Where to Eat Near Amara Hotel Singapore: A Dining Guide for 2026

TLDR: Amara Hotel Singapore is at 165 Tanjong Pagar Road in the CBD — refurbished in 2024, seven minutes from Tanjong Pagar MRT. The hotel has six restaurants inside, including Bar-Roque Grill (French rotisserie) and Jigger and Pony (one of Asia’s best cocktail bars), but the best meal near Amara Hotel isn’t inside it. Lau Pa Sat and Maxwell Food Centre are both under fifteen minutes on foot for cheap local food. 

For Indian fine dining, Akasa at CapitaSky (79 Robinson Road) is a twelve-minute walk — north Indian fine dining with fresh-ground spices, a real tandoor, and set lunch from S$48++. Best for business lunches, client dinners, or anyone who wants a proper sit-down meal without going far.

Tanjong Pagar is one of those parts of Singapore where you genuinely don’t need to go far for a good meal. Walk out of Amara Hotel Singapore and within ten minutes you’re at a hawker centre, a cocktail bar, or a proper sit-down restaurant — depending on which direction you go.

Most guests staying here don’t realise how much is right outside. This guide covers it all — what’s inside Amara Hotel Singapore, what’s nearby, and where to actually go based on what kind of meal you want. Visiting for work? There are decent business lunch options. Here for something special? The best dinner choices are outside the hotel, not in it. Just want cheap local food and back to your room? That’s covered too.

Amara Hotel Singapore: Location and What It Means for Dining

Amara Hotel Singapore is at 165 Tanjong Pagar Road, right in the CBD. It went through a full refurbishment in 2024 — 389 rooms, updated lobby, renovated dining areas. The hotel connects directly to 100 AM mall next door, which has a supermarket, a bakery, and a few casual food options. Tanjong Pagar MRT is about a seven-minute walk away on foot.

Tanjong Pagar has changed a lot in the past decade. It used to be a quiet back end of the business district that nobody really thought about. Now it’s a proper eating neighbourhood — old shophouses converted into restaurants, fine dining spots on Robinson Road, cocktail bars tucked into side streets, and a few hawker places that have been there since before any of this got trendy.

For anyone staying near Amara Hotel Singapore rather than eating in the hotel every night, that range works well. There’s genuinely something for every budget within a fifteen-minute walk.

Chinatown is about ten minutes on foot going west. Lau Pa Sat hawker centre is roughly the same distance going east toward Raffles Place. Maxwell Food Centre is about twelve minutes south. The neighbourhood earns its food reputation for good reason.

How far is Akasa from Amara Hotel Singapore?

Akasa — an Indian restaurant in Singapore known for north Indian fine dining — is at 79 Robinson Road inside CapitaSky. That’s roughly a twelve-minute walk from Amara Hotel Singapore, or five minutes if you take the MRT one stop to Raffles Place and walk from there. It’s the best option in this part of the city for anyone wanting Indian food at a proper level — for a working lunch, a client dinner, or just a good meal after a long day. More on this further down.

What kind of food is Tanjong Pagar known for?

The area has two very different sides to it. The Tanjong Pagar Road shophouse stretch is mostly casual — coffee shops, mid-range restaurants, bars. Walk toward Guoco Tower or Robinson Road and it shifts into proper fine dining territory pretty fast. For hotel guests who want to eat well without getting in a cab, this mix works in your favour. You can find a S$6 bowl of chicken rice or a S$78 tasting menu within the same ten-minute radius. Not many parts of Singapore offer that.

Restaurants Inside Amara Hotel Singapore

Six restaurants and three bars inside the hotel. Worth knowing what each one is so you can decide whether to eat in or walk out.

Element Restaurant is the main all-day option. International buffet for breakfast and dinner, local and Asian food, rotating menu. The 2024 refurbishment touched this space too. Breakfast here is good value if it’s included in your room. For dinner, reviews are mixed — some people like how much variety there is, others find the quality inconsistent across the spread.

Bar-Roque Grill is the more interesting choice inside the hotel. French rotisserie, big portions, a bit theatrical in the way it presents itself. There’s a Sunday roast that regulars come back for. If you’re eating in for dinner rather than going out, this is the one worth choosing.

