ION Orchard ups its F&B game

Singapore

WITH so much food-and-beverage competition, ION Orchard is ramping up its efforts by refurbishing its food court with new F&B options to make the mall a stronger dining destination.

To satisfy the appetites of Singapore's food lovers, the renovated Food Opera continues to offer local favourites like Pepper Lunch, but it also introduces exclusive menu items such as the Singapore Chilli Crab Pepper Rice, which is available only at ION Orchard.

Other offerings include the Queensway Lau Tan Tutu Kueh, Ah Yat Kitchen with its abalone dishes, Good Luck BBQ Chicken Wings, and Xing Lou Seafood White Bee Hoon with its speciality shellfish gravy and crustacean-topped vermicelli.

Orchard Turn Developments CEO Chris Chong says: "With ION in the heart of Orchard, these new selections and varieties of all-time local favourites will appeal to both locals and tourists." In addition to ION Orchard's refreshing of its F&B establishments, the mall is also offering Orchard Road's first in-mall picnic garden, styled by Crate and Barrel, as part of its second edition of Culinary Creations over the weekend. The event is also timed and in partnership with the Singapore Food Festival 2016.

With its greenery, picnic mats, benches and the traditional rattan baskets, ION Orchard representatives say it gives Singaporeans an opportunity to have a picnic in comfortable air-conditioning, away from the humidity and intermittent rain outside.

Other activities at Culinary Creations include tea brewing with Each A Cup, a nutty churros contest with Mr Churro and Jian Bao demonstration with Putien.

ION Orchard is also partnering UOB to present food based on artwork - "palette to palate". Chefs from the Salt Grill & Sky Bar by Luke Mangan and The Marmalade Pantry work to translate two UOB Paintings of the Year - Lee Jia Zhen's Let's have a burger and Aaron Gan's Starry Starry Night - into food. Their creations will be sold exclusively at the ION outlet of their restaurants. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Rainbow Centre and The Little Arts Academy.

While these two restaurants have been around for a few years, they sit among eight new tenants that have been brought into the mall as part of ION Orchard's appeal to both local and international taste buds.

The new tenants include Crave Nasi Lemak, The Whisky Distillery, Hong Kong Wonton Noodles, Tazeh by Shabestan, and London Sandwich & Co.

Mr Chong explains: "Most Singaporeans and tourists . . . look for interesting new food options and concepts. We wanted to give diners the choice of a taste of different cuisines from various parts of the world."

Artisanal churros kiosk Mr Churro, opened last December, gives shoppers a taste of the fried dough-pastry snack, complete with drizzled chocolate sauce and chopped peanuts and almonds. And queues at Bake Cheese Tart, opened in May, are so long that people wait as long as two hours in a separate line.