🇸🇬 Singapore
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Discovering Singapore’s Colonial Heritage Beyond the Modern Skyline
When most people think of Singapore travel, they imagine iconic modern architecture like singapore sands hotel, stunning night views, singapore sling cocktail and contemporary cityscapes. However, having grown up in Seoul—another major metropolitan city—what truly captivated me during my Singapore trip wasn’t the urban landscape, but rather the beautifully preserved colonial-era buildings from the British colonial period.
Before visiting Singapore, I had vaguely assumed that since the majority of Singapore’s population is ethnically Chinese, the city would resemble a major Chinese metropolis like Shanghai, but with English as the primary language. However, the actual Singapore I experienced was filled with classical colonial architecture from the British era, harmoniously blended with modern skyscrapers. This fascinating coexistence of past and present created an incredibly charming cityscape.
The moment I discovered the Fullerton Hotel—set against the backdrop of the sea and Marina Bay Sands, right next to massive modern buildings—was truly surreal. The overwhelming scale of the structure and the authentic feel of preserved colonial architecture (rather than a theme park-like recreation) made me realize that Singapore offers a completely different charm from typical Asian tourist destinations.
These 19th to early 20th-century British colonial sites serve as more than just old buildings—they now function as hotels, museums, public institutions, and cultural spaces, symbolically representing Singapore’s historical, cultural, and identity formation process. I highly recommend dedicating at least one day to a historical tour of Singapore’s city center.
During this Singapore trip, I wanted to visit many of these historical attractions, but due to time constraints, I managed to visit the most famous one: Raffles Singapore.
Singapore Heritage Architecture Recommendations
- Raffles Hotel Colonial Architecture (British Colonial) + Renaissance Revival
- Icon of Singapore’s classic luxury
- A representative colonial-style hotel opened in 1887
- The birthplace of the famous Singapore Sling cocktail
- The Fullerton Hotel Neoclassical
- Heritage luxury where history meets stunning night views
- Former Central Post Office building constructed in 1928
- Stroll along the river to enjoy views of the Merlion and hotel sands singapore
- National Gallery Neoclassical + Art Deco Elements
- Southeast Asia’s largest contemporary art museum
- Art museum converted from the former Parliament House and Supreme Court buildings
- Historic site where Lee Kuan Yew declared independence in 1965
- Experience Asian art exhibitions + admire historic architectural details including dome ceilings and marble floors with classic charm
- Victoria Theatre & Concert Hall – Renaissance Revival
- Performance arts venue + iconic clock tower landmark
- Used as a hospital and military headquarters during World War II
- St. Andrew’s Cathedral Neo-Gothic Revival
- Singapore’s largest Anglican cathedral
- Boat Quay 19th Century Commercial Colonial Style
- Former commercial port and trading hub
- British-style warehouses + colonial shophouse buildings
- Renovated into restaurants, pubs, and riverside nightscape hotspots
- CHIJMES Neo-Gothic Revival
- 19th-century French convent building in Gothic style
- Now a beautiful dining and bar complex
- Variety of atmospheric French and Italian restaurants; outdoor dining tables under ambient lighting highly recommended
Singapore Architectural Heritage Walking Tour Route
here’s a suggested Singapore heritage architecture walking tour:
- Raffles Hotel (breakfast or cocktails at the Long Bar) →
- CHIJMES (brunch or coffee at a cafe) →
- St. Andrew’s Cathedral (Singapore’s largest white Gothic cathedral, admire the stained glass) →
- National Gallery (museum visit or rooftop bar Smoke & Mirrors) →
- Victoria Theatre & Concert Hall (exterior & interior exploration) →
- The Fullerton Hotel (luxury hotel with riverside views & gallery + capture Merlion & Marina Bay views together) →
- Clarke Quay / Boat Quay (dining or riverside night view appreciation)
Raffles Singapore Breakfast(Tiffin Room) Review
Raffles is a representative colonial-style hotel that opened in 1877 during the British colonial period. It’s Singapore’s oldest hotel and one of the few remaining 19th-century hotels in the East. This iconic luxury hotel has hosted countless world-renowned figures, from Queen Elizabeth to Michael Jackson, Charlie Chaplin, Rudyard Kipling, and Somerset Maugham. Somerset Maugham, in particular, extensively reflected his experiences staying at Raffles in his literary works.
As a symbolic architectural landmark where colonial-era luxury, literature, and politics coexisted, Raffles was one of the places I absolutely had to visit during my Singapore trip.
