Jewel Changi Airport Restaurants Like A&W & Lavender Bakery Open Today, Here’s What To Eat

After months of feverish anticipation, the wait is finally over: Jewel Changi Airport opens its doors today (April 17) to the public for a preview ahead of its official April 17 opening.

8 DAYS was invited to a media sneak peek happening today too (though we managed to get in a few days earlier as well), and we got to roam around the cavernous 10-storey mall with over 280 shops that’s built in a circle and connected to the airport’s Terminal 1. It’s an understatement to say that the vast structure is beautiful: glittery stores line every walkway, and somehow, every tenant’s décor here is better, brighter and more puffed up to impress than their outlets outside of Jewel. Even the mall smells like Singaporean pride.

While there are many spanking new shops for you to indulge in your shopaholic tendencies (hello, biggest Nike store in Singapore), the F&B department here is truly the, er, jewel in Jewel’s crown. The building houses many beloved homegrown eateries — for instance, you’ll be able to buy Lim Chee Guan’s bak kwa and Rich & Good Cake Shop’s kaya rolls for your overseas relatives before you fly out of Singapore — as well as famous overseas F&B brands that are setting up shop on our shores for the first time (hello, Shake Shack).

Even a whole day of wandering around Jewel is not enough to fully cover its sprawling grounds, which includes a fully air-conditioned Canopy Park (trust us, the air-con there is blasted at full throttle, so head there to lepak on hot days). You’ll need to spend at least a few weekends’ worth of meals here just to explore the myriad of dining options available. Yep, the choices provided by the over 100 eateries here are overwhelming.

So we at 8days.sg put on our comfiest sneakers (“I need a scooter to get around Jewel!” wails our colleague) and hit the mall running to suss out where and what you should start munching on. Let’s start with...

A&W is backkk. The American fast food chain returns to Singapore after leaving the local market in 2003, and nothing much has changed in its 16-year absence. You can once again relive your childhood memories of feasting on fried chicken and root beer floats in A&W’s signature orange digs, and take a photo for the ’gram with Rooty the bear mascot at the entrance. Ahhh #throwbackthursday. A&W is currently waiting for their halal certification, but is “Muslim-friendly” as no pork or lard is used in their kitchen.

Our faves as a kid: the Chicken/Beef Coney Cheese Dog ($9.40 for a combo with curly fries and a root beer float), Root Beer Float ($3.80) and Waffle Ice Cream with Topping ($7.90). Ah, memories.

#B2-209, open 24 hours.

Malaysian bakery chain Lavender arrives in Singapore, and brought its most popular bakes along. The elegantly rustic Jewel outlet is similar to its fancier Malaysian branches, like the one at Aeon Tebrau City in Johor Bahru. The open-concept takeaway space, with heaving trays of buns and colourful cakes displayed in transparent cases, is visually inviting: it’s gonna be hard to resist grabbing a bun or two when you amble past the bakery.

Get the best-selling Coconut Bun ($1.90), Bamboo Charcoal Sliced Bread ($3), Hanjuku Cheese soufflé cheesecake ($2.50 each), Kaya ($4 a jar) and Pandan Chiffon Cake ($6). Prices here are 50% higher than in Malaysia due to the Singapore dollar-ringgit exchange rate and generally higher overhead costs here (the owners insist on using only imported French butter and Japanese flour to maintain their product quality), though you save yourself the time and effort of crossing the Causeway.

#B2-253/254, open daily 10am-10pm.

Unlike its charmingly old-school original shop in Kampong Glam, the family-run Rich & Good Cake Shop at Jewel is modernised with a hipster revamp. The pink-and-white decor (how cute is the new logo depicting a hand rolling a Swiss roll) is just as hip as a stylo Korean café, which the family behind Rich & Good says they have spent a pretty penny on. We would have loved to dine in here, but alas, it’s just a takeaway shop. According to Rich & Good's 76-year-old founder Lily Liu, the cakes are still made by hand at their original shop at Kandahar Street, and transported to Jewel.

Lily Liu’s famous narrow roll cakes (there are flavours like durian and chocolate), which are baked on-site in a kitchen behind the shopfront. The original cake rolls are 30cm (from $9 a roll), but Rich & Good’s Jewel outlet offers the rolls in an exclusive Mini 15cm size (from $5 a roll). The one worth loading up on, in our opinion, is the lemak Kaya Roll ($10), comprising pandan sponge and a thick kaya filling. It comes in the same distinctive millennial pink box that the brand’s known for, but now jazzed up with cute graphics of Singapore shophouses.

#01-232, ​​​​​open daily 9am-11pm.

The New York fine-casual burger chain sashays into Singapore with a double-storey first outlet.

