After much hemming and hawing between the Shangri-La Valley Wing, Raffles, and Fullerton during my current visit to Singapore, I finally decided to try out the Fullerton. Below.

Booked a Palladian Suite on a Virtuoso rate. Includes a box of chocolates, fruit, a book on the Fullerton and upgrade at time of booking subject to availability. On a past trip which had to be cancelled the hotel confirmed an upgrade from Esplanade Room to Palladian Suite in advance. On this trip, no upgrade was given at time of booking, but a generous upgrade granted once at the hotel.

Check In

Arrived at 11:30am and was met by the Assistant Guest Recognition Manager. She informed us that our room was not yet ready which was not a problem given we were hosting a business lunch at one of the hotel's restaurant --Town. Soon after, the Hotel Manager came to greet us and introduced us to the Manager of Town. This ensured very attentive service. Our guests were tremendously impressed by this VIP treatment.

After lunch, we were shown to the Palladian Suite on the 6th floor. This turned out to be a temporary room as the hotel was waiting for our actual room to be vacated and cleaned. We were thus upgraded to a Fullerton Suite, a two category upgrade, which feature a large terrace, shared between two Fullerton Suites.

Room

Palladian Suite

The Palladian Suites are the basic 1 bedroom suites in the hotel with a variety of views. Due to the shape and the history of the building (the Fullerton used to be Singapore's General Post Office from the colonial times) many of the rooms are uniquely shaped. Ours, upon entering, had a small set of stairs leading down into the main area of the room. At the bottom of the stairs , immediately to the right is a guest toilet. Beyond that, the living room opens to the right and had slightly obscured views towards Asian Civilizations Museum and Clarke Quay. The living room featured a work desk with internet connection, Bose Wave clock/radio/cd player, a Nespresso Coffee system with about a dozen different coffee selections with 3 of each kind (36 coffee capsules in total) on a complimentary basis. The living room also had your standard sofa, two arm chairs, coffee table and tv set. The bedroom had a king bed which is actually two European singles pushed together with closet and tv. The bathroom is large with deep soaking tub, single vanity, Bulgari White tea amenities, separate WC, and a separate stall shower with rain shower head (looks like Grohe). The finish is of very high quality and the design aesthetic is soothing, mixing Asian, Western with contemporary and classic seamlessly.

Shortly after settling into the Palladian Suite we received a phone call asking us not to unpack as they have a choice of two upgraded rooms for us -- a Loft Suite and a Fullerton Suite. I chose the Fullerton Suite as I thought it would be unlikely for me to stay in such a suite again for quite some time; the Loft suite is still attainable price wise, especially if you catch a 50% off promo usually in August.

The Fullerton Suites

The Fullerton Suite is the category suites below the Presidential and Governor suites. They are located on the top floor, 8th floor, and with all suites, include Straits Club access. Their key feature is that they share, between two Fullerton Suites, a large 500 sq ft terrace with stunning views of Singapore (CBD, Marina Square, Singapore river and Clarke Quay, and the harbour) depending on the actual suite.

Our suite had a long entry foyer which at the end of had the bedroom on the right and up two small steps to the left to the living room. The bedroom featured a king bed/European singles bed with a chaise longue and an armoire with tv and minibar. The master bath was large with large soaking tub and separate stall shower with rain shower fixture, as well as single vanity and separate WC. In the bathroom was a small stepping machine and a small ottoman type seat to sit on. The bedroom also features a wall of glass which looked out onto the office towers of the CBD. The bathroom featured Bulgari White Tea amenities, albeit in the smaller containers. On the bedside table there was the master control panel to control the lights, DND sign, and bedroom drapes as well as the alarm clock.

The living room, which was not too large, had enough room for a sofa, two arm chairs, glass table, armoire with tv, bose clock radio, and work desk along with the complimentary Nespresso coffee. From the living room there was access to the large terrace which is the defining feature of this suite. If the weather is poor making the terrace unusable, this suite may underwhelm people. Since much of the outer "wall" of the suite is glass, it does get hot in the room but the ac system is powerful enough to cope fairly well. In addition, the Loft suite is larger at about 1200 sq. ft (110 sq. meters) where the Fullerton suite, minus the terrace, is about 800 sq.ft (75 sq. meters).

Dining

I had the opportunity to try the International lunch buffet at Town and Jade for lunch twice.

Town

The lunch buffet at Town was quite nice. There was a lot of selection and the quality was from moderate to very tasty, but there were some items which were a complete "miss".

The salad station had about 10-15 various salads, including beef, orzo, pasta, potato, bean, assorted vegetable, as well as your standard caesar and mixed salads. There also was a raw bar station with fresh oysters, clams, mussels, and large prawns, as well as a selection of sushi from cucumber (kappa) to oshinko (pickled daikon), to California rolls and something similar. There was also some watered down miso soup. The salads were very good as well as the Raw Bar, but the sushi was, as is most sushi for me, blah.

There were choices of veal, beef, pork, fried bee hoon, and some other choices I can't remember and a different station altogether had roast turkey (which was terribly dry), and beef wellington (which was very very good). The soup station had cream of carrot soup which was very tasty as well as Japanese udon.

The dessert station had a very nice assortment of nonya kueh, western cakes and viennoiserie, as well as some more local desserts. One was a semi-sweet barley "congee" type dish. The cheesecake was surprisingly good as was the vast selection of fresh fruit.

The service was inconsistent but the managers did their best to keep our table well served. For more on Service, see subsequent section in the next post. There is also a fairly extensive a la carte menu which I hope to try next time.

Jade

Jade is not a Fullerton Hotel restaurant per se, it is owned and operated by the Tung Lok Group and has leased space from the hotel. Jade is also known to be one of Singapore's best high end Chinese restaurant.

