Your Singapore Little Black Book D ROA RSON CPH P MA IE T H O M S O Toa Payoh N R O A Geylang D AY (PIE) DU SSW B NE XPRE UKI ARN D E T TI RO LAN MA AD IS H R AD PAN OAD D A O R TE TE H R C C UE O E AVEN L R SIMS LA N R SERANGOON RO D A F Novena N R B GEYLANG ROAD OA UK D IT T IMA D H R R O AD A T ROAD S I Y Tanglin Little India V KALLANG A A W N S O C O N O U M RC B M E HA E H O RD N U T W RO Y R Q O E AD T A N A E Arab HW LT E IG H R H A T L V Quarter L Kallang AD S O O RO E N Orchard Road PH IC EN U P I N ATT E R B E UNT S T R R O E O D M IN E C R R H P T O S R R IA D KIM SENG RO R O East Coast River Valley T IC ST PARKWAY (ECP) H V EAST COA Park O S O T Q A T M U F K O E Colonial R E I AD C D Marina N A R ALEXA M S NDRA RO District D D W AD H AY A GANGES AVENUE IG ER Y H RAF R TI S FLES AV A ON TR JA G BA E H HRU R E OAD T EX PR ES SW ) A E Y (A Bukit Merah T YE) (C J Y Chinatown LAOS ALA A N B SSW MYANMAR THAILAND U RE T VIETNAM KI P E CBD Around Town Art & Culture Shopping Spas T X Food M L E E Bars & Nightlife Hotels ER A R Y A R T D H T CAMBODIA S UA A N E N Q Pulau Tioman O C E S Marina R S G E City Park A ON R T P U AFFL EC PA D E SIR R PA N NJA A N X G Marina South RO E BRUNEI Print & Digital Publishing Pty Ltd (ABN 50 125 441 812) under the authority and in collaboration with Time A UK. London Limited International Out D L A Time Out ® is the registered trademarkOutTime of Group Limited, London UK. The right to use the the use to right The UK. London Limited, Group MALA YSIA trademark, name and logo of “Time Out” are licensed from Time Out Group Limited London UK. UK. London Limited Group Out Time from licensed © 2010. Printed by Craft Inprint Brisbane, 552 552 Brisbane, Inprint Craft by Printed 2010. © Bilsen Road, Geebung, QLD 4034. www.craftinprint. com.au. Reproduction in whole or in part is not permitted without the written permission of the publisher and Time Out Group Limited. The publishers regret that they cannot accept liability for for liability accept cannot they that regret publishers errors or omissions contained in this publication, publication, this in contained omissions or errors however caused. The opinions and views contained in this publication are not necessarily the views of of views the necessarily not are publication this in the publishers. publishers. the SINGAPORE Mount Faber D A ... Park O R INDONESI A T L EL E O P Labrador K P BL E 0 500 miles Park A K au.timeout.com Your Singapore Little Black Book Time Out 3 NG au.timeout.com AH ROAD 500 km S Harbourfront au.timeout.com E + 61 2 8239 5990 This Little Black Book belongs to Let’s be honest: if Singapore were a high school student it would be the nerd of the classroom (the non-chewing- gum-kind of course). This high achiever clearly wants to be the best and first at everything: home to some of the Introduction world’s swankiest hotels; host of the world’s first F1 night race; home to the world’s biggest observation wheel. And that floating crystal pavilion at Marina Bay Sands? It belongs to Mr Louis Vuitton and yes, it’s the first of its kind. This little red dot may have been on your radar, but we’ve uncovered the Singapore you don’t know – the one that N speaks four official languages, likes to eat roti prata at 1am and dessert at 2am before catching a flick at 3am. The only way to truly figure out this enigmatic city is Guide Editor Laura Venuto to discover and experience it progressively. So scratch Art Director Phil Bunting Contributors Mulquiney, ClareVanessa Brundle, Terence beneath the surface, take it all in, and you just might Goh, Sandra Leong, Mathew Webb, Matthew Lee realise there’s far more chic to this geek. Managing Director Justin Etheridge justin.etheridge@ Commercial Director Michael Rodrigues michael.rodrigues@ Print & Digital Publishing Pty Ltd This book has been produced by Print & Digital Publishing Pty Ltd’s Custom Guide Division on behalf of the Singapore Board. Tourism For all enquiries please contact: Tel Online Editorial Executive Info is correct at time of printing but may be be may but printing of time at correct is Info subject to changes. For the latest info on