We get first dibs on the food during the media preview; read it here.

#02-256, open daily 10am-10pm.

The Massachusetts, US, ice cream brand founded by rock band U2’s former lawyer lands in Singapore with its signature riotously colourful, funky look.

This is where you can buy quirky desserts like Ice Cream Pizza and heaving ice cream cones covered in Instagrammable toppings.

#B2-234, open daily 10am-10pm.

The highly-anticipated lobster roll and burger specialist from London will only be opening its doors in Singapore mid-May; renovations are still going on. It’s located in the idyllic rooftop Canopy Park so you can kick back and pretend you’re on holiday even if you don’t have a flight to catch. For the media and public preview, Burger & Lobster set up a temporary booth and flew in their executive development chef Ajesh Gopi to demonstrate how to eat lobsters, and make lobster rolls for the media to try. Mmm.

We still got to try their famed Lobster Roll at the media preview, though. The buttered roll is stuffed with 120g of springy, mayonnaise-slicked lobster chunks and drizzled with an optional squeeze of lemon. Delish, and we’re glad we can have it anytime in Singapore soon. Prices will be announced closer to their opening date.

#05-203, open daily 9am-3am.

Hailing from Norway, Pink Fish offers the Nordic country’s specialty, salmon, prepared in a variety of ways. You’ll be able to get your food fast at the quick service counter decked out in vibrant colours, and trot your food to a dine-in table to makan.

#B1-261/262, open daily 10am-10pm.

After months of teasing on social media, Taiwanese bubble tea chain The Alley opens its doors in Singapore. Unlike its Insta-worthy dine-in cafes we have seen in JB, the Jewel store is a takeaway stall in the mall’s food hall, and there is barely any space for you to join the inevitably long queue. We’ll probably go when the crowd hype dies down a bit.

#B2-273, open 24 hours.

It’s Chocolate Wonderland over at this Swiss chocolatier’s first Singapore shop. We feel like we’ve stumbled into Willy Wonka’s factory, what with all the gigantic chocolate slabs piled tantalisingly in a glass display case. You can ask for free slab samples before you commit to buying (each flavour costs $19.90 for 100g).

#01-241, open daily 9am-11pm.

Japanese confectionery Morozoff has a certain graceful ’90s appeal to us (folks of, erm, a certain age would remember their shop within defunct Japanese department store Daimaru at Liang Court, both of which closed in 2003). After returning to Singapore’s market in 2017 with two retail outlets, they are now expanding via this family-friendly dine-in cafe. It also sits in the enviably plum position next to the thrilling Pokemon Centre.

#04-200, open daily 10am-10pm.

At Jewel’s B2 level is a food hall/cluster of casual food stalls offering takeaway snacks and light bites. This includes Lee Wee & Brothers’ otah specialty stall and Japanese import Tokyo Milk Cheese Factory and Cow Cow Kitchen, which serves cheesecake and milky cheese soft serve ice cream cones.

The artisanal local ice cream parlour teams up with homegrown fashion label In Good Company to open a takeaway shop at the latter’s boutique storefront. Like its forever crowded flagship store in the east, there are no seats here either (dang), but B.O.P’s colourful, funky aesthetics is everywhere, and we’re glad there is a lot more space for us to queue up and buy their delicious thyme-scented ice cream cones (the cramped queue situation at their East Coast Road shop is frustrating).

#01-214/215/216, open daily 12pm-11pm.

Here is another Starbucks joint for you to spend the day in, except this one is a lot more posh and boasts two floors. It’s a Starbucks Reserve outlet, which means you can do atas coffee connoisseur things like choosing your beans of choice for your coffee order. There are plenty of seats in cosy nooks and crannies for you to nurse your cuppa, and the wood-panelled walls are made for your Starbucks coffee ’gram.

Get these Starbucks dishes exclusive to this Jewel outlet: Hainanese Chicken Rice Quinoa Salad ($10.90) with quinoa and cauliflower rice in a jar and Milo Tiramisu ($8.90) to rep Singapore food.

#02-204, open daily 9am-11pm.

Homegrown beer brand Tiger flaunts its own beer garden with zi char food at Jewel’s air-conditioned rooftop Canopy Park. It sits on a busy stretch overlooking the Rain Vortex, so it’s a good spot if you want to sip on a beer while people-watching.

The nosh here is created in partnership with local zi char stalwart Keng Eng Kee Seafood, so you can find KEK’s signatures like Moonlight Hor Fun (pictured), and you wash down the food with an exclusive orchid-infused Black Lager. There’s also a machine for you to customise your own Tiger Beer bottle ($15).

#05-205, open daily 9am-3am.

PHOTOS: ALVIN TEO