The Review: Fairmont Singapore five-star hotel

THE PLACE

A classic big-city business five-star hotel that doubles as an equally classic five-star leisure hotel, the longstanding Fairmont is a Singapore stayer. Everything you could desire from a layover or longer visit to Singapore is embodied inside (and outside) of the bustling establishment.

THE LOCATION

Perfect. There are few better-located five-stars in Singapore. Not only are there plenty of transport options, chief among them the city-state's outstanding MRT underground train system, with City Hall and Esplanade stations nearby, the Fairmont Singapore is located across the street from Raffles, Singapore's famed national monument hotel, which is undergoing a major renovation.

THE ROOM

Unlike a slightly disappointing previous visit, I've scored a renovated generously-sized 45-square-metre Fairmont Premier Room – one of a whopping 769 at the Fairmont Singapore – in the North Wing on this visit (the South Wing still includes unrenovated rooms). My room is comfortable, pleasant and unremarkable and comes with a balcony and all of the amenities, such as a Nespresso machine, bathrobe and slippers, designer toiletries and goose-down pillows and quilt, you'd expect from a five-star, big-city Asian hotel. But Fairmont Singapore is less about its rooms and more about its unbeatable proximity to many of the cultural and culinary delights of the city island state that we've come to enjoy.

THE FOOD

Fairmont Singapore is connected to the towering 1261-room Swissotel Stamford Hotel, also, like the Fairmont, now part of the French-based Accor conglomerate, which means that guests at the former establishment are ideally placed to dine at the latter property's one Michelin-starred, signature restaurant, JAAN (meaning "bowl" in Sanskrit). The "modern European" dishes on the degustation menu are superb, as are the 70th-floor panoramas overlooking Marina Bay Sands, the Singapore Flyer and Gardens by the Bay.

If you fancy something more relaxed and don't feel like venturing out of the hotel, try Antidote, a relaxed and contemporary tapas restaurant and bar serving some killer cocktails, just off the always frenetic lobby. One of the pluses of staying in this part of Singapore is the choice of other Michelin-rated restaurants next door as well as cheap and excellent hawker-style diners. Straight across from the Fairmont is Chijmes, an attractive upmarket restaurant, cafe and bar in a heritage building complex dating to 1841.