Living in one of the world’s most expensive cities has its pros and cons. While those residing in Singapore are blessed with an impressive variety of watering holes, the drawback would be the exorbitant prices of alcohol.

These days, it is extremely common to pay at least S$20 for a glass of champagne in Singapore; going out for drinks is far from affordable.

So, imagine our surprise when we were told that Raffles Hotel’s Bar & Billiard Room is offering an awesome value-for-money promotion. You guys, two glasses of premium champagne, four freshly shucked oysters and a complimentary bucket of Indian flatbreads papadums – all at only S$30++ on every Friday from 6pm to 9pm.

Now, that is a rare indulgent treat without an extravagant price tag!

Located on the ground floor of the luxurious Raffles Hotel is Singapore’s oldest existing bar, Bar & Billiard Room. The drinking spot is characterised by high ceilings and elegant chandeliers; a great venue for business meetings and romantic dates alike.

Play a game or two at Bar & Billiard’s century-old pool table and experience what it feels like to be teleported back into Singapore’s colonial era.

Boasting over 400 whisky labels and a cabinet of high quality cigars, this gorgeous institution is a must-visit for all whisky-and-cigar connoisseurs. A comprehensive whisky-centric programme run by resident whisky expert Christoph B.

Nyfeler is conducted here and guests can expect exciting events such as whisky appreciation nights and whisky master classes.

Whisky aside, Bar & Billiard Room features an extensive list of artisanal cocktails too. Do check their handcrafted concoctions out during Singapore Cocktail Week. A must-try would be the ‘Stray Tiger’ – a strong mix of absinthe, lemongrass foam, lime juice, orange liqueur, rum and vermouth.

Hanging out at Bar & Billiard Room sounds like a costly affair but it need not be when you visit on Fridays. Usher into the weekend with just S$30++ and you are entitled to luxuriate over four Irish oysters that are shucked right in front of you, two glasses of award-winning Ernest Rapeneau Selection Brut Champagne and savoury papadums. That is a spanking good deal for things that we would otherwise have to break a bank (well, sort of) for!

You now have a better idea on how to welcome the weekends, don’t you? And who knows? Friday nights might just be when you get to rub shoulders with other celebrities at Bar & Billiard Room!

Bar & Billiard Room
1 Beach Road
Raffles Hotel
Singapore 189673
Mon: Closed
Tue to Thu: 5pm – 11pm
Fri and Sat: 5pm – 1am
Sun: 12pm – 3pm (For Sunday Brunch)
Reservations: +65 6412 1816 / dining.singapore@raffles.com
Nearest Station: City Hall / Esplanade

This post is brought to you by Raffles Hotel.

Whenever people ask me to recommend buffets in Singapore, even before they open their mouth, I know exactly what’s coming – they want a suggestion for a restaurant that has a good and cheap buffet.

I’ve repeated this many times, but it’s almost impossible to find a good international buffet that is budget-friendly. You can usually find the best buffets at 5 star hotels, but the problem is they usually come with a price tag.

The thing about life is sometimes you get something that you never expect. I was surprised when I received an email from a reader, asking me to recommend a good buffet, and budget is not an issue. Now, that’s interesting.

I suggested Bar and Billiard Room at the iconic Raffles Hotel as I feel that it is definitely one of the better buffets in Singapore.

I’ll go straight to the point. The buffet at Bar and Billiard Room is not cheap, but the whole dining experience is worth the price.

The stations at the Bar and Billiard Room are beautifully designed and the staff were friendly and genuinely pleased to see the guests. Everyone started with the antipasti and cold cut stations, which had an impressive selection of food. (I started with desserts.)

I won’t go into details about the food that we had since they are constantly rotating the dishes. But I want you to know that the specialty pasta counter – prepared a la minute with fresh condiments from potted herbs – is worth trying. I also managed to have some of the main courses like lamb chop, salmon and beef; they were pretty decent.

And of course, what’s a good buffet without the seafood counter? Freshly shucked oyster and tiger prawns on a bed of ice, as well as smoked salmon are there waiting for you.

The highlight of the buffet, for me, was the desserts. They have a really good Tiramisu – you MUST try it when you are there. The other desserts like Strawberry Tartlet, Cheesecake, and Bread & Butter Pudding will make sure that you end your meal on a high note.

Like what I’ve mentioned at the beginning of the post, the buffet at Bar and Billiard Room at Raffles Hotel was good enough to justify the price tag, and I can see myself returning there if my friends want to eat buffet.

The buffet from Monday to Saturday is $60++ for lunch and $75++ for dinner . Which I feel is a pretty acceptable price to pay for a buffet in a five star hotel.

Singapore Food Blog Review
Bar and Billiard Room
1 Beach Road, Raffles Hotel
Tel: +65 6412 1816

Lunch: 11.30am – 2pm (Mon – Sat)
Brunch: 11.30am – 2.30pm (Sun)
Dinner: 7pm – 10pm (Mon – Sat)

For more recommendations, read my list of Best Buffets in Singapore

An oasis of blue, with a glimpse of gold. Royal China. There are places which you will proudly recommend to your friends when they want suggestions for food, and I raved about the best dim sum before. Indeed, my fond memories of the exquisite Chinese-tapas still lingers in my heart. My perennial return was long overdue.

But perhaps it was my mistake not to check with the restaurant before going, that I didn’t realise they had a special dim sum menu for the Chinese New Year period. With just a selection of 12 different dim sum, all priced at $6.80++ instead of the normal price, I did feel being rip-off, but that’s Chinese New Year for you, and it was my fault for not checking beforehand.

In place of the usual red roe on top of the steamed minced pork dumpling with abalone ($6.80++, usual price $4.80), we had tiny abalones instead. Right, the siew mai was up to standard, but I’ll not say the same having pay two dollars extra for the tiny abalone on top.

From the outside, the steamed prawn dumplings with black moss ($6.80++, usual price $4.80) looked the same. The exotic ingredients kicked in with the addition of black moss (fa-cai), an ingredient that is never missing from Chinese New Year menu. I certainly understood the significant of the auspicious ingredient, but I must admit that there wasn’t any enhance in the flavour of the har gau.

The Crispy prawn rolls with sesame ($6.80++) was one of the item which I did not try before, and I was pleasantly surprised by it. Fundamentally prawn roll with mango, fried crispy with the sesame stuck on top. A dip into the mayo dressing completed the whole taste.

My love, the Baked barbecued pork puff ($6.80++, usual price $4). Royal China’s rendition was very good, with golden butter flaky skin and juicy red char siew. The only problem, this was exactly the same without any addition of “exotic ingredients” and I had to pay almost three bucks more for it.

Total bill was $43. 90 for 4 dim sum, 1 appetiser, and of course the other charges. Was I disappointed by the second visit? Certainly, counting by per piece, it’s close to $2.60 each, even more expensive than Yan Ting. But you can’t fault them for the quality in dim sum, it’s just that I’m sore over paying more than usual for my char siew sou. Will I go back again? Certainly, I still have good impression of them even though this was a bad experience.

And one more thing which I was not pleased about. For those of you who had been there, you’ll know that in their middle seating area, it used to be square tables with the nice white chairs. But they had removed them, and placed round tables with ugly brown chairs instead. I presumed this was done to increase the seating capacity,  but the different furnitures was certainly not pleasing to the eyes, and the seating arrangements were not comfortable at all. After checking with a friend who went after the cny period, it seems everything is back to normal.

One thing’s a definite. We will find out the next time I revisit the place.

Royal China
1 Beach Road
#03-09 Raffles Hotel
Tel: 6338 3363