Singapore visit YourSingapore.com. $ in the book = S$ (Singapore Dollars). Dollars). (Singapore S$ = book the in $ T O S A G A T Pulau Brani Malaysia Laos Thailand E Myanmar Vietnam W Cambodia Malaysia A Sembawang Y Brunei Malaysia Singapore Woodlands Pulau Ubin Indonesia Lim Chu Kang Mandai Bukit Ang Mo Kio Explore Asia from Singapore Timah Nature Changi Singapore Reserve Singapore Tampines Jurong Bishan Sentosa Geylang Clementi Newton Marine Parade Little India Orchard East Coast & Joo Chiat Queenstown City Clarke Quay Marina Chinatown Bay Jurong Island Harbourfront Sentosa 0 6km 0 6km Throughout the book, these little red dots denote a Time Out favourite Around Town Around Art & Culture & Art Shopping Spas Food Bars & Nightlife & Bars Indonesia Hotels 00.5 1 1.5 2 km 0 0 1 2 miles 00.51 1.5 22.5 3 km © Copyright Time Out Group 2007 Around Town Singapore in context Word up Size doesn’t matter: this tiny city-state has big ambitions Got Singlish lah! Around Town A brief guide to Singapore’s “Ah beng” own pidgin English... A male bogan. Art & Culture “Ah lian” Female form of Ah Beng. “Aiyah/Ayioh” Chinese equivalent of ‘Oh no!’or Art & Culture ‘Oh dear!’ “Ang moh” Shopping Literally means ‘red hair’. A commonly used term for Caucasians. Shopping “Aunty/Uncle” Pronounced ‘Anteee’ or ‘Uncaaal’, It’s not surprising that Singapore is the these are used as a generic address for modern-day Babel, with four ‘official’ lan- middle aged or elderly woman/men. Re- guages – English, Chinese, Tamil, and ferring to older Singaporeans in this way Malay – a host of unofficial languages, will give an Ang Moh a lot of credibilty. Spas and Singapore’s unique gift to the Eng- Spas lish-speaking world, Singlish – a pidgin “Kopitiam” Singapore skyline English that draws heavily from Chinese Literally means ‘coffee shop’. grammar translated back to English, spo- No, Singapore is not part of China; yes the commercial import of chewing gum is ken with the cadences and the speed of “Kiasu” banned (although the chewing of it isn’t); and yes – it is very, very clean. Malay, and peppered with Hokkien, Malay Literally means to be afraid of losing/ Nicknames are one way of getting a grip on modern Singapore: Lion City, Garden City, and some Tamil expressions. missing out on something. It’s a defining New Asia, the Little Red Dot and Fine City – there have been so many that they start to Singlish adds ‘lah’ to the end of sen- characteriestic of many Singaporeans Food cancel one another out. Singapore, is after all, an inadvertent nation that has made itself tences or exclamations for emphasis, who will rush for early-bird event tickets, Food up as it has gone along. It proudly proclaims its Asianness and routinely tops world such as telling an impatient person to opening-night tables at new restaurants or globalisation indexes with pride. This high achiever has a chic side too. It’s home to some ‘Wait, lah!’. There are other versions exploit any other opportunity to get ahead. of the world’s swankiest hotels, along with an increasing number of boutique hotels and of this – lor, meh and mah being favou- bars. And then there’s the mega-malls – yes, they’re all that they’re cracked up to be. rites. Sentences are often abbreviated “Lah/Leh” Nightlife & Bars The people are intelligent, well-dressed, and not so modest. They’re predominantly until all that’s left is the verb. In answer Tagged at the end of a sentence as an Chinese, but there are significant numbers of Malays and Indians plus a foreign ele- to a query about driving to the airport, a exclamation except in questions. ment: about 18% are non-residents, and another 7% permanent residents. With this taxi driver might reply ‘can’ or ‘cannot’. cultural mix, it’s only natural that the food choices are plentiful. As the different races Other examples include ‘want’ and ‘don’t “Sotong” intermingled, they exchanged recipes, cherry-picked techniques and ingredients and want’ which might sound like ‘wan’ and Forgetful, or not knowing what’s going on. adapted their cuisines. Singapore is highly urbanised but its nickname ‘the Garden City’ ‘donwan’, as the ‘t’ will be dropped.