Orchard Road. The once plantation-lined country lane is now a hubbub of shopping. You have your usual great oaks (Ion Orchard; Paragon; TANGS Singapore); the buskers that dot the periphery of the malls; the annual Christmas light-up that encompasses the 2.2km thoroughfare. It is a tree-shaded Babylon. But westerly Cuscaden Road has its own share of flavours. None more than the appearance of its hotels.
There’s St Regis at Tanglin Road and further down, at the corner of Grange Road and Cuscaden Road is JEN Singapore Tanglin. But we are especially excited about the Singapore EDITION, Artyzen Singapore and the Conrad Singapore Orchard. The first two are new to Singapore, while the third took over the building that used to be The Regent, gave it a nip-and-tuck, and is now rebranded as the Conrad Singapore Orchard. (Ah, now it makes sense.)
Three hotels. All opened within the last few months. We look at each of them, what they offer and what to expect from these lodgings.
We’ve heard of the EDITION hotels and how hip and cool it is to stay there. So, colour us excited when we heard that it opened in Singapore.
From the outside, it doesn’t possess many of the trademarks that you see at a conventional hotel. You can’t see through the curtained glass doors; the row of plants that divides the structure and the public sidewalk, furthers obstructs the view of the main entrance.
But once you cross the threshold, it’s like stepping into another world, where hip sounds and new sights flood your senses. The lobby is lined with white marble, which contrasts with a gold-leafed domed ceiling. Windows stretch from floor to ceiling and bathes the space in natural light. And there are plants galore. Not as verdant as a forest but enough to catch your eye.
Then, as you walk towards the Lobby Bar, the scene changes and now you’re faced with their oversized display cabinet backlit in pink. (I’d come up with more descriptors of the different shades of pink but I’m a cisman and this is the best I can do at the moment.) You spend a minute there, agog, before you’re offered a drink to make full use of your open maw.
A spiral staircase leads to the lower level where the Punch Room is. Every EDITION has its own Punch Room and Singapore’s version is washed in "Yves Klein blue". Oak panels line the walls and ceilings; stone fan-shaped mosaics cover the floor. In the middle, a sculptural blue ceiling pendant hangs like a dew drop. The Punch Room serves punch (duh) that’s inspired by Southeast Asian spices.
Guests can choose from the hotel’s 204 rooms; each of the rooms is bedecked in shades of mostly white. I’ve a child, a ravenous thing, who wolfed down the welcome chocolate amenity and I was on tenterhooks, trying to keep him from sullying the bedsheets. We stayed at the Garden Premier King, which overlooks the garden courtyard.
The Roof is a semi-al fresco setting with a white-tiled pool. Sure, there’s the towering residential wing but you’ll forget all about them when you do laps in the pool; especially when you swim over the transparent acrylic screen that lets you look into the garden courtyard below. Freaky.
Over at FYSH at EDITION, the main dining room is inspired by a maritime passage from East to West. Nautical elements, while not overt, make their presence felt—a Christian Furr painting of a junk at sea hangs behind the bar; a backlit ceiling panel depicts a celestial navigation map.
Chef Josh Niland handles FYSH at EDITION. This is his first restaurant outside of Australia. Diners are served from a "sustainable seafood-focused steakhouse" menu. All, if not most, of the dishes, tie back to Chef Niland’s fin-to-gill approach. The FYSH egg tart is a decadent delight, with salmon roe on top of French creme fraiche and chives sitting in a shortcrust pastry, and the Brown Clams XO is a serving of Javanese brown clams with noodles made from, get this, cod bones. It’s chewy and goes great with their XO sauce (made of more cod bones and other fishy stuff).
The Singapore EDITION is located at 38 Cuscaden Road.
It used to be the storied Villa Marie, a two-storey colonial-style bungalow, once purchased by Tan Hoon Siang (the great-grandson of Tan Tock Seng). Shun Tak Holdings Limited bought the property in 2016 with plans to redevelop the site into "a five-star hotel facility".
Finally, in the year of our Lord 2024, we see the fruits of Shun Tak’s labour: Artyzen Singapore. This is the first Artyzen hotel outside of Greater China. Inspired by our Straits heritage, Artyzen Singapore presents itself as a contemporary vertical oasis thanks to the architectural savvy of ONG&ONG and the ID-know-how of Nic Graham & Associates.
Given the area it occupies, Artyzen Singapore is built with height in mind. It offers 142 rooms and suites, each boasting high ceilings and ceiling fans, and furnishings that give a sense of spaciousness. Stay at the Terrace Suite and you have your own outdoor Sky Garden to traipse in. You can find a bathtub and a separate rain shower in the ensuite bathroom; the his-and-her bathroom sinks give a sense of closeness and independence (unless you have a kid).
The hotel has Quenino, a dining concept helmed by Chef Victor Liong. Quenino (pronounced as /′ke-ni-nu/), we are told, means "little one" in Malaccan Creole Portuguese. Inspired by the Straits, dishes are a blend of traditional and modern techniques. The restaurant’s interior is something to behold as flora bedecked the space. If you’re uninterested in the beauty within, there’s always the lush outdoor terrace where you can set your peepers at the Orchard Road cityscape.
Other things of note: there’s the Roof Garden, where you can soak or swim in the infinity pool. There is also the fifth floor dedicated to wellness with a 24-hour gym and private treatment rooms. What was really memorable were the elevator walls of Artyzen Singapore. They are artwork created by local artist, Terence Tan. Depicting the outside of a shophouse, the artwork is akin to a stained-glass window. When the doors open and the outside light pours in, it paints the piece in a different... well, light.
Artyzen Singapore is located at 9 Cuscaden Road.
The Conrad Singapore Orchard is the second property of the Conrad brand. When news of it taking over the space from The Regent broke, many were worried that perennial favourites like Manhattan, Basilico and the Michelin-starred Summer Palace might relocate to another place. But after a meticulous refurbishment, the restaurants and bar remain where they were before.
Originally envisioned by the architect John Portman, and infused with the creativity of local artists, Conrad Singapore Orchard extolls Singapore’s garden city ethos through its design and programmes.
The hotel has 445 newly renovated rooms that are spacious and that blend botanical-inspired aesthetics with natural hues. The floor-to-ceiling windows with plantation shutters allow for natural light to stream in.
While we could go on about the room stay (excellent, by the way), we want to dive into the “Conrad Experiences”. These are tailor- made programmes that residents could partake in. It’s all part of the brand’s commitment to redefine luxury through impactful experiences. With a curated programme, guests get to have that purposeful interaction, that deepens this connection with the place that they are in. We applied for the Cheese Infusion Workshop in Basilico’s Cheese Room. There, we were taught how to infuse our own cheeses (while stuffing our faces with said cheese).
And while, cheese always filled the emptiness in our souls, it was the Edible Garden Walk activity that took the cake. This is a guided tour that took us from the hotel to the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Singapore Botanical Gardens. As we hoofed it, we were taught about the plants that could be eaten along the way. Now, you’d think that we could eat them but no, we can’t because it is verboten under the Parks and Trees Act.
But even with this restriction, our guide brought along the cuttings of the same plants from his garden. It was an illuminating excursion that culminated with a sit-down at the Botanical Gardens as we dig into a packed lunch with ingredients made from these found botanicals.
Conrad Singapore Orchard is located at 1 Cuscaden Road.
