Insane details in Aussie hotel chain QT’s luxe new Singapore offering
This iconic Aussie hotel chain has really upped the ante with its first entry into a competitive Asian market.
The newest entry to Singapore’s competitive hotel market is an Aussie favourite, given an upscale twist to suit Asia’s cosmopolitan business hub.
QT Hotel Singapore is so new you can still smell the fresh paint, open just a few weeks when I visited in October.
It’ll feel pleasingly familiar to any Aussie traveller who’s stayed in any of the QT’s across the country or New Zealand before.
QT Hotels have some subtle (and not-so-subtle) touches to encourage guests to lean into the decadence of being away from home.
Ingredients to mix your own cocktails like Negronis are impossibly tempting as you’re getting ready in your room for a night on the town – and here in Singapore, they’ve upped the ante again, as their suite rooms come complete with their own liquor cabinets featuring fine wines and spirit (each one has a large price tag around its neck in DON’T SAY WE DIDN’T WARN YOU font size).
Peruse the in-room dining menu and you’ll find another oh-so-QT touch: Meals and drinks for dogs, including ‘Pup Yeah Steak Tartare’ for $SGD18.
Outside of the impressive rooms, the hotel’s real showstopper is the rooftop pool, complete with a small glass bottomed section hanging over the street six floors below, for those brave enough.
Happy hour poolside is from four until 6pm, with two for one cocktails – a very easy way to while away the afternoon when the Singapore humidity sets in.
Downstairs, QT’s on-site restaurant, Cygnet, is an 80’s style New York diner gone upscale, with a heavy emphasis on meat and seafood by chef Sean Connolly.
It’s an intimate space, layered with art deco references by designer Nick Graham and complete with a couple of quirky details that explain the eatery’s name: As we take our seats, a waiter carries a tray of desserts past, each one served in a cup in the shape of a swan’s webbed foot.
There are noticeable Aussie touches: the bread comes complete with a glob of delicious, vegemite-infused butter (would love to watch those non-Aussies who find themselves trying Vegemite for the first time).
I order the gnocchi with an “orgy of mushrooms”, my dining companion an elaborate, three-tiered seafood platter complete with fat lobster rolls and fresh oysters.
Tragically, we’ve left no room for dessert but we’re cajoled into sharing a creme caramel. OK, we’ll try.
There’s a moment of horror when it arrives – larger than any I’ve seen, a full oblong, Toblerone-sized meal of a thing. Oh, that’s too much. We’ll never finish it (...dear reader, we finished it).
This is a luxe restaurant with prices higher than your usual Aussie QT on-site dining, but the good news is you can balance out those indulgences with some of Singapore’s more budget-friendly options – one of which is literally right outside the QT.
On night two, we wander across the road to Lau Pa Sat hawker centre, where we grab a table and feast on a Dim Sum selection of dumplings, won tons, skewers and more – all for around $16 AU.
After that 2-4-1 happy hour by the pool, of course.
The writer stayed as a guest of QT Hotels.
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