Since Raffles is a luxury hotel with extremely high nightly rates, I couldn’t afford to stay there. Instead, I decided to experience breakfast at the Tiffin Room and try a Singapore Sling at the Long Bar.
Since I was staying at the Fairmont Singapore, located right across from Raffles, it was just a 5-minute walk away. I would have loved to see Raffles in the early morning darkness, but by the time I arrived, it was already bright daylight. I reached the Tiffin Room around 7:30 AM, and many people were already enjoying their breakfast.
Since Singapore has high humidity year-round, we sat indoors. However, after seeing the absolutely beautiful courtyard through the window, I deeply regretted not eating outside!
Although I had seen photos beforehand, Raffles showed no signs of being an old hotel, thanks to major renovations in 1989 and 2017. The colonial architectural style was beautifully preserved. The Tiffin Room, where we had breakfast, was small in scale but exuded luxury in every detail of its interior design.
Breakfast Setup and Menu Options
Each table came pre-set with Alain Milliat jams in various flavors, honey, and even premium ketchup in small bottles—all the sauces, jams, and condiments needed for the meal. While I didn’t try the premium ketchup (since there were no accompanying dishes), I was curious about what makes premium ketchup different!
Raffles’ breakfast buffet features appetizers, salads, fruits, and desserts, while main dishes are ordered à la carte with no quantity restrictions—you can order as much as you want.
Signature breakfast items include:
- Various fresh-pressed juices, coffee, and tea
- Omelettes and pancakes (signature dishes)
- Egg Benedict, scrambled eggs, poached eggs, boiled eggs
- Asian options: Nasi Goreng, Mee Goreng, Singapore Laksa, dim sum selection, kaya toast, congee, vegetable dal curry, vegetable rice noodles
After placing our orders, we explored the buffet. While the variety wasn’t extensive, everything was high quality. The salad line featured an impressive watermelon and beetroot salad alongside regular salads. Both meal breads and dessert breads looked incredibly tempting, but I had to restrain myself since there were so many other items I wanted to try.
The cold cuts section had some unique items, including what appeared to be pickled herring rolls. While many hotels serve salmon for breakfast, this place also offered salmon roe—meant to be eaten with mini pita bread, though I ended up eating it as a side dish with congee.
Other items included grilled cherry tomatoes, grilled mushrooms, and boiled eggs with salmon. I particularly enjoyed the mushrooms—they had a chewy, meat-like texture that was right up my alley.
After sampling appetizers from the buffet, we received our main orders: I had Eggs Benedict, my husband chose the omelette, and we ordered congee for our son. Still wanting more after finishing, we additionally ordered kaya toast and French toast.
Every single menu item was excellent, and I was only disappointed that I was too full to try more. Next time I visit the Tiffin Room, I definitely want to try the laksa and rice noodles. While my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed the breakfast, our son (who’s quite a picky eater) fortunately ate the congee well with salmon roe as a side dish.
The dessert breads had stunning visual appeal, but there was simply no room left in my stomach. There were six varieties of cheese available, but as someone not well-versed in cheese, I couldn’t appreciate what must have been exceptional selections.
Instead of bread and cheese for dessert, I opted for fruit—and what a fruit paradise it was! The selection included muskmelon, honeydew melon, watermelon, yellow watermelon, dragon fruit, grapefruit, mango, tangerines, pineapple, kiwi, longan, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. This was the most extensive fruit selection I’ve ever seen at a hotel buffet. Just taking a couple pieces of each variety filled an entire plate.
The berries were meant as yogurt toppings but weren’t frozen, so they were perfect on their own. The mango was the absolute highlight—I’ve always believed that hotels with good mangoes are good hotels, so I kept going back for more. Despite buying mangoes daily from markets throughout my Singapore trip, I somehow still craved them at breakfast. The Raffles mangoes were fresh half-cut mangoes that required additional preparation, making them slightly inconvenient, but they were absolutely delicious.
Value and Overall Experience
While one might argue that breakfast is just breakfast, at 76 SGD per person, it’s certainly pricey for a morning meal. However, considering Raffles Singapore’s historical significance, the impeccably preserved colonial-style heritage hotel, luxurious interiors, friendly yet professional staff, high-quality breakfast menu, and Singapore’s generally high cost of living, it was absolutely worth the experience. (Accor Plus members also receive a 15% discount.)
