singapore sizzle — Natural Aphrodisiac and Gourmet Foods, Wine, Romantic Travel

in wanderment with lark ellen gould

Singapore has more than a few surprises in store for the traveler who wants head to Southeast Asia and for the visitor who has simply not seen what this Malaysian melting pot is all about.

For the uninitiated, Singapore’s existence can be a little confusing. It sits at the southern tip of Malaysia, less than 200 miles from Kuala Lumpur, a self-governing city-state the size of Rhode Island that was once part of the British Straits Settlements.

Later it became part of the Malaya federation and then it’s own entity finally in 1965. In a most auspicious spot between the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea, shipping wealth has been as much a part of its fabric over the past two centuries as banking is today and the bustling settlement of nearly 5 million people remains a force of both geopolitical importance as well as forward trends in fashion and leisure that can match any modern metropolis on the planet.

Visitors who have traveled this way will know Raffles, of course. The pristine manse of the city’s colonial days does not disappoint the active imagination. You can still see the glitterati (Maurice Chevalier, Charlie Chaplin and Jean Harlow stayed there as well as the literati of the time: Somerset Maugham, Joseph Conrad, Noel Coward were frequent scribes) stepping out of their carriage with the help of a regally turbaned valet that might have been plucked from the service of a raja. The Long Bar, long a meeting place for the white-gloved crowd, still sports its dark mahogany interiors lit by low green nautical lamps, and serves those sweet Singapore Slings that coined the term, although mostly to tourists these days.

Fashionable Orchard Road anchored by Raffles at one end and by the spanking new St. Regis hotel two miles away at the other end, has that many more Armani-flagged malls for walkers and the fashion-fixated to check out, including a brand new cavernous shopping mall called Ion. There you can find an Apple Store, a sales and service desk for Singapore Airlines, and the usual big name chains of Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Prada, Christian Dior, Dolce & Gabbana and Giorgio Armani, among others.

Travelers can also dip into a Kenko Wellness Spa, a reputable day spa by the St. Regis, for a foot massage, or shoulder massage – or a fish biting session. Two types of skin-eating gold fish imported from Turkey find their a veritable buffet while visitors enjoy the sweet sensation of having their dead skin vacuumed and cleaned by little, suctiony nips.

Ask any Singapore resident about what there is to do in Singapore and chances are just below shopping at the top of the list will be eating. Singapore is a city of culinary artistry that is almost a religion in how it is regarded and cherished. The city has a word for its particular type of gourmet: Peranekan, referring to the blend of Indian, Chinese, Malaysian, Indonesian and British cultures that have called Singapore home. Today that culinary creativity plays out in cooking classes that can be arranged through hotels (Raffles has an onsite culinary academy, for instance, which offers three- and four-hour hands-on sessions for around $60-$100 per person) as well as competitive cheffing, even a food festival that takes place every July around the city. Singapore Tourism Board offers programs in food tours as well.

Top palette picks to be considered include the deliciously quirky My Humble House overseen by Singapore star chef Sam Leong. Also the Sunday Brunch at St. Regis (from lox and “bagels” to foie gras brulees to imaginative dim sums, it’s all here plus French Champagne for about $70 per person). Another unassuming “it’ place is Wild Rocket, where a lawyer-turned-chef serves his signature black pepper soft shell crab in a classy view spot attached to an international hostel. Finally, there is the must-try street food. At Big D’s Grill, rocket scientist-turned-European gourmand presents wagyus and crab linguinis on the menu but off the menu he fills plates with his mother’s best Peranekan concoctions.

The best orientation is through the Singapore Flyer attraction. The Ferris wheel is the tallest in the world. Each cabin can fit 28 passengers for an air-conditioned 30-minute rotation, fully narrated (through ear-wands) giving a bird’s-eye view of the city. They say the wheel was first built to rotate in counter-clockwise formation but realizing it was bad for Feng Shui they closed it down and retooled it under master supervision for the proper and luck-driven direction. There are even prix fixe dining car options amid that cabins that can fit up to 10 diners with white-gloved service for dinner above the lights. The cost of boarding runs around $20.

Sophisticated travelers know Singapore thrives as a destination in its own right with symphonies, art and culture museums, fabulous shopping malls, celebrity dining – even a world class zoo with a wonderful nightly safari program for families. But many will use the cities locale for some Asian exploration, whether to Panang and Malacca, Malaysia spa resorts, the Kingdom of Thailand or the rivers of Cambodia and Viet Nam.

Singapore Airlines actually promotes this concept with packages to Singapore, Bangkok and Phuket – six nights plus air starting at $1,488 per person, double. Travelers can go in style non-stop from Los Angeles and Newark through SIA’s newly configured A340-500 all-business-class flights. Each seat (100 in total) is a pod of its own with fully-horizontal bed conversions, 15.4-inch LCD monitors that can be used as a computer screen, US-slotted outlets for electronics and even a selection of audio books in the programming should travelers forget their own.

Contact the Singapore Tourism Board at (212) 302-4861, www.visitsingapore.com.