There are only three things to do in Singapore, runs the old adage: eat, shop and sleep.
Scratch below the surface, though, and you'll find that this city is experiencing a cultural revival -- with something to satiate everyone's tastes. From food to art, design to music, we've got some ideas sure to inspire you ... and the list keeps growing.
For the foodies
The avant-garde Secret Cooks Club (secretcooks.org) regularly invites diners to experiment with technology and food science. One SCC dinner recently asked all guests to send in saliva samples, which chef Florian Cornu then used to create a meal according to diners' DNA. Another dinner copies the Japanese art of nyotaimori by serving sushi off a naked woman's body.
At Zina Alam's Khana Commune (undergrounddining.sg) in Pasir Panjang, guests can expect to tuck into Bangladeshi-inspired sticky rice and dahl with chipotle and mango, sometimes with themed events like storytelling evenings and singles' nights.
Then there's the Champagne-serving, performance-driven Lolla's Secret Suppers; diners are kept in the dark about the meal's menu, location and fellow guests, until just two days before dinner time.
Some restaurants are catching the underground trend. At Kilo (#02-01, 66 Kampung Bugis, +65 64673987), diners are encouraged to step away from the table and into the kitchen, where, from August, they can guest chef a menu of their choice. Run by co-proprietor Sharon Lee, the "Under Pressure" event is aimed at "seeing just how creative people can get in the kitchen", says Lee, "whilst making a dinner for 40 strangers".
For the artists
Imagine a flash mob devoted to doodling, and you'd have Urban Sketchers (urbansketchers-singapore.blogspot.com), a group armed with pencils and drawing pads who meet once a month to sketch Singapore. Focusing on the city's skylines, architecture and flora and fauna, the group this year has sketched the Singapore Art Biennale, Tiong Bahru Market, Margaret Drive Food Centre and Geylang (at night). The group is open to anyone and encourages sketchers to share their drawings online.
Word buffs will appreciate the bi-monthly open mike Poetry Slam (www.blujaz.net/tag/poetry-slam) that takes place at BluJaz, where eight to 10 "slammers" perform their poems over three rounds to a live audience. The winner goes home with S$75 and the possibility of getting published; past winners, such as Marc Nair and Pooja Nansi, have gone on to recite their poems in public in Europe. Catch a slam in action at the Lit Up Festival (www.litup.sg) on July 16-23.
For the musicians
Budding musician but need a little push to get out there? Then head down to Actors Jam Bar (13A-15A South Bridge Road, +65 65353270; www.actorsthejambar.com) any night of the week, where you can down a cocktail before jumping on stage and jamming with the instruments provided. If you're more into solo acts, you can also belt out your favourite tunes to a live band made up of patrons like yourself.
On Sundays, head to blues bar Crazy Elephant (3E River Valley Road, +65 6337 7859; www.crazyelephant.com), where musicians of all genres are also invited to use the house instruments and entertain the crowd. "We come here to let off steam," says 30-something regular Kevin Ng, who cut his teeth here as a musician at 17. "It's easy to get onto stage and people don't stress too much."
For the actors
Jokes are a dime a dozen at Comedy Masala (comedymasala.com), Singapore's weekly stand-up comedy night, where, every Tuesday evening at Home club, around 20 comedians -- newcomers and practiced alike -- have three to five minutes to make the audience laugh (the two-for-one drink specials help). The most popular comedians can go on to perform at the Comedy Club Asia (www.comedyclubasia.com) -- both here and abroad.
For the old-fashioned romantic who likes the big screen, Movie Mob (www.moviemob.sg) is Singapore's only drive-in theatre. Cinephiles sign up online for this free fortnightly event, then vote on one of four movies to watch in the big outdoors. Movie buffs without cars are invited to picnic on the mats laid out in front of the screen, with hotdogs, popcorn, candy floss and drinks all available too.
For the intellectuals
Looking for an intellectual challenge in a city oft derided as a "cultural desert", then check out Blink-BL-NK (blinkbl-nk.com), a series of 20-minute, laid-back, free monthly TED-inspired talks led by regular people about interesting subjects, from philosophy to sex, psychosis or money.
ROJAK (www.farm.sg/rojak) is a curated quarterly session at which 10 creatives -- artists, writers, filmmakers, architects and the like -- meet in ad hoc locations to discuss their work. The event is free, and visitors are encouraged to both attend the event as well as participate in it.
Computer geeks might like Hackerspace (hackerspace.sg), where knowledge is shared regarding all things digital. The Bussorah Street-based group hosts talks and forums, and members often collaborate on projects together. A little piece of trivia, Denisa Kera and Florian Cornu, the co-founders of the Secret Cooks Club, met at Hackerspace -- and the rest is now Singaporean history.
Source: cnngo.com/Oratrip.
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