This Singaporean five-star makes for a showstopping stopover

The hotel

Como Metropolitan Singapore

Check-in

I have a reservation at this 156-room, five-star Singaporean establishment for what’s a brief, and as it turns out, all too transient stay – a stopover on the homeward leg of a Europe trip. But, the thing is, here at the Como Metropolitan Singapore, there’s little or no time to stop. This hotel has more moving parts than a Shakespearean tragedy, including Bruno, the all arms lobby barista robot. One of 18 hotels and resorts worldwide, Australia included, belonging to veteran Singaporean hospitality and fashion queen Christina Ong’s Como group, this property is located adjacent to the island state’s Orchard Road shopping strip. Then again, the hotel has its own department store, of sorts, occupying a large space and featuring an extensive choice of designer wearables from Ong’s Club 21, a luxury retail company established in 1972.

The look

This fashionable hotel, which occupies 11 storeys of a 19-storey building and which opened in 2023, is all things to all fashionable peeps, replete with a glamorous rooftop bar and glass-bottomed pool overlooking a huddle of mostly undistinguished Singaporean skyscrapers. Described as “an integrated, immersive experience”, Como Metropolitan Singapore is in truth a microcosm of Ong’s business interests and personal enthusiasms, including a branch of her esteemed Como Shambhala wellness brand.

Many elements may seem a little excessive, but there’s fortunately nothing too over the top in the hotel’s design, characterised by “modern simplicity” with a calming neutral colour palette and natural materials.

The room

The restrained design philosophy extends to the luxurious rooms, including my 57-square-metre, apartment-like one-bedroom suite with customised furnishings from Italy’s prestigious Giorgetti brand. Big windows allow for plenty of natural light, despite all those surrounding towers, and if you’re booked for more than a few nights – like many Asian guests accessing care at nearby hospitals – you’ll appreciate the separate dining, lounge and desk space, along with a pantry and microwave.

Food + drink

Ong’s great culinary success was Nahm, the globally acclaimed Thai restaurant at the Como Metropolitan Bangkok by Australian chef David Thompson, he of the no-compromise, incendiary spices. Here at Ong’s Singapore hotel, the star chef is not Antipodean but Gallic, and a pastry chef at that, in the form of the celebrated Cedric Grolet. On offer, at Grolet’s first shop beyond Europe, is his range of sumptuous, seasonal creations inspired by fruits and flowers – pure art on a dessert fork – while elsewhere, there’s also an excellent contemporary-style Korean steakhouse by American restaurateur Simon Kim.

Out + about

Being a frequent Singapore visitor, including to Orchard Road, your reviewer is content on this flying visit to remain within the hotel since there’s so much to do, including an on-trend, “hyperbaric oxygen therapy” treatment to counter jet lag, a first for Singapore. If you have the energy and stamina, as you hopefully will after time in the above chamber, Orchard Road’s Paragon Mall awaits nearby with other major local attractions, such as Marina Bay Sands and Gardens by the Bay, a short taxi or MRT train ride away.

The verdict

Everything Christina Ong touches seemingly turns to gold (and any other precious metals you care to name), with this her first and belated hotel on her island state homeland. To extract the most from a stay here, don’t make the reviewer’s mistake – reserve more than a night’s stay; that way you’ll really be able to put the “stop” in “stopover”.

Essentials

King rooms from $S351 ($420) a night. Como Metropolitan Singapore, 30 Bideford Road, Singapore. Phone: +65 6233 3888. See comohotels.com

Our rating out of five

★★★★½

Highlight

There’s really something for everyone at this hotel; well, everyone who counts themselves as a food, fashion and wellness aficionado.

Lowlight

The so-called hyperbaric oxygen therapy wasn’t properly explained by the attendant at the otherwise spectacular spa – in fact, it wasn’t explained at all.

The writer stayed as a guest of the hotel.