3836 TRAVEL TRAVEL ++ LEISURE / L E I S U R E / M AY 2 0 1 7MAY 2017
COURTESY OF THE WAREHOUSE HOTELBringing Up the
Warehouse
Singapore’s vibrant Robertson Quay district finds a glamorous
occupant in The Warehouse Hotel. We deconstruct its make.1HZ ,Q
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ou couldn’t imagine from the façade of The Warehouse Hotel that it was
built in 1895. Along the Singapore River, this is a vision in bright white,
sitting within a bubble of grey skyscrapers that mount the city skyline.
At the time of its inception, the area was a hullabaloo of underground
activities, secret societies and liquor distilleries, where the hotel fi lled in as
a shabby stop for passengers on the sea trade route to the Straits of Malacca.
While the scene on Robertson Quay today is charmingly diff erent, the
restoration of The Warehouse provides for a swanky new venue for urban
trotters to park themselves in the city. Thirty-seven rooms and suites split
over six luxury categories were handheld to their opening this January by
local award-winning design agency, Asylum, with double-high ceilings
industrial chic interiors—a good break from the usual Singaporean brick
and mortar creations.
This is an inspiring change, a cue to what future independent hotels
might look like, and yet, a strong sense of Singaporean essence seems to
bind the four corners together. The hotel’s signature restaurant Po, derived
from the word popo or grandmother in Mandarin, brings back the memory
of what traditional home-cooked meals in the city were like. Chef-Partner
and founder of Wild Rocket (one of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants), Willin Low,
brings gastronomic delights like the popiah, charcoal-grilled Iberico satays,
and Carabinero prawns and Konbu Mee. The Lobby Bar pins the hotel’s
history like a map with its cocktail menu that fl ows into three themes,
each representing the diff erent moods that this former godown assumed in
the past three centuries—the Spice Trade of the 19th century, the Godown
era of the twentieth, and the Warehouse Disco of the late 20th century with
signatures like Barbarella, Singapore Sazerac, and Madame Butterfl y.
thewarehousehotel.com —ANWESHA SANYALOUR VIEWS
The River View Mezzanine
is our favourite suite at the hotel; it’s a
spacious corner spread over two levels on
the top floor, held with original beams. The
peaked ceiling, the reading library, and a clear
view of the Singapore River take a brownie
each. Conveniently placed, the Warehouse
Hotel boasts proximity to the Clarke
Quay, the Boat Quay, and the Orchard
Road Sh opping District.Clockwise: The River View Mezzanine Suite ; the lounge area overlooking
the Lobby Bar; Chef Willin Low’s dishes look photogenic at Po.38 TRAVEL + LEISURE / MAY 2017