In 2015, Singapore Botanic Gardens was inscribed as Singapore’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, in recognition of its well-defined cultural landscape and its role in the fields of tropical botany and horticulture.

The heritage festival is an annual festival celebrating the rich heritage of the Gardens and the first one was opened by Mr Lee Hsien Loong in 2015.

This year the Festival is held from 30 June to 8 July and I was lucky to be part of the group to participate in the preview of the festival! Thank you NParks for the invite! I have learnt so much from the tour and definitely enjoyed all the food from the various cafes and restaurants.

For 2018, the spotlight will be on some of the plants used by indigenous cultures of Southeast Asia, including Singapore.

The Gardens’ cafes, restaurants and retail outlets will be coming in with various menus, dishes, and programmes featuring some of the edible plants (as shown below) during the festival!

Also look forward to a medley of other fun activities in the Gardens:

• Concerts at Shaw Foundation Symphony Stage
• Movie screenings
• Programmes such as mass yoga and children fringe activities
• Tours (Heritage/Healing Garden/Learning forest/Rainforest/Race against time/Exhibitions)
• Market Square @ Orchid Plaza (including F&B and plant sales)
• New Exhibitions
• Roving performances
• Free entry to National Orchid Garden and more

Do check out the details of the activities on www.nparks.gov.sg/sbg!

Let me share with you what I’ve did and tasted during the half day tour this day!

First stop: Fusion Spoon 

Fusion Spoon is a casual dining place for families and friends, and it has a wide selection of affordable food and beverages from various cuisine choices such as western, local asian and japanese.

The eatery offers an indoor as well as an outdoor play area for kids, and there is also a waffle and Korean bingsu ice kiosk.

During the festival, they would be offering

Bo Bo Cha Cha ($3 nett)

Old school desserts yay!

Crispy Banana Caramel ($5 nett).

This is nice!

They would also be conducting banana mug cake cooking demos which is suitable for children from age 6 to 12.

2nd, Heritage Tour 

The highlights of the tour include the Bandstand, sculptures in the Gardens, Heritage Trees, Main Gate and the Saraca Stream Walk.

A series of tours are available on different days and on site registrations are required. They are free and are available on 7 and 8 July.

3rd, Ginger Garden 

The one-hectare Ginger Garden showcases more than 550 plant species, varieties, and horticultural cultivars of the ginger order (Zingiberales). Dr Jana Skornickova, the Ginger expert was there with us that day and she shared with us the various species under the Ginger family.

We also had the chance to smell the flowers and man, some of them really stinks!

During the period of the festival, the following exhibitions are available: 

Beyond Gingers Exhibition – Tham Pui San’s Encounters with Nature
Beyond Gingers Exhibition Tours (1 and 7 July)

4th Stop: Halia Restaurant

The restaurant is renowned for its contemporary Asian-inspired European cuisine, with specialties such as Halia’s Singapore-style Chilli Crab Spaghettini.

The main dining hall, with its warm earth interiors, high ceiling and full glass walls, offers unobstructed views of the Ginger Garden, while the al fresco dining area brings diners even closer to nature, surrounded by the vibrantly coloured ginger flowers.

I tried out the Heritage Set which would be offered during this period and it was amazing. I can finally understand why the Chilli Crab Spaghettini is so popular!

The Heritage Set which includes the Singapore Style Chilli Crab Spaghettini and Banana & Almond Drink is priced at $30++ per set.

The serving portion of the spaghettini is huge, the taste was awesome and it was not that spicy which was suitable for everyone!

The banana & almond drink is a must drink by the way! Nutty yet refreshing!

On 8th July, there would be a Cooking & Drink Demo. Provisions Store will be conducting a cooking emo of Halia’s Chilli Crab Sauce, and a drink demo of their rendition of the Singapore Sling.

Provisions Store will also be offering a 10-15% discount on selected F&B and merchandise during the Heritage Festival, such as Halia’s Chilli Crab sauce, Ginger Pineapple Jam, Ginger Flower Sauce, Sun Dried Ginger, Spiced Island Set, Wild Honey and Gourmet Salts and Sugar.

5th, National Orchid Garden tour

In conjunction with the Singapore Botanic Gardens Heritage Festival, locals* enjoy free entry into the National Orchid Garden from 30 June to 8 July.

