Food, fashion, wellness, design and the little luxuries the COMO brand is known for make one’s stay unlike any other.
When Singaporean businesswoman Christina Ong decided to put up her very first hotel decades ago, it was simply to fill the gap for an accommodation that provided the warmth and coziness of a home complemented with an intuitive, compassionate service—something she couldn’t quite find in London.
It also gave her the chance to address people’s shifting definition of luxury, one that’s more pared down and understated, as opposed to excessive and extravagant. The result is The Halkin.
Thirty-three years in and Ong now has 18 hotels and resorts under her COMO brand, ranging from beach houses in a private island in Turks and Caicos and a 12th century castle with Renaissance frescoes in Florence to a wellness sanctuary in Bali and an alpine retreat in the Dolomites. In that range are also city hotels such as the one located along Bideford Road called COMO Metropolitan Singapore.
Of the lot, it is the one that embodies the brand the most as it brings together the group’s signature house brands—Club21 (fashion), COMO Metropolitan Singapore (hospitality), COMO Cuisine (dining), COMO Shambhala (wellness), as well as F&B partnerships that made their debut in Asia.
Filipinos mainly travel to Singapore for three things: to eat, to shop and to luxuriate. These bases are covered by COMO, making it quite a challenge to find a valid excuse to leave. This I realized after extending two nights following my work commitment, intending to check out the latest dining spaces in the country. Let’s just say that I got to save on time and taxi expenses.
At the lobby of the hotel, found on the sixth floor, was a cafe lounge that had a robot preparing the brews (or flavored milk) to be enjoyed in cushy sofas that had a Wes Anderson-esque moving floral backdrop. To go to my room, there was a separate lift, separate from the other lifestyle amenities such as the spa and dining brands. Before I even got to my temporary abode, my senses were already arrested by the delightful scent in the elevator and the minimalist aisles, only to crescendo to a spacious unit that had a huge bathroom and a wall-to-wall window that offered an outsider-looking-in city view.
It was inviting alright but the trip just wouldn’t be complete without a visit to their facilities. For starters, there was an infinity pool on the topmost floor as well as the Sky Bar, which has wines, cocktails like the Coco Lychee Mojito and Strawberry Melon Daiquiri, and even COMO Shambhala juices.
Known for its penchant for wellness, this COMO hotel, located at the heart of Singapore, has an entire floor dedicated to an array of fitness facilities offering relief both physically and mentally. They have signature massages including prenatal and physiotherapy; exclusive and group pilates and yoga classes; oxygen therapy; and a contrast therapy room that is equipped with a Brass Monkey ice bath (the world’s first that makes its own ice sheets) and an infrared sauna. What’s best is that experienced instructors and technicians are always on hand to help.
The fashion-savvy will find no need to visit the shopping malls as COMO Metropolitan Singapore has two high-ceilinged floors full of curated pieces by multi-label retailer Club 21, from Simone Rocha to Thom Browne.
My kind of fun involves food and that too has been deliciously addressed by the hotel. There’s the all-day dining concept Como Cuisine, which has the option of serving my breakfast in-room (and I selfishly did) and a line of dishes tailored on health. However, I had a motive to indulge and that’s exactly what they had on the third floor.
COTE is America’s very first—and only— Michelin-starred Korean steakhouse and for that merit alone, I knew I had to make a reservation. There were many meats to choose from—from Australian wagyu to USDA Prime and Japanese A5 selection.
To save me the challenge of choosing, I opted for the Butcher’s Feast, which had four selected cuts plus a variety of Korean accompaniments. It proved to be a great decision as my eager server seasoned and cooked my black angus hanger steak, wagyu flat iron steak, 45-day dry aged ribeye, and galbi-marinated prime short rib to tender perfection. And the sides, which consisted of beef bone consomme, pickled vegetables, scallion salad, savory egg souffle, and two stews that varied in spiciness made for the perfect banchans to enjoy them with.
Dessert came in the form of pastries and viennoiseries from France’s much raved about Cedric Grolet. The celebrated pastry chef entered the Asian arena last year and they couldn’t have found a better spot than on the ground floor of COMO. I took advantage of the fact that hotel guests get priority access and had a table reserved on a busy afternoon for me to get to indulge on the pear tart and mango masterpiece, washed down with hot green tea.
It was hard to leave the COMO premises given that they already have everything under one roof. It was a good thing that my friends needed no convincing to come over and partake in the hotel’s indulgences during my trip.
COMO Metropolitan Singapore is located at 30 Bideford Road, Singapore. For inquiries and reservations, log in to www.comohotels.com.
