Giraffe Restaurant and Bar – Chill out Amidst Water and Greenery

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So, I finally got a chance to dine at the Giraffe Restaurant and Bar over at Istana Park. It’s not the food that draws me, but the chic look of the place. Housed in a double-storey glass building amidst water and greenery, diners are nicely isolated from the bustling weekend crowd in town.

You enter the restaurant on a raised glass platform with water flowing beneath your feet. Right away the first impression shouts modern chic. You would notice that the sleek decor encompasses a large use of glossy glass. There’s both indoor as well as alfresco dining that overlooks a pool of water. On the second storey there are a couple of lounges and a small darkened balcony area. Perfect for couples.

The non-alcoholic drinks menu isn’t an extensive one since it’s more of a chill-out bar than restaurant. I simply ordered a coffee.

Coffee

Coffee
SGD5.90++

As for the food, they had some chicken, meat, seafood and pastas. I had chicken schnitzel which is herb crusted chicken fillet served with preserved lemon, mushroom and mornay sauce. It’s really just a more ostentatious form of the Western chicken cutlet.

Chicken Schnitzel

Chicken Schnitzel
SGD18.90++

It took three waitstaff to serve each dish. They would bring the two plates of food along, set up this makeshift stand right beside our table, set the two dishes of food atop the stand, before finally bringing the food over from the stand to our table and dismantling the makeshift stand. I didn’t mind waiting the extra thirty seconds, but I really didn’t see the point of it.

After a belly full of chicken I almost left the place with my sweater left on my seat, if not for the alert staff. Giraffe definitely boasts a striking ambience with wonderful service to boot.

Giraffe Restaurant and Bar
Istana Park
Orchard Road
Singapore 238823
(65) 6334 4653
Service:

News updates

February 3, 2007: My list of Best (& Worst) Restaurants in Singapore for 2006
- Winner of “Best Ambience”
- Runner-up for “Best Service”
- Nominated for “Best Design”

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About the Author

Veron Ang is the founder and chief editor of Sparklette. She lives in Singapore and has dined and traveled across the world. She also runs Sparklette Studio, a web design and development firm. If you'd like to connect with her, head on over to the contact page or follow her personal updates on Twitter: @VeronSG.

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21 responses

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harrison
May 8

Haha the camera’s macro mode sure plays visual treats…same technique they use to deceive people to buy $1.95 burgers that end up being less filling than a doughnut.
Well, cheer up! At least Apprentice is coming out today!
Btw the thumbnail image for the Cute Overload site…looks exactly like the frog hat that BJ wore in the first non-elimination leg!
Hey, I recommend Bookworm as an excellent word game. I’ve grown addicted to it ever since I played it, and I reckon it’s as challenging as Word Dojo and Texttwist! You should try that out soon.
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Veron
May 8

Oooh yeah the froggy hat! I think they lost the hat in one of the non-elimination legs. We don’t get to see it anymore. The froggy hat looks cute, but the wittle kitty munchkin is cuter!
Believe it or not, I already have Bookworm on my computer! Haha I am a fan of word games! Currently I’m playing scrabble against my computer opponent, and he’s really good!
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harrison
May 7

Wow….when I see large plates, minute servings of food like the ones above, I think of high prices and high cuisine. Are they really worth it? I mean, food appreciation is a valuable trait indeed, but to pay such a high price for something that’s just not going to get you full is kind of besides the point. Oh well, perhaps it’s the novelty thing, eh?
Haha the way you described the preparation is indeed funny…sounds like a nice place to eat too…perhaps they are trying to slow the mood down to a romantic crawl, no? Instead of losing patience, one should appreciate their time-wasting…haha
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Veron
May 7

The Chicken Schnitzel was a really huge portion of chicken fillet that i couldn’t finish. It does look small in the photograph because the plate itself was even larger! The food itself wasn’t great though. I would say diners pay more for the ambience and service rather than the food itself.
I know when I return there, it wouldn’t be for the food, that’s for sure.
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S. Anderson
July 5

