September 1, 2012 09:50 PM

Convinient Store in roof top, Turn church into Alice in wonder land. Singapore's unique concept restaurant.

Ms.Jennifer Russo THE Lo&Behold GROUP(Singapore), Corporate Communications Manager [Singapore]

By Masaaki Yasuda Interviewed on July 10, 2012

Keywords :        

The first roof top bar's today's roof top trend starter, Loof.  It was opened by THE Lo&Behold Group in 2005, and continuously discovering new location by their 2 owners to create a new conceptualized spots in Singapore up to 5 branches today. We have done an interview with their public relation officer, Mr. Wong and He shared us about their vision.   

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Ms.Jennifer Russo

The interview was held at Loof. Use its specially facilitated lift to 2nd floor, compare to all the super high buildings in Singapore, it makes it bring us less expectation however because of the low flats of raffles hotel located just in front of the bar,  the rooftop of only 2nd floor feels so much breezy and cozy.

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Loof's rooftop bar

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Sheltered bar counter

This is the very first bar started off by Mr. Wee Teng Wen who used to be a consultant and his partner Mr. Daniel He. They had no experience in F&B but they just loved drinking and having night life fun which caused its motivation to start this business. It is considerably high in cost to launch a business in Singapore so it's often practiced by capital owners who may be a non-F&B-experienced person.  Unlike Japan, It is merely seen that employee to enterprise by his own. These big men are young, only age of 31. They are the best partner fulfilled both creative and financial mind. 

By utilizing their creative skills, they have turned a building roof into a bar. Today, you can see many attractive roof top bars in Singapore but they were the first fire starter. The unique must-see point is they have located a small red roofed "Mama-shop" at the corner of the bar. So called "Mama-shop" is an individually owned convenience store which sells daily goods such as magazines and candies at old good time locates in Asia. They have modernized the retro feel and the actual mama-shop business is active which create make cozy and relaxing ambiance.

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"Mama Shop"

Food and drinks are tasted and arranged in South Asian style.  They have chosen Japanese beer of Asahi super dry which is selected just because owner's favorite, selling at S$12 for half pint. Bottled Tiger beer and Heineken is at S$13. The crowd is mostly Singaporean, They don't order much of foods but average of 3 glasses is enjoyed every person.  

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Asahi super dry and Jyukusen

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Chili Crab Dip S$16

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Wing Ra S$16

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Singapore Sour S$17

In 2008, they have expanded into hot chill-out place at Dempsey hill which used to be English army camp. This expansion result them to be a famous company drastically. At Dempsey hill, there are over 50 restaurant bars and retail shops renewing old building everywhere in the hill. All restaurants are fully booked on weekends although the place is only accessible by car.

This company was one of the first few to take up the location before Dempsey hill became so popular. They have rented out the old big church transform into a fine dining restaurant, White Rabbit. They get spotted by its "Alice in Wonderland" concept and its fancy website. The place is themed for adult cozy dining so I hope you don't imagine a loudly decorated restaurant in theme park. 

The cuisine is French, There are Caucasian and Singaporeans couples and ladies group having a dinner accompanied with moody dim light. Surprisingly, Singaporeans are having its fine dining companied with not glass or bottle of wine but just a glass of water. They have told us only Caucasian and Japanese are the main wine consumers. The restaurant also serves bottle of Asahi super dry as well. 

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White Rabbit interior


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Rossini S$48 Beef steak with foie gras.

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Crepe Suzette S$18

American diner OVEREASY located at One Fullerton with fantastic front view of Marina bay sands. Restaurant preferred to eat and drink at the same time. The restaurant is also utilized by the clubber coming to the neighbor night club. They provide Heineken and Ichiban Shibori draft beers.
 

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OVEREASY

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American diner's must-have burger

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Crème Brulee

Tanjong Beach club located in Singapore's best resort island of Sentosa. Inspiration comes from 1950s Australian beach club. They carry Asahi super dry bottles as well.

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Tanjong Beach Club

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Tanjong Burger S$25

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Warm Octopus Salad 21SGD

The latest Pizza restaurant newly launched in December 2011, Extra Virgin Pizza. Concept is pure, using organic and raw food. Delivery service is provided for business districts and they are targeting to branch out island wide. The restaurant carries Kirin Ichiban draft beer as well as Japanese local beer Nest beer bottle.  

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Extra Virgin Pizza

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Extra Virgin Pizza Pistachio Pizza S$24

Characteristics of this group management is that after gathering external investors, they would operate and hire majority of contributor within own group. It is a trust-worthy investment method that management actually hands on to take its own risk.

First priority when you start a business is location finding followed by concept making according to the location style therefore cuisine and category of the store will vary. The group told us the keyword is being "stylish". Dishes are made out of concept, not relying on chef's brand name. Group plans to develop wider into Asian countries.

Lastly, we have asked Jennifer about how she views on Japanese food. 

"Singaporeans loves Japanese food. It's not because its health conscious but it is value-for-money. They provide wide range in good quality which makes us happy to spurge on it. Italian would be next favorite choice for locals but it is more costly compare to Japanese food."

Singapore bubble has a lot of similarity to how it was when Japan was in bubble period as everyone prefers to enjoy at stylish restaurants. How would Japanese food find its new positioning created by Singaporean entrepreneur in future?  At the same time, we are surprised that Japanese beers are also well established in non-Japanese restaurants.

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