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The selected restaurants have been divided into five categories: Gourmet, Business, Trendy, Budget and Personal Recommendations. The restaurants are listed alphabetically within these different categories, which serve as guidelines rather than absolute definitions of the establishments.

The restaurants below have been grouped in four different price categories:
$$$$ (over S$200)
$$$ (S$130 to S$200)
$$ (S$80 to S$130)
$ (up to S$80)
These are based on the average price of a three-course meal and a bottle of house wine or cheapest equivalent; they do not include service charge or tax.

Restaurants will add a 10% service charge, 5% GST (which may be increased to 7% in mid-2007) and 1% government tax to the bill. This 16% (or 18%) is known as ‘triple plus’ and is mandatory. Tipping is not required on top.

Gourmet

Les Amis
After extensive renovation in 2003, Les Amis is the flagship of this restaurant group, and resident chef Gunther Hubrechsen (who won Rising Chef Award at the 2006 World Gastronomic Summit) 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 soufflé with Tahiti vanilla ice cream. A three-course business lunch is good value, and so is the vegetarian option. The décor, 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 Center, 1 Scotts Road
Tel: 6733 2225.
Website: www.lesamis.com.sg
Price: $$$$ Raffles Grill
The classic French cuisine and top-class service has made the Grill Raffles Hotel’s the most exclusive restaurant in town, and deservedly so. It has previously been named as the island’s top restaurant and chef Jean-Charles Dubois keeps the restaurant very much on the culinary map. 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 Gastronomic 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 pan-fried foie gras with caramelized apple in port sauce, goose-leg confit with caramalised Belgian endive, and whole lobster crusted with watercress puree with roasted lobster claw. For dessert, Grandma Stroobant’s flourless Belgian 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: $$$
Business

Au Jardin Les Amis
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 Provençal Sunday Brunch and various choices of degustation menus. Favorite 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 over-used 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 1262.
Website: www.raffleshotel.com
Price: $$ Harbour Grill and Oyster Bar
With a cosy, Old World decor, 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 soufflé, like chocolate with Grand Marnier 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. The restaurant 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 à 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 specialty 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.

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


Trendy

One Rochester
A new venture and something a little different in Singapore, this restaurant in a converted colonial bungalow is a gastropub wannabe, and on the borderline of bar and restaurant. Although having a huge and original variety of Martinis, the stylish venue, set in a lush compound inside Rochester Park, has a small dining capacity yet one which has been made to suit small groups and couples. In addition to serving up hearty snacks like crab cakes, the dinner menu degustation changes every month. Starters might include tiger prawn with fresh fruit salsa and aioli and roast duck with garlic mash, finished off with cocada with walnut. The ambience is one of a well-heeled but coy wine bar - not surprising, given the selection of over 250 varieties of wine.

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

Pierside Kitchen and Bar
The Pierside Kitchen and Bar’s trendy waterfront location allows alfresco dining with a harbor view. The modern cuisine has an emphasis on seafood with a dash of Japanese. Starters include cumin-spiced crab cakes with marinated cucumber and chilli, and seaweed-wrapped tuna tempura. For main course, the snapper pie, smoked tomato and white truffle oil is highly recommended, as is the Maine lobster linguine. The highlight of the dessert menu is the white coffee pannacotta, Bailey’s Irish cream and toffee ice cream. With stylish decor, staff and ambience, Pierside has already made its mark as a trendy dining spot. No lunch Saturday.

One Fullerton, 1 Fullerton Road
Tel: 6438 0400.
Website: www.piersidekitchen.com
Price: $$$
Budget

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. This is not an oft-found cuisine in Singapore, having emerged from traditional home cooking and rarely made it to the restaurant. But Blue Ginger recreates something of the life of the times, while dishing up favorites like Ayam Buah Keluak (braised chicked with tumeric 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 verandah. The décor 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 Center
For a brash, no-frills dining experience, this string of reasonably-priced restaurants specializes in fresh seafood cooked in Asian spices. Locals love this place at weekends, and most seem to have their particular favorite. After a revamp in 2005, the restaurant now features freshly-paved patios and diners find it worth the 20-minute taxi ride from the city center 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; website: 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: $$

Komala Vilas
Komala Vilas is one of a plethora of small, casual eating places in the ethnic quarter of Little India, serving up cheap, filling and delicious Indian food in a fast-food setting. The vegetarian menu provides a whole traditional South Indian meal, with favorites such as the dosai, a vegetable-filled crêpe, and thali, a complete meal comprising rice, lentils and a selection of curries, all served on a banana leaf. A great place for breakfast, open from 0700. No credit cards.

76-78 Serangoon Road
Tel: 6293 6980.
Website: http://web.singnet.com.sg/~komala
Price: $ (Unlicensed)

Branch:
12-14 Buffalo Road
Tel: 6293 3664.
Price: $ (Unlicensed)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 yogurt) and papadum. The dosa, a typical south Indian dish of a huge thin pancake stuffed with spiced vegetables and assorted sauces, is popular. No credit cards.

12-14 Upper Dickson Road
Tel: 6297 1594.
Price: $ (Unlicensed) Orchard Maharajah
This small North Indian restaurant, situated in Orchard Road’s shopping district, is ideal for those who like outdoor dining in the midst of activity. Despite its modest location and price, the food is impressive. The tandoori platter comes laden with chicken tikka, fish, shish kebab and prawns. The Maharajah Raan-e ghosht is the house specialty, with lamb marinated overnight and roasted in the tandoor. Vegetarian dishes include the classic saag aloo (spinach and potato) and baigan bartha (aubergine with spices). The Boat Quay branch allows riverside alfresco dining in the popular nightlife area.

