 |
Jeannie Lim, Executive Director, Exhibitions & Conferences and Conventions & Meetings, Singapore Tourism Board
My favourite places: Top three restaurants
Halia, which means ginger in Malay, is situated at the Ginger Garden in the Singapore Botanic Gardens. It’s a lovely place where you can enjoy an exquisite meal amidst lush foliage. Due to its unique location, Halia uses ginger as inspiration for its dishes. A must-try would be its house speciality drink, Halia Infusion that is made of sun-dried ginger and wild mountain honey.
For an all-round Peranakan (commonly known as Straits Chinese) cultural experience, my favourite is True Blue Cuisine, located at Armenian Street. It offers traditional Peranakan dishes in a quaint shophouse that is decorated with authentic vintage antiques and a private collection of pictures from the past. After a meal, visitors can pop by the Peranakan Museum down the street to continue their cultural experience.
If you’re looking for a good place for business luncheons, try Sky on 57. Helmed by Singapore chef Justin Quek, who has become one of Asia’s most celebrated chefs, Sky on 57 offers a modern take on traditional Asian cuisine with French influences. One of the signature dishes is Foie Gras Xiao Long Bao (soup dumplings) that has earned rave reviews. Perched atop the Marina Bay Sands, the restaurant offers a breath-taking view of the city.
Top three bars
Lantern is the perfect place to chill out after a meeting, offering Latin American and Caribbean themed cocktails. Situated at the rooftop of the Fullerton Bay Hotel, it has a stunning panoramic view of Marina Bay. I also like the story behind its name. Lantern is apparently a reference to Clifford Pier’s historical Chinese “Red Lantern Pier”, which used to be a landing point for Singapore’s first immigrants. Red lanterns used to hang from the pier as a guide to seafarers.
Well-known for its Southeast Asian-inspired cocktails like Singapore Sour, Loof is a rooftop bar at Esplanade that combines a garden setting with a modern Mama shop (local name for traditional local convenience shops), creating a sense of nostalgia and playfulness. Local Singapore flavours are also infused into its dishes like Chilli Crab Dip, a dish consisting of fried buns to be dipped in chilli crab sauce.
Located in the vibrant and historical conservation area of Kampong Glam, Sultan Jazz Club is a great venue for live jazz music where visitors can catch the best of both local and international artistes. There is also an extensive whisky selection which makes Sultan Jazz Club a popular choice to hang out after a long day of work.
Top three hot spots
Gardens by the Bay is the newest and largest botanic gardens at the heart of city centre. Two cooled conservatories offer a respite from the heat, and house exotic plants from the Mediterranean and semi-arid subtropical regions. I also like the Flower Field, which always features something different to reflect the differences in seasons and festivals.
Maxwell Road Hawker Centre: I highly recommend this place for authentic local Singaporean delights! It has a great representation of local dishes such as dough fritters, rojak (local salad mixed with shrimp paste and lime juice) and nasi lemak (rice dish cooked in coconut milk). It is here where one can find the highly acclaimed Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice, whose chef recently defeated Michelin-starred chef Gordon Ramsay in a hawker street food challenge.
At Resort World Singapore, you can find the Marine Life Park, which is the world’s largest oceanarium and houses two attractions, the S.E.A Aquarium and the Adventure Cove Waterpark. The S.E.A Aquarium has an amazing variety of over 100,000 marine animals while the Adventure Cove Waterpark is ideal if you want to spend a few hours to soak up the sun. There’s a colourful Rainbow Reef where you can snorkel and have a close-up experience with tropical fishes.
A group of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), the Singapore Exhibition & Convention Bureau (SECB) has a mission to champion business travel and business events. As enablers for industry growth and a key driver of the tourism sector, we aim to establish Singapore as a dynamic business events destination where an ecosystem of ideas, people, and technology draws on vibrant knowledge and wide networks to tailor success for you. www.yoursingapore.com