My first impression upon entering the room was that the room was cold and impersonal. For such an auspicious name of a restaurant, I could not see any Jade at all in the space. I then found the service to be cold, aloof, and inconsistent.

The food was, however, stunning. The dim sum selections were well priced and were excellent as was their a la carte selections.

On my first visit, I ordered primarily from the dim sum menu. The siu maiwas very tasty but unfortunately they had run out of the har gau. The gai lan was tender and flavourful. The roasted pig and peking duck appetizer was a huge disappointment for first they had no roast pig so I got two slices of peking duck skin for 18 SGD. This was a rip off. Dishes would be brought and unceremoniously dumped onto my table, other tables had their tea cups constantly refilled while I was left on my own for much of the meal. After being seated it took 20 minutes to order and after I was done, it took another 20 minutes to receive the bill once requested for.

On my second visit, we were having a business luncheon, so we ordered mainly a la carte. Again, food was excellent, especially the whole peking duck for 60 SGD, the creamy spicy lemon sauce lobster, the grilled australian beef, and the double boiled herbal soup.

Again, the service was disappointing. Upon ordering we had asked the kitchen to keep the food coming out at a good pace as our guest had to leave by a certain time. I was re-assured that there will be no problems. The pace of the meal was going fairly well through the duck, soup, and dim sum and then suddenly there was a long pause. By then, our guest had to leave so he missed out on the lobster, beef, etc, which was, also, the most expensive part of the meal. Once finished, and despite asking for the bill to be rushed, it took the 15 minutes to bring the bill and another further 15 minutes to pay.

The food may be excellent but with such poor service I will NOT return.

The Straits Club

The Straits Club is Fullerton Hotel's "Club" level. On the 4th floor, the medium sized lounge looks towards Clarke Quay. It is very tastefully decorated seemlessly blending Asian and Western classic and modern aesthetics much like the rest of the hotel.

Straits Club guests enjoy buffet breakfast, afternoon tea, and evening cocktails and canapes in the Lounge. The Lounge opens at 6am (I think, I cannot remember) and closes at midnight.

The house pour champagne is Veuve Cliquot, just like the Conrad, while the Ritz Carlton pours Moet Brut Imperial. The selection of food is slightly less than at the RC but they are well chosen and of high quality. In the evening, the canape selection I would give the RC the edge. But in terms of drinks, the Fullerton. The night we enjoyed the Straits Club there were an assortment of sushi, some dim sum (har gau and siu mai), cheeses, and some other cold selections I for some reason cannot remember at this time. The quality was high but the real downer for the Straits Club is the service. The two Club attendants were overwhelmed despite not many people being present and the service was sporadic at best. The RC Club is much more service oriented.

I was unable to partake in the afternoon tea so I cannot comment on that.

The breakfast selection is a bit better than at the RC. The variety is slightly less but the selections are very well chosen. Aside from the standard bacon, sausage, potatos, there was also fried bee hoon as well as some brocolli in butter cream sauce (very tasty and was a surprisingly nice accompaniment). Eggs are made to order and there is a nice selection of charcuterie and smoked salmon. Small detail but the butter was the French made Isigny which is very good but not to the same creaminess of Echire.

Overall, if Fullerton Hotel were to increase service levels to match those at the RC, I would give Fullerton Hotel a slight edge. Until that time, the RC Club has the slight edge.

Service

The service levels at Fullerton Hotel are quite high. Each and every staff member did their best to ensure we had a great stay, especially the management. When things are going smoothly the service is excellent. When the hotel gets extremely busy, like a weekend night, then the service becomes spotty. I called the Concierge desk in the evening and got hung up on three times. Each time I would re-call I would be bounced back and forth from Porter desk to Front Desk and then finally to the Japanese staff desk.

However, this was not the fault of the Concierge desk but rather a hotel system whereby if all lines to a particular place are engaged the phone system bounces you to a backup department. So when I phoned the Concierge desk I was put through to the Porters desk who then hung up on me 3 times. If the Front Desk is busy, usually the phone call bounces to the Operator or Guest Services.

The Head Concierge, Gregory, is Clef D'Or and is very professional and proficient. He went out of his way to help us out in securing last minute restaurant reservations and other support services. One issue I noted was that Gregory seemed to be the only Concierge at the hotel who is Clefs D'Or; I did not see any other Concierge with that "certification." Of course, just b because I did not see any others does not mean there are not any others. But service levels, and especially professionalism, tend to be better from Clefs D'Or concierges than non-Clefs D'Or concierges.

Message handling is excellent at Fullerton Hotel -- within 10 minutes of checking a message on the room phone or speaking with the Concierge/Operator, a written copy of that message was delivered to the room.

Overall

Overall, I feel Fullerton Hotel to be my favourite in Singapore currently. We were truly made to feel as VIPs, especially by the Managers. Not all staff could match the dedication to serve as the management did, but a good majority did.

Our Fullerton Suite requires some maintenance work as the walls are scuffed, and even more worryingly, a crack has formed along in the wall which they have not bothered to address, let alone cover up. The quality of workmanship is high generally, except for the paint job.

Yet, the F&B is good and there is no additional fee for having room service. The RC charges $5 SGD on top of every room service order. Pricing at Fullerton Hotel is fair. I like the location and the proximity to many attractions. Thus, my ranking thus far:

1. Fullerton Hotel (with Straits Club access) 2. Four Seasons (no Club access) 3. Ritz Carlton (with Club access, I would not consider this property w/o the Club access) 3. Conrad Singapore (with Exec Level, would not consider this property w/o) 5. IC Singapore -- again for the location and due to Royal Ambassador perks.

I have yet to try the Shangri-La Valley Wing, the Regent, and Raffles. The Oriental Singapore I will stay tonight when I return to Singapore tonight.