Lunch on Mount Faber

While researching my book, Mr Greedy Glutton and I did the Southern Ridges walk, a series of trails starting at Harbourfront MRT station and ending in Kent Ridge Park (or in West Coast Park if you have the energy). The first trail, the Marang Trail, leads you up a couple of hundred steps to the top of Mount Faber, where you are rewarded with sweeping views across the city and out to sea over Sentosa to the surrounding islands.



Now I know this is only the first part of the walk and only approximately fifteen minutes in, but the Jewel Box had recently re-opened up at Mount Faber so we thought we should check it out and gain ourselves some energy for our walk. There are several options for food at the Jewel Box - international or Chinese fine dining, cocktails and bar snacks or casual bistro food and you can opt for a breezy outdoor or glass-enclosed indoor setting.

As we had a long walk ahead of us, we opted for the casual outdoor bistro to grab a quick bite – nothing fancy, just a club sandwich and a Caesar salad. These were fine, nothing to rave about as the Caesar was rather over-garlicked and the chips that accompanied the club sandwich were obviously out of a bag, but the view and the architecture more than made up for the food’s shortcomings.





The view speaks for itself, and as for the architecture, you can’t help but be impressed with what they have done here – the building has been carefully integrated into the natural surroundings of the national park and it’s environmentally-friendly all the way. The designers not only used recycled building materials where possible, they worked with the National Parks Board to integrate three mature Angsana trees into the building, so that they sprout up through the floor and out through the ceiling – pretty impressive.





So definitely a good option if you’re looking for somewhere a little quirky with an impressive view – and if you’re too lazy to tackle the steps, there’s always the cable car…

The Jewel Box, Mount Faber. Tel: 6270 8855, Web: www.mountfaber.com.sg