Garden variety

Singapore - The floor-to-ceiling glass windows that surround the space look out to gorgeous greenery and a stellar view of Singapore's latest icons: The Supertrees. On the menus are elegant treats such as steamed xiao long bao with goose liver in double-boiled shark's bone cartilage soup, and jewel-hued French macarons.

But this isn't some posh restaurant at the newly opened Gardens By The Bay. Despite its lofty title, Supertree Dining is its flagship food hall. And yes, for a change, the main dining establishment at our country's latest and grandest attraction isn't a food court.

"When we first saw the floor plans for the space, we knew we wanted it to be a restaurant in the garden," said Mr Vincent Tan, Managing Director of Select Group, the company that developed Supertree Dining. "We wanted people to come here and relax, eat and enjoy the view."

But because the mandate was to offer diversity to the garden's visitors, Tan and his team had to think outside the box and eventually came up with the idea of a multi-eatery restaurant.

With comfort and relaxation for the diner in mind, all five eateries - Peach Garden Noodle House, Hill Street Coffee Shop, Texas Chicken, Casa Verde, and Canele Patisserie and Chocolaterie - offer full table service and are manned by an army of staff who ensure efficient service. The latter is an especially important element given the sheer number of visitors that throng the place daily.