Review: Pullman Singapore Orchard hotel

Introduction

Singapore has no shortage of five-star hotels, largely dotted along the 5km stretch from Orchard Road to Marina Bay.

And strategically positioned in the middle of the Orchard Road shopping strip is the Pullman Singapore Orchard.

This extensive renovation of the former Grand Park Orchard embraces its locale with a welcome sense of place and playfulness to make it stand apart from a sometimes blandly generic crowd.

It took only a few nights’ stay for this to become one of my go-to hotels in The Red Dot.

Location & Impressions

The Pullman Singapore Orchard’s official address of 270 Orchard Road doesn’t mean much on its own – but when told it’s diagonally across the road from Takashimaya and the Paragon, and above the Apple Store, and you’ll know exactly where Pullman Singapore Orchard is.

The Pullman Singapore Orchard is smack in the middle of the Orchard Road shopping scene.

This centrality also puts the Pullman Singapore Orchard between Orchard and Somerset MRT stations. Somerset is closer, less crowded and much easier to navigate (hint: take the 313 Somerset exit), but Orchard is preferable if your destination is on the recently-opened Thomson–East Coast line.

The entrance to the Pullman Singapore Orchard is actually around the corner from Orchard Road, on Bideford Road – and while reception desks are on the ground floor, everything really happens up on the fourth flour.

The Pullman Singapore Orchard’s ground floor lobby.

It’s also where you begin to notice the Pullman Singapore Orchard isn’t quite the same as all the other Pullman hotels, which leverage their namesake railway carriages for elements of inspiration.

Singapore is the only city with two Pullmans – the other is the Pullman Singapore Hill Street, towards Chijmes and City Hall station – so the Pullman Singapore Orchard’s design strikes out in a decidedly different direction, with ‘fashion’ as its muse.

That’s in keeping with the neighbourhood, although the hotel cannily uses concepts of fashion as a springboard to create its own unique vibe.

With the lobby and reception down on street level, level four becomes a relaxed social space anchored by the Atelier Lounge bar, the all-day Eden restaurant and the PSO Beach Club, where a not-too-deep pool is flanked by cabanas with snacks and cocktails just the press of a buzzer away.

The fourth floor is a buzzing communal space combining a general 'lobby lounge', bar and more...

Room

I stayed in one of the Pullman Singapore Orchard’s Club Residence rooms, designed like studio apartments on both the fourth floor – behind a keycard-controlled sliding glass door in a Club Residence ‘wing’ – and the 11th floor.

My room was in that fourth floor wing, which has rooms on either side of the corridor leading to towards The Archive Club lounge.

As a result, half of these Club Residence rooms face onto Orchard Road (and in fact are directly above the Apple Store) for a streetscape view, although they’re also hit with the afternoon sun to the point of becoming exceptionally warm by day’s end.

A Club Residence room at the Pullman Singapore Orchard.

Mod cons included bedside tables with USB and wireless charging, an app-laden smart TV and an open wardrobe instead of a stuffy old closet, with pops of colour and some industrial-chic fittings for an up-market residential finish.

The over-sized bathroom with its double vanity sinks was framed with ribbed glass blocks, allowing natural light to stream in from the room’s floor-to-ceiling windows.

A Club Residence room at the Pullman Singapore Orchard.

But I’m not sold on the toilet stall having a completely transparent glass door, rather than at least a heavily frosted one: it’s fine if you’re travelling solo, but arguably less so when staying with a partner.

Work

As a primarily ‘lifestyle’ hotel, the Pullman Orchard Singapore has the traditional desk+chair combo only in suite rooms, but thankfully all guests have an alternative.

A raised workbench with AC/USB sockets in the lobby lounge of the Pullman Singapore Orchard.

Those in Club Residence rooms can head to The Archive Club lounge, while the main lobby area of the fourth floor offers its own selection of armchairs and sofas, along with a raised workbench at the far end which easily accommodates the digerati.

The Pullman Singapore Orchard's Archive Club lounge.

WiFi speeds rocket along – this is Singapore, after all – and most times I visited the lounge it was to find several guests tapping away on their laptops or tablets.

Breakfast is served at The Archive Club from 7:30am to a civilised 11am, with light snacks and cold drinks at the ready throughout the day; wine, beers and spirits – including bottles of Singapore Sling – are a wind-down treat at the end of the day.

Some of the afternoon refreshments at the Pullman Singapore Orchard's Archive Club lounge.

There’s also complimentary one-hour use of the club boardroom. But as with all rooms facing Orchard Road, The Archive Club itself can become quite warm in the late afternoon.

The Pullman Singapore Orchard's Archive Club lounge.

Eat

A striking glasshouse restaurant framed by lush greenery, the Pullman Orchard Singapore’s Eden restaurant smoothly morphs from buffet breakfast (with the typical generous spread of most Asian hotels) into à la carte lunch and dinner with mod-Asian cuisine.

Eden restaurant at the Pullman Singapore Orchard.

It’s worth at least one evening visit to sample delights such as the tuna ceviche, crab cakes, satay lamb rack, beef rendang and crusted grilled pork.

And if you’re looking for something casual outside the hotel itself, stroll across to the road to Takashimaya and pop down to the B2 food court: I recommend Torasho ramen, Kimukatsu, and Nakajima Suisan grilled fish.

Relax

The minimalist footprint of the Pullman Singapore Orchard doesn’t leave room for one of the city’s trademark infinity pools, but they’ve made a virtue of small in the PSO Beach Club.

At a consistent depth of 1.2 metres, it’s more like a double-wide lap pool for soaking and splashing about.

PSO Beach Club at the Pullman Singapore Orchard.

Six poolside cabanas plus a number of stand-alone tables offer cocktails and other tipples from the Atelier Lounge bar, alongside a menu which largely draws from the Eden restaurant – I recommend the crab cakes, miso fried and tongue-tingling Thai papaya salad.

If you’re seeking a more active way to wind down, the pool abuts a compact 24-hour ‘fitness centre’ with a rack of free weights and TechnoGym strength stations complementing the obligatory cardiovascular-focussed treadmills, stationary bike and stepper.

Unlike some 'fitness centres', the Pullman Singapore Orchard's gym has a few decent machines.

Verdict: The Pullman Singapore Orchard is easily overlooked on a casual stroll or drive along Orchard Road, and that’s perhaps part of its appeal: it’s a stylish little sanctuary in the heart of the city, and a pleasingly different addition to Accor’s solid Singapore portfolio.

m0les

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m0les

14 Dec 2022

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I stayed there shortly after it opened (Didn't have the fancy room with the fishbowl loo, though). It was fab. It was a little surprising how helpful and attentive the staff were (I've stayed at many Pullmans, this was by far the best). The only slight downside was one of the lifts from the lobby to the lounge was on the fritz (but they were working on it). Its a great location apart from a bit of a hike to the tube station. There's a nice/fancy food court in the basement of the Paragon mall across the road from the lobby entrance too!

Friday, 12 Apr 2024, 10:04:04 pm

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