicious cheese and caramelized onion flan, followed by a banana chocolate cake. They have a very nice selection of teas.





For Sunday brunch, I went to graze (4 Rochester Park; T: +65 6775 9000) in a neighborhood of restaurants and bars in re-done colonial black-and-white bungalows near Holland Village. I stopped eating eggs benedict ever since I read about what Anthony Bourdain had to say about their preparation in Kitchen Confidential, but for some reason I decided to throw caution to the wind this Sunday and ordered myself an eggs marion (with smoked salmon and spinach instead of bacon). graze has a great garden and upstairs lounge bar, which is called mint. It's opened by the same woman who opened JIA in Hong Kong (and soon Shanghai and Krabi). It's a great place for people watching too. As GC pointed out, it seemed like everyone had given some thought to what they should wear to brunch.

Singapore 1: New Majestic Hotel

26 April -- Arrived Singapore early morning after an overnight flight from Delhi, which is always a great respite from the chaos and madness that is Delhi airport. Got to New Majestic Hotel at around 8am. New Majestic's grand opening party is scheduled for next Friday, but they have been soft opened for at least 2 months now. It is the more luxe property for the owners of 1929.

The new hotel is located in Chinatown, within walking distance of lots of happening shops, restaurants and clubs along Tanjong Pagar, Club Street and Ann Siang Hill. It has been totally gutted and revamped the site of the old Majestic Hotel, and the only reference to the old hotel (aside from the name) is the exposed lobby ceiling. The rest of the lobby is a pristine white, which showcases a well-curated collection of 20th century chairs designed by modern masters as well as a pair of more quirky dentist chairs by the front desk. Also in the lobby is one of Cai Zhisong's Ode to the Motherland copperplate scultures (it is a male nude kneeling on one knee), which sold at this month's Sotheby's Chinese Contemporary Art in Hong Kong for HK$900,000. There is another piece by Cai in the hotel's contemporary Cantonese restaurant. All the rooms in the hotel have been designed by a selection of artists. The art consultant for the project was Asian Art Options. I had met Audrey Phng, one of the directors of AAO at a dinner last time I was in Singapore and met her again in Hong Kong when she was in town for the Sotheby's auctions. She is incredibly fun to be with and has a great eye in addition to being extremely knowledgable about art (not just Asian art). It was while looking through her site that I came across Justin Lee's work and was drawn to his works' strong graphic statement and kitschy sense of humour. So when she told me that Justin Lee is one of the 9 artists that worked on the rooms at New Majestic Hotel, I made sure to request his rooms for my one-night stay.

I booked my room by email to the hotel. Three categories of Justin Lee rooms were available. I opted for the Premier Garden for S$250+++(US$160/night). When I arrived, the front desk told me it was too early to check in and my room was not ready yet. However, they had a Justin Lee suite (normally S$500+++/US$316/night) that I could use until my rooms was ready, but would have to charge me an extra half day based on my current room rate. The loft suite (room 403) was beautifully done by Justin. There were two main paintings on the wall. Both use the paper-cut, double happiness motif-- one is of the Singapore flag with the Singapore skyline worked in and another is of a Samsui Woman decked in barrister robe and traditional headgear again using the double happiness motif. The two paintings face each other. Directly in front of the Samsui Woman are two bathtubs in the bathroom area, which opens into the living area (the two areas are separated by a plasma TV on a swivel stand). Directly in front of the flag painting in the desk and the sitting area with a barber chair. The bed is in the loft just above the sitting area.





The Premier Garden room (room 201), while much smaller, was still very comfortable. There was a desk hidden behind closet doors so as not to clutter the look of the room. The highlight, however, was the outdoor tub, a real luxury in any city hotel!



All the facilities and room of New Majestic have been well designed and executed. Everything is very high quality from the ploh featherbeds to Bose stereos and free in-room wifi access. There is a pool (not exactly a lap pool though, but still a nice feature) and the gym was being completed. My only complaint, and hopefully this will iron itself out in a couple months, is that the service level is a bit rough at the moment. For example, on returning from dinner, there were no staff at the front desk or in the lobby. The lobby was shuttered and it was difficult to find the entrance, so a staff on hand would have been helpful. It took 20 minutes and an additional phone call to get a requested pair of scissors and the staff don't address guests by their names either when picking up the phone or in person (in a 30-room hotel, there is no excuse for this).

Once the service improves, New Majestic will be a well-priced hotel offering one of the best and most unique hotel experiences in Singapore as well as other majore cities around the world. A lot of heart and soul has gone into the concept and design of the hotel, the service staff just needs to translate more of that passion into their service.