I just have to say that I am so incredibly impressed with your web design. I love the theme the colors and the floating leaves across the castle. Beautiful!
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Veron
July 5

Thanks for your comment! Hope you have a good time at Giraffe. It’s wildly popular with Singaporeans I think… I notice a large number of visitors who drop by my blog after googling for “giraffe”.
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Spring
August 17

I’m impressed and totally enchaned; this is the first time I’ve seen such a beautiful blog.
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Veron
August 17

That’s a real big compliment! Thank you so much!
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Black Mamba
September 29

well, my hubby and i chanced upon giraffe on our way to the underpass to Plaza Singapura (from dinner at Fish & Co Parkmall) and saw the beautiful Giraffe. Feeling romantic for the evening, and not feeling like going home yet, we decided to drop by.
It was gorgeous at first, the glass panel atop the water feature to walk on…..we looked at the menu at the front of the restaurant, it was only food menu, no drinks. One of the waitress saw us but pretended she didnt.
So we stepped in, looked around (since no one was welcoming us). So we walked past the bar to the other side of the joint. i supposed we were invisible….perhaps….
Finally after wandering around for a good 2 minutes (maybe coming on to 3), someone spotted us and ushered us to our seats, with both food and drinks menu (despite the fact that she asked if we’re having food or drinks; and we said “drinks”).
So i started to turn on my stopwatch and time them for how long it takes them to do things.
7 minutes later, someone came for our order (this is despite the fact that we were seated at the table near the bar and cashier)
5 minutes later, our iced latte and iced tea arrived, together with the bill.
I was expecting a proper brewed iced-tea, with syrup at the side…..but hey…nothing of the sort. My iced tea was from a can or dispenser….ok sigh…
then came the payment part.
no one came back to our table to check on us or smile. and certainly no one came to process our payment.
so i wrote a note/feedback to them on the receipt, and together we went to the cashier with the entire payment-folder, and money and receipt, on our way out.
the cashier girl didnt bat an eyelid, she didnt smile at us, no PR. zilch.
She read our note. no reaction. zip.
Our iced latte and iced tea = $12.00
it was not fantastic.
i totally agree with sparklette, about paying for ambience, nothing else.
i think it was totally bad bad service. All the staff looked tired and unfriendly and the sad thing is that they have such a lovely, calm, romantic ambience; but nothing of the sort in terms of people’s skills.
well, maybe we were not tourists.
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Jin Xian
November 7

Have you tried my (or is ‘The’) Secret Garden? good food and fantastic service. Its near NLB, neatly tucked away.
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myloh
November 10

kinda chanced upon your blog.. but not sure by how and how long ago.. since then have linked your page and has been coming by pretty often for updates and such.. beautiful site btw.. and love the music… would come by at times just to leave it on… feels really “chill” almost like a pub.. hope to see more lovely posts and is they like a catalogue for the jewelry.. sorry for not paying attention but are the jewelry for sale at all??
or issit your personal collection?? either case .. perhaps you’ll hit me back.. thanks..
yet again.. love your site..
cheers.
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Angry Mob
February 7

Bad bad experience guys. I tried calling 2 weeks before valentine day for a dinner with my girl, they said the reservations for valentine day is not open yet, requesting me to call in again 1 week later….. and so i did, in fact 5 days later i called again.. ya know.. sinkapoleans mah, kiasu*.. BUT what they say? The reservations for valentine day is FULL !!! Tried to reason out with that fellow but useless, hesimply just do not give way. Is it really that difficult to squeeze in 1 more table for 2 !? Really really disappointed.. :(
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Veron
February 7

Okay that does sound pretty screwed up and you have every right to be angry. But looking at how clueless they seem to be, I wouldn’t be surprised if you called again and managed to get a free table.
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Adrian
April 7

Well it’s my first experience to giraffe with my friend on christmas day. The food really taste aweful especially my main course Perhaps it’s a christmas menu.The food are rather cold but I’m willingly to try other dishes the next time.Hope it would be good as what others have comments .
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kelvin
August 15

