A restored heritage building always charms as a MICE venue, as proven by Shangri-La Hotel Singapore’s new event space, The Pavilion. Paige Lee Pei Qi reports
Shangri-La Hotel Singapore and TTG Asia Media joined hands last year to welcome corporate and MICE planners ‘back to school’ at The Pavilion, a former Dutch school in the 1920s, Singapore’s Hollandse School, which has been converted into a charming colonial-style venue that can hold up to 120 guests for meetings and events.
With nearly every guest gracing the venue for the first time, the pressure was on for Shangri-La Hotel Singapore to make an impression.
The unique aspect of the venue is the pavilion’s courtyard, where a purpose-built outdoor kitchen clearly differentiates an evening dining experience from other MICE venues in Singapore.
To tie in with the Back to School theme and transport guests back to their nostalgic school days, the service staff donned the attire of scouts, guides and other uniform groups, serving up milkshakes and bento boxes of finger foods indoors.
Then, the event rolled off to a memorable start with ‘recess time’ and the familiar sounding of the school bell, putting a momentous stop to the guests’ chattering. After that, the doors swung open to reveal the majestic courtyard where freshly grilled gourmet items awaited.
Guests were treated to a feast, with delectable menu items such as galician-style grilled octopus, pork jowl brochette, omelette with porcini mushroom, grilled scallop with mentaiko sauce and beef short ribs with chocolate mole glaze and chilli.
Reto K Klauser, vice president and general manager of the hotel, said: “The experience took gourmet meals to a different dimension.
“The grilled food items are also not available at any other Shangri-La restaurant.”
While the gloomy dark sky threatened to disrupt the outdoor experience with an imminent thunderstorm, the hotel’s events team had planned for contingencies and were prepared to switch to indoor dining.
Fortunately, the sky soon cleared up, much to the relief of both guests and organisers.
The venue hosted 90 guests in total that evening, the setting enabling them to mingle and network freely.
Event and corporate planners were also taken on a personal tour of the venue’s meeting facilities by the Shangri-La events team.
One of the main draws of The Pavilion is its historical value.
As the building exudes a strong atmosphere of culture and heritage and has been well conserved, it made an impression on all guests.
TTG Asia Media’s group publisher, Michael Chow, said: “Our company is extremely delighted to partner with Shangri-La Hotel Singapore to showcase this unique new venue to our MICE and corporate planner guests.
“Back to School at The Pavilion is aligned with TTG Asia Media’s mission of continuously striving to feature special and new venues to our readers, who constantly seek fresh and exciting experiences for their meetings, incentive programmes and other events.”
Event
Back to School at The Pavilion
Organisers
Shangri-La Hotel Singapore and TTG Asia Media
Venue
The Pavilion at Shangri-La Hotel Singapore
Date
November 26, 2014
No of participants
90
Objective
To introduce Shangri-La’s newly added and renovated heritage site The Pavilion, as well as commemorate TTG Asia Media’s 40th anniversary with industry leaders
