Hotels

Florette Pan Pacific Orchard review: It’s the first visit to the, all-new, impressive edifice from Pan Pacific Hotels Group, built on the grounds of the previous building, and out to turn heads with its new innovative look, appropriately descriped as a ”modern retreat in the heart of the city.”

And what better to start with than a dining and drinking adventure that can offer choices of afternoon tea, oysters and bubbles, or signature cocktails inspired by the hotel’s distinct themes: Root, Shoot, Flower, and Fruit!

But a few more words about the hotel first is that it follows in the footstops of the group’s other flagship Parkroyal on Pickering, driven by the sustainability agenda of this hotel group.

It is and impressive and remarkable accomplish that truly deserves to be called ‘iconic landmark’ in Singapore, including as many as 347 rooms and suites even though so much area has been allocated to open space within the building’s architecture.

It is not in any way shy, but with its location sits slightly off Orchard Road, and yet clearly visible through the open and green grounds of its neighbour the Thai embassy. That also promises an open view, onwards, to and from Orchard road, since Thailand – fingers crossed – is unlikely to build anything high-rise on its premises.

As one of the luxury hotels designed with the environment in mind, the result is a 23-storey high-rise, featuring intricate and imaginative design – with both a Garden and a Beach terrace! Being part of the “green rejuvenation” of the Garden City’s famed Orchard Road district technology has built into the design that features energy-saving and solar panels. Architecturally the garden city is celebrated with in total four high-volume terraced environments: Forest and Cloud. Dramatic 120m green columns tower through the terraces, creating a spectacle of thriving flora.

Taking cue from this – situated by the Garden Terrace on level 11 – its destination bar Florette – Champagne and oyster bar, is glamorously outfitted to live up to its namesake: the Roman goddess of flowers, and made to be the gathering ground for the style set!

Within this temple of decadence, guests unwind, earlier in the day with afternoon tea, and later at night to the smooth sounds of acid jazz while sipping on fine bubbles and curated cocktails, matched with caviar bumps, oyster platters and fresh seafood!

Its elegant interior has vintage touches with metal leather chairs at bar counter, heritage style furniture and metal latticework that includes bended metal partisions. Entering the luxurious space you immediately face the bar, and can choose seats to its left and right as well as at the bar counter, which has metal shelves for bottles with mirrors as bar backdrop, and hanging artistc bar lighting above the counter.

Afternoon tea is available daily 3 pm to 5 pm, with a focus on signature scented teas, including: ‘Nanyang: Nostalgia in Singapore’, Bali Ha’i: Rêverie in Indonesia’ or ‘Bangkok 9/9: Entropy in Thailand’, paired with savouries.

In a recent offer, in Collaboration with Masion de L’Asie the Scented Afternoon Tea Reverie Florette introduced a sensory journey through the art of fragrance, paired with beautifully crafted pastries by Pastry Chef Eunice Low.

For Happy Hour Asia’s visit it was around happy hour time, which here is presented as L’Apero, held between 6 pm – 8 pm, offering both wine by the glass (Alto Los Romeros Cabernet Sauvignon, Alto Los Romeros Chardonnay, McGuigan Rosé, or Scavi & Ray Prosecco)
and cocktails for SGD 16++. These cocktails include ‘Bubble-tini’ (vodka, peach, strawberry, bubbles), ’Manhattan Sour (tequila, sweet vermouth, pineapple, bitters), ‘6pm Club’ (gin, lime, cordial, blueberry) and ‘Dei-quoi’ (white rum, dark rum, orgeat, lime, anise).

Florette’s signature ’Liquid Nourishment’ menu meanwhile (with explanations, botanical sketches and vintage artwork), draws inspiration from the four natural environments found within the hotel. So here the distinct drinks have themes as names, not any fancy copy titles, and with a focus on the ingredients. Intriguing: what could a drink with these ingredients taste like… including for instance beetroot!? It feels like quite a foodie approach for sure. And there may be many ingredients you may with to ask the bar staff about…

It kicks off with four signature cockails INSPIRED BY the environments, including ’Garden’ with Tried & true vodka, strawberry, Alfalfa (flower plant), lemon and champagne. This one seems very tempting! ’Cloud’ comes with double gins; Beefeater and Perry’s Tot Gin; St-Germain elderflower liqueur.; Lustau Fino (sherry); champagne syrup; lemon; and egg white. (The St-Germain actually has a subtle yet delicate flavor, a fresh, quality taste and notes of peach, pear and grapefruit.)

Additionally, there are eight concoctions DERIVED FROM: root, shoot, flower and fruit, with botanical descriptions of these, such as: ”the part of a plant which attaches it to the ground or to a support…”.

Root has a mixture of Monkey Shoulder, averna, chicory, honey, and ”acid”;  while the innovative Shoot comes with Birch bark, Tried & True Vodka (authentic and neutral), Noilly Prat vermouth, Irish sea moss (! a red algae), and saline mist (clueless on this one…)! Do you dare to go for this?

Or how about the Flower mixture with Bulleit Bourbon, Bergamot Petals
Campari, Cocchi Di Torino, and Neroli? I opt for something from Fruit: Beefeater gin, Pierre Ferrand 1840 Cognac, Champagne, Prickly Pear, vanilla and lemon.

The second Fruit cocktail is Mexican-influenced: Los Arcos Tequila, Del Magyey Vida Mezcal, saline, guava, lime and chili.

Explore this further by visiting Florette, which also claims to feature one of the city’s best Champagne lists – from growers to rare vintages and the classics – perfectly paired with the season’s freshest oysters!

And try some of the very sumptuous ’tidbits’ along with the drinks of your choice – cocktails, champagne or wine; which include Beet hummus, Spanish padron peppers Crispy Maine crab cake, grilled lemongrass king prawn skewers, fontina cheese and truffle croquettes and more! This along that fascinating cocktail menu to explore!

One leaves Florette with a happy feeling so it get’s a thumb’s up, as a place one wants to explore at least once more!