Review of New Majestic Hotel, by Caroline Major

The New Majestic draws you in through floor-to-ceiling glass looking in on what could be a gallery - but is it? Open to the quiet, almost suburban street with classic chairs, sculpture, iconic lighting and a distressed ceiling slung with industrial style air-cooling, this boutique hotel invites closer inspection.

The facilities

Originally, this bolthole was a Chinese restaurant and a very fashionable 1930s Singapore establishment. Seventy years on, the restaurant gets a new lease on life serving theatrically presented modern Chinese cuisine. Try starting with a silky shark-fin soup, go on to fois grais with Peking duck, and finish with Birds Nest for pudding. In the morning, the breakfast spread is simple but adequate. Help yourself to cereal, yoghurt, fruit and toast, and then if you are still hungry the chef cooks a very decent scrambled egg.

At the top of the lobby's sweeping staircase a black-and-white swimming pool takes centre stage; it's a focal point for many of the rooms. Long enough for a tiny lap for the truly dedicated, it's more the social pool. Lined with seating on one side and splendidly silver under the moonlight, the mosaic makes more of this light than the sun. Peepholes into the restaurant below serve as a skylight for the soft-sage room and give diners a flash of swimmers parading above.

The rooms

Small but cosy, with every space carefully used, the rooms at this boutique hotel leave you wanting for nothing. The Garden Suites on the second floor offer indoor/outdoor living with cute shop house window-doors opening out onto a deck hosting a free-standing tub and a cute little garden setting. Not only does this allow you to take advantage of the warm Singaporean climate, it also doubles the space of the room.

Inside, rooms are like bento boxes, neatly compartmentalised and beautifully presented. In the 'Flowerchild Cat' suite, the bed suspended from the ceiling is loaded with fabulous fluffiness. Premium Ploh linen is deluxe comfort; softness with just a hint of silky slip in straight-up white. A down-filled under blanket over a firm mattress topped with a full width pillow, two standard pillows and a downy duvet ensure a snug night's dreaming. While you do, Andre Tan's Flowerchild painted on the wall behind gazes (somewhat wistfully) out to the garden. It's tough to decide what feels better, this luxurious bed or the fluffy robe you'll be wrapped in before you get into it!

It's at the front of the building, the Aquarium and Loft suites up the glamour levels. The Red Lantern Room, designed by Glenn Goei, is an all-Asian Boudoir: crimson walls, black lacquer furnishing and big red lanterns swinging from the ceiling. Another take on the boudoir theme is the Pussy Parlour: crinkly pink and an antique four poster.

Perhaps though most controversial at this boutique hotel are the rooms designed by Justin Lee: Samsui Woman, Da Jie and Flag are all worth a visit as he makes social comments through culture in his adaptation of iconic images as décor motifs.

Interiors from Safaruddin Abdul Hamid (aka Dyn), Lee Meiling, Heleston Chew, Tay Bee Aye, Miguel Chew, Kng Mian Tze and Sandra Lee complete the living artworks curated by owner Peng Loh and make a very authentic boutique hotel.