27 Cuppage Road
Tel: 6732 6331.
Website: www.maharajah.com.sg
Price: $ 

Branch:
Maharajah Boat Quay
41 Boat Quay
Tel: 6535 0122.
Price: $
Personal Recommendations

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 caramelized 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: 6275 0331.
Website: www.beaufort.com.sg
Price: $$$

Crossroads Café
The location here is the real gem. Bang in the middle of Orchard Road’s shopping and business district on pavement level, the relaxing, terrace-like atmosphere is perfect for people-watching. The extensive menu has snacks, meals and breakfasts with Asian and Western cuisine and the beauty lies in its variety. The late breakfast menu includes American pancakes and eggs Benedict. Dinner might start with a classic Caesar salad with smoked salmon or an Asian combination platter; and move on to the popular Yong chow fried rice with pork, shrimp and chicken satay, or traditional English fish and chips. There is a long list of sandwiches and side orders, as well as a dessert buffet, which makes this ideal whether for an afternoon coffee, a cool beer or a three-course dinner. Open 20 hours daily.

Singapore Marriott Hotel, 320 Orchard Road
Tel: 6735 5800.
Website: www.singaporemarriott.com
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. Favorite 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 specialties, 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: $$


Nightlife:

The nightlife scene saw the start of big developments in 2006, thanks to the tentative legislative approval of 24-hour licensing for the city’s nightspots. This could make a big difference in a city where after-hours drinking and dancing is not as diverse as in many big cities around the world. Saying that, it seems unlikely that the plethora of upmarket, trendy bars and clubs or alternatively karaoke lounges will be replaced an alternative music scene.

Most venues are packed at weekends. Certain areas and venues are popular with expats and tourists, like Boat Quay with its string of shop-houses converted into noisy bars and restaurants overlooking the river. The bars in the hotels along Orchard Road are a safe bet for a refined drink or to meet clients, and nearby Emerald Hill Road has a great collection of lively bars attracting locals and visitors.

The area with the liveliest nightlife is around Mohammed Sultan Road, with nearby Robertson Quay offering several classy waterfront venues. The East Coast has a few respectable, expat-flavored bars, and Tanjong Pagar attracts a mixed, trendy crowd to its English-style bars and karaoke lounges.

Most clubs are open 2200-0100 Sunday to Thursday and 2200-0300 Friday and Saturday. Dress code is generally smart-casual and the minimum age limit for drinking alcohol is 18 years, although some clubs have an over-21 policy. There is normally a cover charge, especially at weekends, usually around S$25 for the more trendy places. Drinks tend to be quite expensive, but most bars offer happy hours or two-for-one on drinks at certain hours of the evening.

I-S Magazine (free), which has good local listings and review guides, is available at many food and drinks outlets island-wide.

Bars: Within the colonial grandeur of Raffles Hotel, 1 Beach Road, are Bar & Billiard Room, and the Long Bar for that famous Singapore Sling. The pretty Emerald Hill, with 19th-century Peranakan shop-houses, contains several bars, the liveliest of which is Ice Cold Beer, 9 Emerald Hill, famous for little else but its deliciously cold beers, and Alley Bar, 180 Orchard Road. For a civilised drink in an intimate, sophisticated setting, Bar Opiume, 1 Empress Place Waterfront, is a winner purely for its location, with a cool terrace facing the river, pulling in a chic crowd. For a chocolate martini, try the Mezza9 Martini Bar, Grand Hyatt, Scotts Road. Recent new additions include the pleasantly unpretentious rooftop bar Loof, located near Raffles Hotel at 331 North Bridge Road, and the multi-venue center for live music and drinks at St James Power Station at 3 Sentosa Gateway. Altivo Bar at the top of Mount Faber is a romantic setting with wonderful city views and One Rochester, 1 Rochester Park, has a wonderful wine selection in the refurbished 70-year-old colonial house. On Sentosa’s waterfront, KM8 and Café del Mar are relaxed bars recently opened, and very popular especially at weekends.   

Clubs: The newest major addition to the club scene is the cavernous Ministry of Sound, Block C, The Cannery, 1-2 River Valley Road (website: www.ministryofsound.com.sg), reputedly the largest club in Asia, with a range of rooms oozing style and pumping dance music. The iconic Zouk, 17 Jiak Kim Street (website: www.zoukclub.com.sg), going strong for over a decade, has reopened after a major renovation, and is considered Singapore’s pioneer clubbing institution. In the past it has hosted notable DJs such as Sacha, Paul Oakenfold and John Digweed plus international bands. Within its walls are the mellower Velvet Underground, to which the cool, mature clubbers flock, the pre-club WineBar with refreshing terrace, and Phuture, a small club with breakbeats and hip-hop. Slick, swanky dbl-O (pronounced double-O), 11 Unity Street, Robertson Walk (website: www.dbl-o.com), is one of Mohammed Sultan Road’s most popular, playing dance hits, retro and Top 40s on various nights of the week.

Karaoke: As in the rest of Asia, karaoke remains an inordinately popular evening’s entertainment. The fun bar JJ Mahoney’s, 58 Duxton Road, has karaoke sessions in between the live music.

Live Music: Harry’s Bar, 28 Boat Quay (website: www.harrys-bar.com.sg), housed in a renovated shop-house facing the river, is famous for its great live jazz, and popular with Singapore’s power brokers and bankers. Zouk (see Clubs) is the best venue for big names, and has recently hosted Kylie and M People. A friendly bar with live R&B and classic rock, Crazy Elephant, Clark Quay Trader’s Market, 3E River Valley Road (website: www.crazyelephant.com), is an informal venue which has attracted some music greats. A safe bet for its in-house band, if hardly ground-breaking, Bar None, basement Marriott Hotel, 320 Orchard Road (www.barnoneasia.com), attracts a mix of tourists, expats and locals, and usually packed at weekends.

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