*Singapore citizens, PRs and those living in SG, including holders of EPs, work permits or dependent passes. Proof of residency may be required when purchasing tickets or when entering the National Orchid Garden.

We had the opportunity to meet with Mr David Lim and were given a short tour of the National Orchid Garden. We got to see a myriad of orchid species and they were so beautiful!

this is a great place for photoshoot though!

After the tour, we went to the Gardens shop which is our 6th activity for the day!

From now till 8 July, purchase $38 or more from the Gardens Shops and receive a gift that celebrates Singapore’s food heritage – a gift bag containing 2 different varieties of traditional biscuits!

In conjunction with the festival, the shops will be running promos on a range of Singapore Botanic Gardens Heritage Inspired merchandise such as keyrings and magnets featuring various landmarks of the Gardens like the Bandstand, Tanglin Gate and Swan Lake Gazebo!

Other items on promotion include orchid-inspired soaps, and a range of food and confectionaries such as chocolates, nuts, and botanical cookies and candies.

I wanted to get this bag actually but I wont use it. LOL! So save money!

Look at all these gold plated flowers. orchids?

The Gardens Shop’s concept stores are available at Tanglin Gate, Nassim Gate & National Orchid Garden.

Next we went to our next tasting station, at Casa Verde to try out the Beef Rendang Pizza and the Heritage Set! Yumm yummm!

Enjoy the melt in your mouth tender, beef rendang pizza @ $25 nett.

The heritage set comprised of Seafood Mee Goreng, Pandan Jelly with Aloe Vera & Calamansi and a choice of soft drink is priced at $20 nett.

I like both the pizza and the set and I think you should really go try them! I heard they provide rental of picnic baskets too. mmm.

Alot of food tastings that day, and the next stop was at The Garage!

This place damn pretty right?

The Garage used to house the cars of college professors and was a residence for their drivers. It was also a school of ornamental horticulture, and an office space for the Horticulture Department. Today it houses 2 F&B Destinations, Bee’s Knees and Botanico.

Botanico & Bees Knee’s have specifically created 2 refreshing cocktails:

Cocorry Spice Cocktail (Botanico) and Chendol Colada (Bee’s Knees) priced at $16++ and $15++ respectively.

There would be a DIY Cocktail program on 7 and 8 July from 11.30am to 3.00pm at Botanico – $18++ nett

And here comes the food! We sampled their festival promotional dishes and they are so good.

• Seabass Ceviche

Chef’s interpretation of Assam Laksa, comprising of a ceviche of seabass with green chilli, pomegranate and shaved ginger flower, served with tamarind dressed glass noodles and shrimp paste ICE CREAM. Interesting right?? Doesnt taste weird at all!

• Crispy Baby Squid

The Crispy baby squid dish is served with salted egg yolk aioli and curry leaves!

• Pandan Pancakes (DAMN NICE)

The vibrant green pancakes make for a pleasant, aromatic treat when eaten together with banana slices, fresh coconut shavings, vanilla ice cream and a generous drizzle of gula melaka.

From 30 June to 8 July, you can enjoy 15% off the usual price on the above dishes!

Our last stop for the day was at Food For Tots!

This is a self service kids cafe that believes kids can help themselves and other kids.

Their initimate space also boasts an interactive play area for little ones!

Food For Tots runs a series of free and paid programmes on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays for children, to inspire them to be positive change agents.

Their core programmes include Food Crafternoon, Nature Bingo Trail and Storytelling.

We tried out the Pancake with Banana Marmalade & Coconut Ice cream $15 nett and

Sweet Potato Fries with Kaffir Lime Mayo $8++

On 7 and 8 July, there is a DIY veggie stamp placemat craft programme suitable for children aged 3 to 8. Per child is $5 and it’s walk in basis.

We were so full already but still managed to gobble the above down. You should totally bring your kids there! The pancake and the fries with the mayo = must order!

Thank you Nparks and all retail/f&b stores for the invite and goodies. I really enjoyed myself! 🙂

Woohoo!!

Follow me on Instagram: @claireaudreylim
Email: dreylim1@gmail.com

Check out the activities and promotions happening here: https://www.nparks.gov.sg/sbg/whats-happening/calendar-of-events/singapore-botanic-gardens-heritage-festival-2018

There would be yoga, concerts and performance etc as well!

Thank you for reading! 🙂