Jigger and Pony is technically inside Amara Hotel Singapore but operates completely independently. It’s consistently listed among Asia’s best cocktail bars and pulls its own crowd — mostly people who came specifically for the cocktails, not guests who wandered in from the lobby. The menu reads like a lifestyle magazine. If you’re eating dinner elsewhere and want a drink afterward, it’s worth walking back for.

Hyang-to-gol Korean Restaurant has been in the hotel a long time. Over a hundred Korean dishes, works well for groups. Rated 3.8 on OpenTable.

Cafe Oriental covers the local food base. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, nothing unexpected. Good if you want something straightforward and familiar.

The hotel restaurants are perfectly fine. But if you want a meal you’ll actually remember, the better choices are outside.

Where to Eat Near Amara Hotel Singapore

Best Indian fine dining near Amara Hotel Singapore — Akasa

Anyone staying at Amara Hotel Singapore who wants proper Indian food nearby has one clear answer. Akasa is at CapitaSky, 79 Robinson Road — a short walk or one MRT stop from the hotel.

Akasa is a north Indian fine dining restaurant in the Tanjong Pagar CBD. Spices are roasted and ground in-house every single day — no commercial pastes, no shortcuts. There’s a real tandoor on site. Head Chef Akhilesh Pathak has cooked across north India’s major culinary traditions for decades, and the Awadhi preparations on the menu show that background clearly. This isn’t the kind of cooking that comes from following a standard recipe.

The room is candlelit and warm. There’s an outdoor al fresco terrace if you’d rather eat outside. It works for a solo working lunch as comfortably as it does for a birthday or a client dinner. For business travellers at Amara Hotel Singapore, it’s the most practical fine dining option in the area — close enough to walk to, good enough for any client, and honest enough that people come back when they’re not even staying nearby.

What to order:

• Dal-E-Akasa — S$22. Black lentils, 24 hours of slow cooking, finished with unsalted butter. Start with this. It’s the dish that makes people stop and actually pay attention.
• Butter Chicken — S$26. Charcoal-roasted chicken, Kashmiri chilli, cashew, tomato gravy. The version other restaurants tend to get compared to.
• Tandoori Paneer Kebab — S$24. Char-roasted cottage cheese, crushed nuts, Dhani chilli. One of the better vegetarian starters in Singapore full stop.
• Akasa Signature Mutton Curry — S$34. Awadhi dum-cooked, saffron, mustard oil. Slow and layered. Don’t rush it.
• Kulfi Falooda — S$16. The dessert that people come back for specifically.

Set lunch from S$48++ per person. It’s the most practical way to try proper Indian fine dining near Amara Hotel without committing to a full dinner. Happy Hour runs weekdays from 4–7 PM — drinks from S$8++ and bar bites from S$12.

For the full set lunch menu details, visit the Akasa weekday set lunch page.

Best hawker food near Amara Hotel Singapore

Lau Pa Sat — about ten minutes east on foot, heading toward Raffles Place. Open late. The outdoor satay stalls are the most famous thing here — charcoal-grilled, served with peanut sauce. Inside the centre covers everything else: chicken rice, laksa, char kway teow. Budget S$5–12 per person.

Maxwell Food Centre — twelve minutes south on foot. More local crowd than Lau Pa Sat, a lot of people say the food is better. Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice has a queue most lunchtimes for a reason. Worth finding the rojak stall too. Budget S$4–10 per person.

100 AM Mall food court — attached directly to the hotel, zero walking involved. Good for a quick lunch between meetings when leaving the building sounds like too much effort. Nothing special but it’s there and it’s covered from the rain.

Best business lunch near Amara Hotel Singapore

Two kinds of business lunch near Amara Hotel Singapore, and the right answer depends entirely on what kind of meeting it is.

Casual working lunch with someone you already know well — Maxwell Food Centre, Lau Pa Sat, or the 100 AM food court. Fast, cheap, no booking needed, gets the job done.

Proper client lunch where the setting and the food both need to be right — Akasa. The CBD location, professional dining room, and set lunch menus from S$48++ make it the strongest Indian fine dining option in this part of Singapore for corporate use. Private dining is available for group bookings. The kitchen is serious enough that clients who’ve never eaten Indian food before will still understand the quality when the food arrives.

