The Adonis Hotel Singapore. A True Boutique Hotel Experience.

Solange Berchemin reviews the Adonis Hotel Singapore, and funds that small ireally is beautiful.

When asked “What is….exactly….a boutique hotel?” my heart sinks. I could recite the Oxford dictionary definition, without hesitations: “It’s a stylish small hotel, didah, didah, didah…..” But my true answer is “I don’t know”.

Really, I don’t but unfailingly I’ll recognize one, when I’ll see one. In my opinion, half the hotels claiming being Boutique, just aren’t. Yes, they might well be small or located in a fashionable area or even both but that doesn’t win them the title.

The Adonis Hotel Singapore is.In fact, it’s the epitome of this elusive classification.

Staying in the heart of a city is always a thrill. Imagine booking a room with a view on Picadilly Circus or lodging near Le Louvre, the thrill of being in the thick of history and modernity.

The Look

The Adonis Hotel is situated in a heritage house just behind the famous Raffles Hotel with its Long Bar, which was a favorite spot of Ernest Hemingway and Somerset Maugham. By the way, Long Bar is also where the national cocktail, the Singapore Sling was invented by bartender Ngiam Tong Boon. But I’ll come back to that in a paragraph or two.

Where most of the city-state exists in 3D with towers of steel and glass in various shapes and forms, some scraping the sky with their top floor, hundreds of metres from the pavement. By contrast The Adonis Hotel Singapore is a 6 storey building, an ex shop house offering 19 highly luxurious rooms and suites

A Peranakan residence like those in Melaka and Penang, here called Baba houses. Though, the Adonis is less colourful as the front of the hotel is bright white, narrow frontage with exquisite carved stones. These late 19^th, early 20^th century dwellings are thin and deep with tileworks depicting flowers often entwined with Chinese characters.

The Experience

Singapore Sling coming right up. The hotel is home to Argos Restaurant, the monochromatic tiles and classic cafe chairs, set against walls adorned with beautiful art and an eclectic array of decor, will transport you to cooler European climates but mostly it’s the place where late afternoon for a couple of hours, residents are offered free cocktails.

But that’s not all, there is more, Nespresso machine, high speed broadband, a TV screen larger than my local art-cinema screen and something I’d never expected to see a complimentary mini-bar, refilled daily, all of which makes the experience second to none.

We were assigned an airy, luxurious suite with light oak flooring boards and marble bathroom. I immediately loved the space. Rarely have I seen such high ceiling which in return lets in a beautiful light and a view over a very quaint Singaporean cafe where locals take their breakfast “en terrasse” when the air is still fresh.

The breakfast at the Adonis, on the other hand is much more sophisticated as it’s a choice of everything you can wish for and some you probably would not contemplate such as Smarties and Marshmallows.

At TripReporter, we avoid the subject of toilets. But I’ll break the rule to tell you about the TOTO automated washlet which seat opens up and warms as soon as you merely pull the toilet door. A little scary when it gives a clinical blue glow in the middle of the night. It’s self cleaning, cleans and dries your-selves too at the appropriate time. I can only assume that it works via magic.

Not magical but very elegant are the chandeliers of which there is wide array; some are kooky interpretations of the themed rooms, while some channel the avant-garde. Ours was an extremely large globe made of maritime ropes.

This is the kind of hotel, you almost wish for bad weather so that you can stay in. It added elegance and fun to our trip a more than welcome relaxing break and next time I’ll be asked about “Boutique hotels”, I’ll reply: “Have you, ever stayed at the Adonis Singapore? Because that is a perfect example…….”