Traditional sweets, known as Nyonya kueh, at the Four Seasons Hotel Singapore
I didn’t come to the Four Seasons Hotel Singapore for the food. But dining at this classic luxury hotel, just off Singapore’s posh Orchard Road, was a highlight of my stay.
Here’s the scoop:
About the Four Seasons Hotel Singapore
Opened more than 30 years ago, the Four Seasons Hotel Singapore isn’t the city’s newest or hippest property. But its emphasis on personalized service, which starts by greeting guests by name, never goes out of fashion.
From the ornate woodwork in the lobby to the sedately comfortable guest rooms, the design feels plush without being overdone. The hotel has multiple restaurants, as well as extensive fitness facilities. It’s like a resort lodging in the center of the city.
The lobby at the Four Seasons Hotel Singapore
Dining at the Four Seasons Hotel Singapore
Jiang-Nan Chun, the traditional Cantonese restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel Singapore, is designed for feasting, offering seasonal set menus (with a la carte options) featuring luxe ingredients like abalone and Pacific lobster.
The signature dish at this Michelin-recommended dining room is Peking duck, the golden, glistening bird carved tableside. It comes with your choice of wok-fried noodles or fried rice, both served with more of the savory duck meat.
Jiang-Nan Chun, the hotel’s traditional Cantonese restaurant
Another restaurant at the Four Seasons Singapore, which you can reach along a zen garden walkway, is an outpost of the internationally popular Nobu, originally established in New York in the 1990s by chef Nobu Matsuhisa. The Singapore Nobu offers most of the same signature dishes as other Nobu locations, along with an extensive Saturday brunch, with stations serving sushi, sashimi, tempura, salads, and much more. The hotel’s Nobu bar, in a nearby separate space, offers a lighter menu to pair with your cocktails.
Love a big breakfast? Then don’t miss the lavish morning buffet at One-Ninety Restaurant, the Four Seasons’ all-day dining spot. Reflecting the diversity of the city, the breakfast buffet has sections for Singaporean, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, and Western foods, as well as fruits, juices, pastries, charcuterie, and cheeses. Chefs will prepare eggs to order, and there’s a daily special featuring a locally popular dish. I especially enjoyed sampling the colorful nyonya kueh, traditional Peranakan sweets.
A Four Seasons Singapore guest room
Guest Rooms and Amenities
Compared to the often cramped rooms of contemporary hotels, the guest rooms at the Four Seasons Singapore are a lovely surprise. Even the smallest of the hotel’s 250 rooms and suites, located on the building’s 6th through 19th floors, measure more than 500 square feet, giving you plenty of room to spread out.
The rooms are decorated in neutral creams and beiges — no flashy colors or vivid wallpaper like you’d find in recently revamped properties like the ever-so-cool QT Singapore — with very large marble baths. Coffeemakers and tea kettles, with a selection of teas, are provided, as are thick robes. You can customize your pillow by requesting the type you’d like from the hotel’s pillow menu.
Even the housekeeping staff offers thoughtful touches. One day, when I left a charging cable in a heap on the bedside table, the housekeeper wound it up neatly, fastened it with a Four Seasons-branded Velcro tie, and wrote a note explaining that she had wanted it to be nice and tidy.
One of the hotel’s spacious guest baths
Facilities and Services
When you need to work off all the excellent food you’ve eaten at the Four Seasons Hotel Singapore, head for the property’s fitness center, which is one of the largest fitness facilities that I’ve seen in a hotel. The high-ceilinged space is divided into different sections with cardio machines, strength training equipment, free weights, and other fitness gear.
The fitness facility is located on the building’s third floor, part of the “Oasis on Three,” which also has an outdoor adults-only lap pool, the spa, and the executive (club) lounge, which offers complimentary breakfast, drinks, and light evening meals for executive floor guests.
The Four Seasons Hotel Singapore has two outdoor pools.
In addition to the spa, which has a long menu of massage and body treatments, the “Oasis” also houses the Chi Longevity Clinic, a wellness-focused medical center that offers programs for local residents and for hotel guests here for extended stays.
The hotel has a second outdoor swimming pool on the rooftop, which is a family-friendly swimming area.
If you’re a fan of racket sports, note that they’re the only hotel in the city with courts for tennis, padel, and pickleball.
What’s Nearby?
The busy Orchard Road shopping street is around the corner from the Four Seasons Hotel Singapore. Singapore is a very walkable city — at least if you’re prepared for its hot, humid weather — and the excellent public transit system can take you from the hotel to attractions around the area. We especially enjoyed visiting the Peranakan Museum, which explores Singapore’s diverse mix of cultures, and wandering through neighborhoods like Chinatown and Little India, again to learn more about the city’s cultural mosaic.
Food is a highlight of any Singapore visit. It’s easy to graze through the numerous hawker centers — food halls lined with vendors of all types — to sample the city’s range of cuisines. But if you’re staying at the Four Seasons Hotel Singapore, you don’t have to go far for excellent dining. You can stay right on the premises of this lovely traditional hotel.
Rates at the Four Seasons Hotel Singapore
Double room rates at the Four Seasons Hotel Singapore start at approximately US$425 per night.
You can also check rates online at Expedia, Booking.com, Agoda.com, or Hotels.com.
Hotel feature by Vancouver-based travel, food, and feature writer Carolyn B. Heller. Photos © Carolyn B. Heller. The Four Seasons Hotel Singapore hosted my stay for review purposes while I was traveling in Singapore.
