Great Beers found in Singapore!!

Recently David had to be in Singapore for business purposes so we took advantage of the connecting weekend and I joined him for a whirlwind 3 days of living large in the BIG city. A fun time was had by all:). This is the 2nd time we’ve been to Singapore together. You can read about our prior trip back in the fall of 2011 here.

Since business dictated where we stayed, we ended up staying at the Hilton on Orchard Road, which was near the INSEAD campus where David was to spend a good amount of time. We have always been big fans of Hilton properties due to our extensive business travel throughout the United States. So…we have racked up quite a bit of points as well as all the benefits that come with the highest level of membership. Anywho, I digress. The property itself is what you would expect from a Hilton.  Clean & spacious rooms (for Asian standards at least), immaculate lobby, very nice workout room facility, rooftop pool area was relaxing and quiet, and there was an upscale shopping center attached to the hotel lobby, providing me some fun window shopping entertainment:)! The staff was gracious, polite, and catered to all needs. I would highly recommend this property again due to the above as well as for the location on Orchard road (the main shopping area of Singapore).

The glorious country (and island) of Singapore is known for so many things and of course we wanted to indulge in it all- the awesome shopping experience, the mouthwatering international cuisine, the big city sights, and most importantly the good beer….no scratch that- the GREAT BEER!! You may wonder why I am choosing to focus on our 3 day “beer experience”? Well, I’ll tell you why. We moved to Malaysia from the USA where we had a pristine kegerator that was always filled with a pony keg or 6-barrel of various microbrews. When you hear about people who truly love wine and the variety of it all, that’s how we feel about microbrews (well, actually we feel the same way about wine to for that matter)…..but anyway, when we moved to Malaysia, we sold our beloved kegerator. Upon arrival we realized that our beer drinking days would drastically change. Malaysia is run by an Islamic government so that coupled with the intensely high cost of importing alcohol, makes microbrews here virtually non-existent. The beer options consist of Tiger (similar to Bud), Guinness, Kilkenny, Heineken, and Carlsberg. There are some others too of course but you get the picture, nothing too tasty & all pricey…which is well & good if you are simply looking for a refreshing drink in the afternoon.

So here is a rundown of our 3 days in Singapore….the microbrews being the stars of the show!

We started out Friday night at an Irish pub by the name of Malones on the Discovery walk at 313@Sommerset. Along with the usual beer suspects one would find in an Irish pub, Malones also serves Archipelago microbrews. Archipelago Brewery also has a stand-alone brewery in Singapore but as luck would have it, most pubs & bars tend to offer at least one of their brews. Archipelago brews 5 different beers range from Belgian Whit to Limited Editions, etc…..we happened to choose their Summer Ales. Light in color but still full bodied & rich in flavor- it was a heavenly way to start off our weekend!

After our happy hour experience at Malones, we headed off to Clarke Quay for more options. Clarke Quay is an area of Singapore that runs along the river and is chock full of restaurants, bars, and entertainment. CQ is a MUST for every visitor of Singapore. We happened upon The Highlander and as luck would have it (ok, maybe we planned it) they served a variety of micro brews!! We indulged in a (couple) of their decadent IPA’s…..maybe because I haven’t had one in over 2 months or maybe they were just THAT GOOD, but wow, I loved those IPAs;)!

What could we follow this up with? Delicious Mexican food is what!! We found Muchos Mexican Bar. It definitely wasn’t the best I have ever had, but it did the trick as we have been craving Mexican and there aren’t many places in Asia that do it right:). As an added bonus, they offered Cholula Mexican sauce- our favorite, a double bonus:).

Saturday we started out lazy and enjoyed some time at the rooftop pool. Then we headed over to Little India as we were told to check out the Mustafa Centre for an unlocked IPhone (which are hard to come by out here). We didn’t end up getting an IPhone as we realized after some calculations it was still going to be cheaper getting it back home in KL but we did find a plethora of other items.

This place cracked me up- its open 24 hours and bartering is encouraged, although the prices were so great, I didn’t do much of it. I was in heaven checking out every nook & cranny. Its basically a Target, Sears, Walmart, and Macys rolled into one HUGE store- seriously hilarious & holy moly the people watching was insane. I bought a new pair of Ray Bans, some sunscreen, & a curling iron. What fun- definitely a must do for a few hours of fun in Singapore.

