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LIFE! Home & Garden

OWL CAFE What: Homegrown coffee brand Owl opens its first Asian-inspired cafe serving new coffee blends such as the famed kopi luwak or civet coffee ($18.90, right). It also has a range of modern Straits food including roti bakar assam nanas ($4.50), which is toast with ham, pineapple and tamarind sauce. Where: 02-10/11, open: 10am to 11pm (Fridays, Saturdays and eve of public holidays) and 10am to 10pm other days Info: Call 6694-3537 or go to www.owl.com.sg LA BARRA What: Enjoy authentic Colombian street food such as arepa, cornbread filled with shredded beef, chicken, avocado or feta cheese. Beverages include Colombian beer and spirits. Prices from $5 to $30. Opens next month. Where: 02-21 Info: Call 6694-2495 JAMAICA BLUE What: Popular Australian coffee joint Jamaica Blue opens its second outlet here offering its premium coffee blends and signature coffees. Try the cappuccino (from $5) and food such as egg benedict (from $13.90). Opens on Sept 24. Where: 01-32, open: 10am to 10pm (Mondays to Thursdays), 10am to 11pm (Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and eve of public holidays) Info: www.jamaicablue.com.sg

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

Home & Garden LIFE!

Rochester Mall
Starbucks What: Enjoy your cuppa at this vintage-style Starbucks. Housed in a two-storey, black-and-white colonial building, the outlet is also the only store that uses a manual coffee brewing machine. On Monday, it will roll out an updated exclusive menu with items such as cappuccino mushroom soup, turkey bacon and mushroom cream pasta, and steak and caramelised onion ciabatta. Where: 37 Rochester Drive, open: 8am to 11pm (Sundays to Thursdays and public holidays), 8am to midnight (Fridays, Saturdays and eve of

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Offerings at one-north

public holidays) Info: Call 6684-8538 or go to www.starbucks.com.sg 2fifteen Kitchen What: The three-week-old eatery helmed by Les Amis-trained executive chef Kenny Yeo offers diners twoor three-course European cuisine for $25 and $32. The menu changes weekly according to seasonal produce. Expect appetisers such as pan-seared Hokkaido sea scallop and char-grilled Australian beef sirloin for main courses. Where: 35 Rochester Drive, 02-15 Rochester Mall, open: 11am to 10pm. Closed on Mondays Info: Call 6659-8215

PHOTOS: HIGHBROW, SCANTEAK, OWL CAFE

The Star Vista

HIGHBROW (above) What: This upmarket beauty salon offers a range of services including eyebrow threading and embroidery as well as eyelash extensions in a contemporary setting of wooden furnishings. Where: B1-25, open: 10am to 10pm daily Info: Call 6694-2777 or 9177-1677 or go to www.highbrow.com.sg SCANTEAK SIGNATURE What: Teak furniture company Scanteak opens its new lifestyle concept store carrying exclusive collections such as Elements featuring contemporary unvarnished teak furniture and Designer, which has limited-edition pieces by an international design collective. Where: B1-14, open: 11am to 9pm daily Info: Call 6694-0171 or visit www.scan teak.com

At Rochester Mall, relax with a cuppa at Starbucks vintage-style outlet (above) or enjoy European cuisine at 2fifteen Kitchen (right). PHOTOS: JOYCE FANG, 2FIFTEEN KITCHEN

Map of one-north
The Star Singapore Polytechnic
V

Ghim Moh Estate EALTH MMONW AVE CO NUE Buona Vista

IS TA

Holland Village
W

station

Holland Estate

Mixeddevelopment (The Rochester, Rochester Mall, Park Avenue Rochester)

EX CH AN GE GRE EN

Buona Vista station (Circle Line)

(Business & Lifestyle)

Vista Xchange

Ministry of Education

To open on Monday, the Star Vista mall (left) is said to be Singapores first naturally cooled mall.
A series of air vents pumps out air which is 1 to 2 degrees lower than the surrounding temperature. There are also concealed fans to help with the ventilation. The mall aims to draw more than 400,000 residents, workers and students within a 5km radius, which includes neighbourhoods such as Clementi. Zookeeper Vikraman Madhavan, 43, a long-time resident at Ghim Moh Estate across the street from The Star Vista, may finally visit one-north to check out the dining options at the new mall. From the time the area was just an empty plot of land to when the buildings started coming up, I never thought that there was anything interesting for me in one-north. I usually go to Holland Village or Orchard to hang out with friends. Now, I may go and check out The Star Vista since it is so close, he says. The transformation of one-north did not happen overnight. It is part of a masterplan announced in 2001 by the Government to turn the area into a hip research and development hub where people can live, work, learn and play. Its features today include a well-connected commuter network, with the area sitting at the crossroads of two major train lines, the East-West Line and the Circle Line. Two condominium residences one-north Residences and The Rochester have sprung up in the last three years, and next to Rochester Mall is a new four-star business hotel-cum-serviced-suites called Park Avenue Rochester. The development of one-north is now close to its halfway mark, with completion due in 2030. Next year, the regional headquarters of American film production company Lucasfilm will move from the Changi Business Park to its new premises in Fusionopolis called the Sandcrawler, an eight-storey building shaped like a Star Wars vehicle. Infinite Studios, which houses Singapores first two sound stages, will also open in digital media hub Mediapolis. By 2015, national broadcaster MediaCorp will move into the area too. IT manager Melvin Leong, 37, loves the idea of living in one-north. The father of two bought a 1,432 sq ft apartment at one-north Residences for $1.7 million. I like that it is centrally located, yet so quiet. Even when my family moves elsewhere, we will still keep this place. In future, it may even be our retirement home. hfhuang@sph.com.sg

