Raffles hotel in Singapore
 

"Hallvard Tangeraas" wrote in message
I'm going to Singapore soon (been there once before and loved it) and
was wondering about the legendary Raffles hotel.
What's the deal about this hotel: why is it so famous?

I've heard that one of the "must do" type of things while in Singapore
is to go visit the hotel (apparently even if you don't stay there) and
take a drink called "the Singapore sling". What is it, and is it
expensive?
Is the hotel's bar open to the public?


The Raffles was basically the first hotel in Singapore and as you probably
can recall from your previous trip still holds it's colonial charm albeit
the surroundings have changed dramatically since it was first built. One
thing which is somewhat surprising is that it is on Beach Rd, a road no
longer anywhere near the beach as Singapore has reclaimed quite a lot of the
sea around that area.

As for the Singapore Sling, I really wouldn't go to too much trouble. I
don't particularly like it and the bar in Raffles where it was first
invented - The Long Bar is nothing less than a rip off. A beer in that bar
costs around 50% more than the Irish bar across the road at Chijmes, Father
Flannigans.

What is good at Raffles is High Tea either in the Tiffin Room or the Bar and
Billiard Room. That I can recommend.

Hope that helps



Hallvard
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Raffles hotel in Singapore
 

What's the deal about this hotel: why is it so famous?

As has been said, it's the hotel's extremely long history.

IMHO, the best thing about Raffles is the museum, which is on the
third floor and is free (just about the only thing at Raffles that
is!) It's enormously nostalgic, and you'll get a real sense of just
how important Raffles has been to Singapore's history since the end of
the 19th century - it makes me yearn to have been able to visit
Singapore in the hotel's glory years of the 1920s and 30s.

Have to agree about the Long Bar - hugely overpriced, but you get free
peanuts (there's a large bowl of them on each table, and the tradition
is that you break them open and throw the shells onto the floor) and
the satay's very good. A Singapore Sling will set you back S$16.

I can also recommend Ah Teng's Bakery as a good place for a sandwich
and a posh cake; despite being part of Raffles, the prices are
surprisingly reasonable.

I have to say, it's worth spending at least one night at Raffles; you
get a tremendous sense of history just walking through the corridors,
and of course you can check out all the areas that aren't open to the
public.

FWIW, there's very little of the original structure left, but the
current design of the hotel (which had fallen into disrepair by the
1980s, but was completely restored in 1990-91) is based, as closely as
possible, on what it looked like in 1915.

Gareth

Raffles hotel in Singapore
 

snip
Have to agree about the Long Bar - hugely overpriced, but you get free
peanuts (there's a large bowl of them on each table, and the tradition
is that you break them open and throw the shells onto the floor) and
the satay's very good. A Singapore Sling will set you back S$16.


At least the price hasn't gone up on 6 years !!
We were there in 1997 a Sling was $16 and a lager $9.50, with tax it
totalled $29.16.
When we first walked on the bar and started "crunching" as we walked, we
both remarked on the lack of cleanliness!! not realising at that it was
tradition to throw the Peanut shells on the floor. - Which I might add
is/was great fun

Jan


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Raffles hotel in Singapore
 

On Mon, 13 Oct 2003 23:57:34 +0100, "Jan"
wrote:

When we first walked on the bar and started "crunching" as we walked, we
both remarked on the lack of cleanliness!! not realising at that it was
tradition to throw the Peanut shells on the floor. - Which I might add
is/was great fun

Watch out! They whip people for having fun, in Singapour.....