We met up with some friends for the evening who are Singaporeans & they wanted to take us out for Peking Duck- yes please!! We started out with a beer at Ku De Ta, a 360 bar at the very top of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel & Casino. What breathtaking sights!! This is for sure a must do. The drinks are hideously expensive but worth it to have 1 and take some photos at sunset. You are also able to view their rooftop pool (exclusive to hotel guest only) that is simply phenomenal. The 4 of us indulged in an ice cold Stella Artois….mmmmm, refreshing!

For dinner we headed to the Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck Restaurant at the Paragon center. Love the name. Although this high-class restaurant is located inside a mall (which is quite common in Asia), the ambiance and decor was traditionally Chinese and very intimate. The dinner was absolutely out of this world.

The duck was perfectly cooked and our friends took control of the menu and ordered up a ton of tasty Chinese treats to try. The meal was pricey but worth it if you want to splurge big time. On a side note, Singapore is hideously expensive so unless you want to eat at hawker stalls all weekend (which is also amazing by the way), plan on budgeting at least double what you normally would for food/drinks.

Sunday morning we headed out on a walk to the Singapore Botanical Gardens. We were able to walk to the SBG from our hotel, which took us winding through Nassim road. Wow, what a street! There are quite a few embassies located here as well as some imposing mansions that were just beautiful!! The walk to the gardens rivaled the actual walk within the gardens. Anyway, this was a perfect way to spend a couple hours- the SBG is similar to the size of Central Park and it enables you to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life. We wandered around the “Healing Gardens” taking pictures & working up quite the sweat in that humidity!

After cleaning up, we headed out for what has become our Sunday usual brunch….yup- Dim Sum:). Last time we were in Singapore we went to Yum Cha in Chinatown, which was a very traditional style of dining on dim sum. This time we chose Paradise Dynasty in the Ion Orchard shopping center, a quick walk from our hotel.  It received high marks on TripAdvisor so how could we go wrong? Wow, it did not disappoint. From the outside, it’s very unassuming as well but once you walk in, you are transported with their traditionally decorated Chinese rooms.  Paradise Dynasty is known for its Xiao Long Bao which we just love so we ordered up their garlic style ones. Holy heavenly…..we then continue on with the Shanghai pan-fried pork buns, the pork dumplings with chili sauce, and the La Mian noodles with poached marbled beef, Szechuan style. What a phenomenal meal…easily top 3 Dim Sum meals that I have ever had.

I think it goes without saying that another walk was needed to get more room in our belly’s- LOL. We headed over to Chinatown and just browsed the streets. I just adore Singapore’s Chinatown. Its massive yet still feels cozy with the narrow streets, old buildings, and aromas wafting from the hawker stalls. We then walked back over to Clarke Quay for more fill of IPA’s on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Cute kids playing in fountain at CQ

This time we chose The Pump Room, which is a brewery, club, and restaurant…random, I know.  Anyway, they brew 5 different types of micros but since we can tend to be creatures of habit and know what we love, we ordered up a couple IPA’s and they were delicious! I will say, I do think the IPA’s we had at The Highlander were better, but these were still well worth the cost. They were more on the hoppy side so be prepared but if you like IPA’s, you will enjoy these strong brews:).

To finish off our perfectly ordered up Sunday, we headed over to Dempsey Hill for some famous Singaporean Crab. Dempsey Hill is basically a village of sorts filled with restaurants, a few bars, and some shops catering to expats. We heard that the Long Beach Restaurant served up “the original and the best Black Pepper Crab in Singapore”. How could we go wrong? We ordered that along with a couple side dishes (David was brave enough to try the sautéed greens which he normally hates)…and he did, so I ate the whole delicious dish:). Their Black Pepper Crab was phenomenal!! So spicy, so messy, and perfectly proportioned! I highly recommend this place. On another note, Jumbo is also another great place to try Singaporean Crab, and they are known for the Chili Crab version. We’ve now had both and both versions & restaurants are heavenly!

Monday David headed off to work so I spent the day shopping solo until my flight left for KL. I scoured Orchard Road and succeeded in H&M as well as in various shops within Ion Orchard Shopping Center. It was a great day but just not the same as enjoying it with my girlfriends:(. Oh well, next time!

I just love this vibrant old building in Singapore!

As you can see, we packed quite a bit into our weekend beer extravaganza!! We love Singapore for all the things that Malaysia is not. With that being said, we are so happy that our home is in Malaysia and that Singapore is a quick 45 minute flight away. What fun and definitely looking forward to the next time!

Happy & Safe Travels!

Kimbra