gasp!
the audacity of luxury
SOUTH BEACH PRECINCT GETS
HOTTER WITH MADAME FAN
Restaurateur Alan Yau, famous for
his Chinese restaurant in London,
Hakkasan, has opened his first
South-east Asian venture, Madame
Fan, in Singapore. The opening last
month also marked the relaunch
of the NCO Club, a post-war
64 TTG Asia luxury | May 2018
Modernist three-storey clubhouse
located at the South Beach
precinct, which includes the JW
Marriott Singapore South Beach.
The 222-seat Chinese restaurant
re-stages Singapore’s colonial
heritage, and debuts what it
describes as “an etiquette-free
lifestyle dining concept grounded
in Old School Classics, delivering
a dining experience unique to
its traditions and heritage, yet
unbound by the rigidity of current
European dining standards”.
Said Yau of the concept:
“Chinese food is about sharing and
community. It should be enjoyed
in a casual environment. It is not
about pressed white tablecloths,
the formalities of multiple-course
dining or eating with a fork and
a knife. When you have tables
that more than 800mm, this kills
intimacy. The way a space makes
you feel and nurtures connection
between you and your guest is
how you would remember your
experience and whether it was
ordinary or extraordinary.”
Formal table settings expected
of a fine dining establishment are
diminished into relaxed, smaller
renditions. Elements such as diva-
led live music and lighting create a
multi-sensory ambience.
“Madame Fan is more an
entertainment lifestyle project than
it is a restaurant project. Great
food is a given, but you have to
do more than that to justify your
existence in the industry today.
Much like how we are completely
immersed in a good play or movie,
dining must never be passive – it
is enriching, soulful. You leave with
an experience that is personal and
unique, a singular encounter that
cannot be replicated,” he said.
Speciality dishes include
Drunken Crab Rice Noodle with 20
Year-Old Gu Yue Long Shan Rice
Wine, and Lobster Cantonese with
Ginger, Spring Onion and Wonton
Noodle.
Last month, the NCO Club also
opened a champagne, caviar and
oyster bar, Fish Pool, and a wine
room, Stags’ Room, in partnership
with Stags’ Leap and Penfolds. A
live music venue and speakeasy
concept, Cool Cats, is slated to
open in early June. There is also a
Britannia Room events venue on
the third level which can host up
to 50 pax.