Rochester Park
(Talent Development) (Infocomm Technology, Science & Engineering)
VIST

Nepal Hill

one-north Gateway
one-north Lin k
P

NTU one-north Campus one-north Residences Commonwealth station Sandcrawler

Commonwealth & Tanglin Halt Estate

(Biomedical & Life Sciences)

Biopolis

Fusionopolis

on e-n ort hC re sc en t

DOWN R OAD TS OR

H NORT

Huang Huifen

uild it and they will come. That is the case with the once sleepy, woodland area next to Buona Vista MRT station, now the home to one-north, the 200ha city-within-a-city. It is a research and development centre that is home to the distinctive buildings that are the now world-renowned hubs Biopolis and Fusionopolis, drawing about 13,500 residents and workers. Build it and they will come and they will also eat, shop and go to concerts. Adding to the nine-month-old Rochester Mall in the vicinity, the retail portion of shopping-cum-arts complex next to Buona Vista MRT station, The Star,

STAR DRAWS
The opening of a $976-million new complex in Buona Vista will expand dining and entertainment options for workers and residents
will open on Monday. The open-air Star Vista mall has about 100 shops across three levels plus numerous eateries. Soon, a nine-storey entertainment complex, whose 5,000-seat theatre will be Singapores largest purpose-built auditorium, will open too. Over a quarter of the tenants at The Star retail portion are new-to-market concepts such as La Barra, a restaurant serving Colombian street fare, and Highbrow, which specialises in eyebrow services such as eyebrow threading. Hungry scientists can get plenty of brain food. Over half the malls net lettable area will consist of dining outlets, expanding the existing food options beyond the cluster of colonial bungalows at Rochester Park, at Rochester Mall whose range of outlets includes Starbucks and Italian eatery Pasta Fresca da Salvatore and a smattering of food outlets at Fusionopolis and Biopolis. Mr Jonathan Wong, 32, an organisation development officer who has been working at one-north for nine years, looks forward to more cafes when The Star Vista opens. Its another place I can visit for coffee instead of the office pantry. The new mall will also expand my dining options. When I first started working here, there was not much food choice. For years, I had to bring my own lunch. The locale will also get an injection of culture when The Star Performing Arts Centre, or The Star Pac, opens in November with a two-night concert by American singer David Foster on Nov 2 and 3. A concert by Taiwanese singer Yoga Lin is set for Nov 24, and the arts centre hopes to hold a variety of concerts including K-pop and J-pop acts, and musicals. The Star Pac has state-of-the-art audio and visual technology and, in terms of seating, will dwarf venues such as Esplanade and Marina Bay Sands 2,000-plus capacity. It includes a 300-seat outdoor amphitheatre, seven multi-purpose rooms and a rooftop function room. The Star Pac is owned by Rock Productions, the business arm of mega-church New Creation Church, while The Star Vista is owned by CapitaMalls Asia. The whole development took about four years to build and costs $976 million. On Sundays, the churchs 24,000-strong congregation will use the auditorium for services. The 72m-high, multi-faceted 62,000 sq m Star building is designed by Hong Kong-based architect Andrew Bromberg of Aedas. He says in an e-mail interview: The design strives to celebrate and optimise the relationship between the retail and cultural centres by considering the project as one system. The inter-connection of the two centres is seen in the grand foyer, where a large skylight in front of the theatre lobby sits 33m above a 200-seat amphitheatre with a fountain on the basement level, allowing those in the theatre to look down into the amphitheatre and vice versa. Another unique feature is that when you enter the mall, you will not feel the usual cold blast of air-conditioning. Instead, the mall, which CapitaMalls Asia says is Singapores first naturally cooled mall, uses an openair concept with various openings to ventilate it.

one-north station
AYE R RAJ A

BUONA

Tanglin Trust School

AVE N

UE

(Supporting Residences)

Wessex Estate

National University of Singapore

Kent Ridge station

(Future Emerging Industries)

AY E

Phase 2

Mediapolis
(Media)

RA JA H

EX PR

Infinite Studios
ES SW AY

Temasek Club
WN DO RTS PO
UE EN AV

Source: JTC Corporation

ST GRAPHICS

ST PHOTOS: JOYCE FANG

one-north Residences
TUCK What: Set up by British IT director Matthew Worthy, 46, and Ms Ang Ai Leen (right), 31, the retro-fitted shop has more than 20 different types of British-made crisps and snacks, 24 chocolate varieties and 28 types of candies. Popular items include Monster Munch Pickled Onion flavoured crisps ($2.50). Where: 9 one-north Gateway, 01-41, open: 2.30 to 8pm (Mondays to Fridays) and 11am to 8pm (Saturdays and Sundays) Info: Call 6777-1350 or go to www.facebook.com/tucksingapore SPEXIAL KNEADZ What: The bakery-cum-workshop was set up by former teacher Myra Severino Lee, 49, for her daughter Raemorriel, 14, who is mildly autistic, to pursue her interest in baking. Besides bread, it has a signature dessert called the whoppie pie ($4.50

for medium size, top), soft cookies with marshmallow-flavoured buttercream. Where: 9 one-north Gateway, 01-37, open: 1 to 7pm (Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays), 10am to 1pm (Saturdays). Closed on Sundays and Wednesdays Info: Call 6777-7085 or e-mail myra@spexialkneadz.com