HAHA! i’m confused! LOL! After reading thru all the reviews, I wondering is it still a good idea to bring my date to Giraffe. Afterall it’s my second time asking her out and i will be leaving town for attachment soon. So come’on please tell me what to do? GO or don’t go? =D
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Foodie
November 11

Giraffe gets my vote for ambience… their 7oz burger is really really good.
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Harry Colbert
March 10

Myself and two friends tried to have dinner at Giraffe last night 9 March 2008. We were seated after walking in a maze at an outside table. We placed our order with the server, who apparently did not speak English very well. We ordered three salmons with pesta, a large bottle of sparkling water and three glasses of water with ice. We were going to decide on wine at our lesiure. The server promptly told us that they did not serve water? But we could get ice and we could buy bottle water. I could not believe what I was told so I asked for the manager. The manager, without batting an eyes, parroted the same reply. We three looked at each other in amazement and told her thank you, but no thank you and left. We went to another restaurant and spent over two hundred dollars. This is another example of incredibly poor service and customer appreciation that Singapore thinks is good service. I RECOMMEND THAT NO ONE EAT AT THIS RESTAURANT OR ANY OF ITS AFFILIATED RESTAURANTS. They should go out of business as they can not provide customer service. Ambience is not a reason to support a restaurant.
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damien
March 16

its just funny hw some restaurants seem to refuse to serve ice water or any type of plain water free,seems like everything the customer wants has to be paid for..that’s why nowadays i seldom go to places which do not serve plain water for free haha.
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Harry
May 22

We were also really annoyed that Giraffe refuses to serve iced water. We had been there for at least three hours with friends,drinking cocktails first, then dinner, with nice bottles of wine, and then went to the downstairs bar area for drinks/coffee. After we had spent $650 (not kidding!) they still refused to give us a glass of water – the place was emptying out as it was already after 11pm so we weren’t blocking the table for new customers and we had had a full meal with starters and desserts and ordered copious amounts of alcohol. I was completely disgusted that they refused to give us one (yes, just one) glass of water just before we left. We also argued and asked for the manager but the manager wasn’t there and the staff would not budge. So we asked for two glasses of ice, which we got for free, and deliberately waited until it melted and drank our water anyway, just to show them how ridiculous they are. We used to go fairly often, even if just for drinks on a Friday after work, but we haven’t been back and have absolutely no intention of ever going there again. We also would never recommend the restaurant to any of our friends – in fact, just the opposite. When we tell our friends the story they also think it is pretentious and ridiculous to not serve water, especially to customers who have ordered a meal. There are enough wonderful restaurants in Singapore to not have to bother about that one again.
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Ren
July 31

Nice place but I will not go back as I think it’s poorly managed and full of crap. I inquired about organizing an event for my son’s birthday, with 45 guest. They can’t do simple things like adding pattern napkins, decorate, etc. They quoted $7220, for buffet, and said it’s based on average pax spending…who spends $160++ on a sunday afternoon at Giraffe? There’s hardly anyone in the day (more popular at night). The buffet menu is charged at $55 ppax. Ok, fine, that’s $2.5K but what is the rest of the $5K for?? Get this : because I wanted buffet, they had to rent the equipment (utensils, warmer, plate, etc) and that is $2,500 which they can’t change as it’s outsourced.
After I inquired, was told that the new quote is $3,960 (almost 50% off) if I want set menu. Ok…$3,960 divided by 45 guests, each set meal is $88!!! And they have all those silly set menus at max $30 in normal occasion. I was then told that the price is comparable as it’s in prime land, oh c’mon, does it mean I have to pay rental for that 2 hours I’m booking?? Isn’t overheads and such already included in their meal prices?
And guess what, everything is quoted at min. charge, so, God knows what else will be included.
Imagine you go there and have your meal…after paying your food, there is additional charge that says “rental of seat for 2 hours at prime land”….
Though the place is nice, and even if someone has that money to spend, I think it’s still a matter of whether money is well spent, and I certainly think it’s not in this case. Trying pull a fast one, that’s what I think, maybe it’s because the biz is not as good as it seems.
And yes..they are part of Fish & Co.
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