For groups eating inside the hotel, Bar-Roque Grill handles larger tables well. The portions are generous and the rotisserie makes the meal feel like an occasion.

Best dinner near Amara Hotel Singapore

Akasa for Indian fine dining. À la carte from S$6 to S$72, tasting menu at S$78++. The Vegetarian Tasting Menu is also S$78++ and is the strongest vegetarian fine dining option in this part of the CBD — not a compromise, a proper full menu developed on its own terms.

Bar-Roque Grill inside the hotel for French rotisserie. Works well for groups who want to stay in.

Jigger and Pony for cocktails before or after dinner. One of the most respected bars in Asia, right inside the hotel. The cocktail menu is the reason people come. Book ahead on weekends.

For anyone who wants to go further than Tanjong Pagar, Clarke Quay is about a ten-minute taxi ride and has more casual group dining options.

Akasa: The Best Indian Restaurant Near Amara Hotel Singapore

Akasa is at the centre of what Tanjong Pagar’s fine dining scene has become. For guests staying at Amara Hotel Singapore who want Indian food done properly — not a curry house, not a buffet chain, not a hotel restaurant that happens to serve dal — it’s the only real answer in this part of the city.

A few things that make it different from other dining options in the area:

Spices ground fresh every morning. Most restaurants buy masala paste by the kilo. Akasa doesn’t. Every spice goes through the grinder each day before service. You can taste the difference. It’s not subtle.

A real tandoor, not a gas grill. The tandoor at Akasa runs at proper temperature. That’s why the bread has char and the meat has smoke. Neither of those things can be faked on a different piece of equipment.

Awadhi cooking alongside Punjabi. Most Indian restaurants in Singapore only do Punjabi. Akasa’s menu also covers Awadhi dum cooking — slow, delicate, twelve-hour preparations. The Signature Mutton Curry is the clearest example. It tastes like someone spent the whole day on it, because they did.

Vegetarian done properly, not as an afterthought. The vegetarian menu at Akasa is as carefully developed as the non-vegetarian one. Dal-E-Akasa, Palak Paneer, and Tandoori Paneer Kebab are dishes meat-eaters order and finish. The Vegetarian Tasting Menu at S$78++ holds its own entirely.

For business travellers doing a lot of corporate dining during their stay, Akasa also handles private events and group bookings. The corporate dinner venue in Singapore has more detail on what that covers.

If you want to understand the full menu before booking, the best north Indian food Singapore  guide on Akasa’s blog is a good place to start.

Address: 79 Robinson Road, #01-03 CapitaSky, Tanjong Pagar, Singapore 068897 Hours: Monday to Saturday — Lunch 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM, Dinner 5:30 PM to 9:30 PM Reservations: info@akasa.sg | +65 80121181

Getting Around from Amara Hotel Singapore

To Akasa: Walk along Tanjong Pagar Road toward Robinson Road — about twelve minutes. Or take the MRT one stop from Tanjong Pagar to Raffles Place and walk two minutes. Exit CapitaSky on Robinson Road and you’re there.

To Lau Pa Sat: Walk along Shenton Way toward Raffles Place. About ten minutes on foot.

To Maxwell Food Centre: Walk south along Tanjong Pagar Road past the MRT station. Around twelve minutes.

To Chinatown: Take Neil Road or Smith Street going west. About ten minutes.

MRT from Amara Hotel Singapore: Tanjong Pagar MRT (EW15) is a seven-minute walk from the hotel. From there — Orchard in fifteen minutes, Marina Bay in four, Bugis in ten.

For the airport, a taxi from Amara Hotel Singapore to Changi takes twenty to twenty-five minutes depending on traffic. The MRT takes closer to an hour.

Book a Table at Akasa

Staying at Amara Hotel Singapore and want a proper dinner or a business lunch nearby? Akasa is close enough to walk to, serious enough for clients, and good enough to make the walk worthwhile even if you weren’t staying anywhere near.

Akasa | 79 Robinson Road, #01-03 CapitaSky, Tanjong Pagar Mon–Sat: Lunch 11:30 AM–2:30 PM | Dinner 5:30 PM–9:30 PM Book: info@akasa.sg | +65 80121181