After breakfast, I stepped out to see the courtyard and immediately thought, “I should have eaten outside!” The garden was breathtakingly beautiful. The colonial architecture—white exterior, columns, verandas, and wooden windows—was showcased perfectly, with a gorgeous light blue fountain surrounded by palm trees creating a movie-like scene. Since Singapore mornings turned out to be less hot than expected, I promised myself to definitely dine outdoors next time.
If you want to experience Singapore’s urban history and classic design, or if you’d like to enjoy Singapore luxury in a refined way, I highly recommend breakfast at Raffles Singapore’s Tiffin Room—every space is truly artistic!
Raffles Long Bar Singapore Sling Review
Another famous aspect of Raffles Singapore is being the birthplace of the Singapore Sling cocktail.
The Long Bar is located on the second floor of Raffles Singapore. Due to its iconic status and heavy tourist traffic, the hotel has thoughtfully arranged external access to avoid disturbing hotel guests. Simply follow the “LONG BAR THIS WAY” signs. The Long Bar opens at 11 AM, and arriving right on time, I found an unexpectedly long queue on the second floor. All these people were tourists who came specifically for the Singapore Sling! The crowd consisted mainly of Western tourists in their 50s-60s with gray hair, with our family (couple with a toddler) standing out among them.
Since the Long Bar is still a bar, I was concerned about visiting with a child and potential dress code requirements. However, research confirmed that children are welcome and there’s no dress code. I saw many grandfathers in Hawaiian shirts, and shorts were perfectly acceptable.
We were seated immediately when the bar opened and ordered two Singapore Slings for my husband and me. While there weren’t suitable drinks for our child, since we weren’t planning a long stay, I gave him peanuts from the table instead.
The Long Bar provides complimentary peanuts at every table to accompany cocktails. If you’ve ever researched Raffles Singapore’s Long Bar, you’ll know about their famous tradition of throwing peanut shells directly on the floor.
In the early 20th century colonial era, Southeast Asian plantation owners who frequented such bars would eat complimentary peanuts and casually discard shells on the floor—this was the natural scene. The Long Bar faithfully recreates this unique tradition. This peanut shell-throwing custom isn’t just a gimmick but a historical recreation of colonial-era habits!
The discarded peanut shells become part of the atmosphere, naturally harmonizing with the Long Bar’s plantation-style interior and creating a relaxed, casual ambiance. While bars typically require dress codes and formal table manners, Raffles Long Bar maintains this tradition to convey the sentiment of “freely enjoy your time.” This naturally explains the absence of strict dress code regulations.
The Long Bar represents “the only legal space in Singapore where you can throw something in a public place”—quite unique in Singapore’s clean, rule-heavy environment. This small act of “permitted rudeness” becomes a cultural experience element, creating more memorable experiences for visitors. This ‘minor impoliteness’ of throwing peanut shells on the floor paradoxically allows guests to fully experience the leisurely, romantic bar culture of 100 years ago—a charming attraction!
This unique appeal has made it so popular with tourists that it’s included in Klook Singapore passes, becoming one of Singapore’s essential tourist attractions.
While eating peanuts, our Singapore Slings arrived! Almost everyone visiting the Long Bar comes for this iconic cocktail, which also has its own story. During an era when women found it difficult to drink cocktails in bars, bartenders created this pink cocktail that resembled juice, giving birth to the Orient’s first cocktail designed for women—the Singapore Sling.
Created to look like juice, the Singapore Sling displays a beautiful pink color. However, its ingredients include gin, cherry brandy, pineapple juice, lime juice, grenadine, Benedictine, and Cointreau. Despite its innocent appearance, it contains substantial alcohol content with an ABV of approximately 20-28%, usually around 23%. While the fruit flavors make it easy and delicious to drink, one glass can definitely get you tipsy.
Since our son grew bored after some time, I thought we should finish quickly and leave, so I drank mine rapidly—only to be surprised by how tipsy I became!
Raffles Boutique Shop sells Singapore Sling packages. While not inexpensive, they make worthy souvenirs, so I recommend stopping by.
Complete Raffles Experience Summary
This completes the full Raffles Singapore experience: breakfast at the Tiffin Room, cocktails at the Long Bar, and souvenir shopping at the Raffles Boutique Shop!
Each space has its own history and story, with luxury as an added bonus. Raffles Singapore was an excellent component of my Singapore city center historical tour. For the Long Bar specifically, using a Klook Singapore pass can provide more affordable access, so I recommend booking through Klook.
Klook.com