Spaceships & Cat Cafes in Singapore

Strange to think that it's been 5 years since I last visited Singapore (rather than just passing through). A great deal remains the same: the airport works smoothly, taxis are cheap & abundant, and the sun at 4pm still cuts you like a laser beam.

There's some things that have fallen into disrepair & are being renovated: I used to rely on Chijmes as a nice choice of upmarket eateries, but it's both under repair & somewhat downmarket (Hogs Breath Cafe is not really fine dining). 

Then there's the new stuff - great swathes of newly-reclaimed land, boasting spectacular constructions, like the Sands Marina Bay hotel, with its flying-saucer "skygarden" on the 57th floor (generating the obligatory late night laser display).

Across rhe river from the Sands, tucked away on the 2nd floor of a building  on the popular Boat Quay restaurant strip, is Neko no Niwa - the Cat Cafe.  Don't worry, the moggies aren't on the menu; instead this is a place where you can get coffee and cake, and $12 buys you an hour in the play den along with 13 ex-strays. The place was at capacity with 25 humans when I visited, and had a big queue waiting. Good stuff!

One thing that hasn't changes is the vast variety of food options, although individual places keep opening & closing all the time. Clark Quay is much expanded, with perhaps five times the restaurant options of my previous visits. My find of the trip was much nearer my hotel, on Purvis St. A brand new place called Sprig - only open a week - and enjoying the first blush of food generosity that new restaurants seem to have before the accounts come home to roost. The toasted baguette slices served with truffle-oil drizzled butter were spectacular; I hope it lasts til I get back again.