(Front row, L-R): Mr Ananda Arawwawela, Executive Vice President, Hotel Assets Management at CDL; Mr Chia Ngiang Hong, Group General Manager at CDL; and Mr Stephane Fabregoul, Managing Director for JW Marriott Singapore South Beach and St Regis Singapore at Marriott International with the JW Marriott Singapore South Beach team at the opening of Madame Fan at NCO Club.
Madame Fan
Opens At
Singapore's
Iconic NCO Club
At JW Marriott
South Beach
On April 23, famed restauranteur Mr Alan Yau gives Chinese dining a shiny new status with his first Southeast Asian venture, Madame Fan. The restaurant is a sumptuous re-staging of Singapore’s colonial heritage, with a playful but authentic take on Chinese cuisine.
Acclaimed for giving Chinese cuisine a place among the upper echelons of the food world, Alan Yau lends his signature flair for balancing tradition with progression, challenging perceptions in Southeast Asia of what dining should be. The launch of Madame Fan is the first of four eclectic concepts marking the re-opening of Singapore’s iconic NCO Club as an entertainment lifestyle destination.
The main dining area, which seats 100 pax, breaks away from Chinese dining convention. Four-seater circular tables are bridged into a “U” formation across the space, directing attention to its middle segment which is framed by roving spotlights to immerse diners in bona fide live performances.
There are five private dining rooms that seat ten each.
A New Era for Chinese Dining in Singapore
The 467 square-metre, 222-seater restaurant will debut an etiquette-free lifestyle dining concept grounded in old school classics, delivering a dining experience unique to its traditions and heritage, yet unbounded by the rigidity of current European dining standards. The concept is principled by old school values where craft, service and ambience come together in an experiential gourmet journey for consumers.
“Fine dining goes beyond the food on your plate. Beyond the craft, it is about service and ambience and how these elements come together to deliver an experience that connects with the deepest level of our being. It is about creating an experience that is extraordinary and unforgettable,” explained Mr Yau.
The experience takes its cues from old-school values of hospitality where floor operations and table management are driven exclusively by senior staff. Diners are immersed in an exuberance of emotional architecture composed through elements such as diva-led live music, lighting and choreographed spatial forms in curating a multi-sensory ambience that delights and surprises. Most distinctively, the formal table settings expected of a fine dining establishment is diminished into relaxed, smaller renditions to pander to the post-materialist wiles of intimacy and connection.
“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,” continued Mr. Yau.
Steamed Soon Hock with Ipoh Soy and Spring Onion.
Handcut Taiwan noodle, Wind Dried Pork with La La clams.
Alan Yau Signatures – A Bastion of Chinese Culinary Heritage
At Madame Fan, table orders are presented as sharing plates and observe an eclectic fluidity which nestles in-between multiple course dining in traditional European restaurants and traditional Chinese restaurants where food is shared amongst the family.
While the driver of the cuisine at Madame Fan is dictated by bold and playful takes on traditional Chinese dishes, Alan Yau lends his signature eclectic touch to redefine the Classics by moving the dish composition from a traditionalist approach to the idea of modern authenticity.
The five house specialty dishes of Madame Fan, along with classic dim sum selections, will include:
- Double Boiled Four Treasure Soup with Sea Cucumber, Fish Maw, Dried Scallop and Crabmeat
- Drunken Crab Rice Noodle with 20 Year-Old Gu Yue Long Shan Rice Wine
- Steamed Soon Hock with Ipoh Soy and Spring Onion
- Handcut Taiwan noodle, Wind Dried Pork with La La clams
- Lobster Cantonese with Ginger, Spring Onion and Wonton Noodle
Lobster Cantonese with Ginger, Spring Onion and Wonton Noodle.
Drunken Crab Rice Noodle with 20 Year-Old Gu Yue Long Shan Rice Wine.
The NCO Club: A New Generation of Lifestyle Experiences at South Beach
The NCO Club is an important landmark in Singapore, and was once dubbed ‘the far east's most luxurious club for the British fighting forces of land, sea and air’ by Mr Malcolm MacDonald, who served as the Commissioner-General for Southeast Asia from 1948 to 1955.
The three-storey clubhouse is located at South Beach, and its re-opening as an entertainment lifestyle destination will position the NCO Club as the gateway to elevated, new generation lifestyle experiences fostered within a legacy of celebrated society, prestige and culture.
Mr Stephane Fabregoul, Managing Director, JW Marriott Singapore South Beach, said, “The NCO Club will be the heartbeat of the South Beach precinct. With the melding between the old and the new, we hope to offer a glimpse of Singapore’s evolution from sea to sky right here at what was once the island’s central social district.”.
Aside from Madame Fan, the development will house three other distinctive lifestyle concepts curated in refined cultural experiences that transcend tradition, fusing modern ethnicity with quintessential lifestyle to reinvigorate a paradigm change for Singapore’s lifestyle circuit.
- Contributed by FleishmanHillard Singapore for The NCO Club.
