Studio M Hotel Review: Studio Twin Loft, Chocolate Temptation Package and MEMO Café

Tucked away behind a stretch of restaurants and bars along Robertson Quay is Studio M, a boutique loft-inspired hotel. 

During the day, the hotel serves as a quiet retreat away from the hustle and bustle of the city. But when the sun sets, it transforms into the perfect backdrop for the lively Robertson Quay district where you can enjoy a great night out!

In May, we were invited for a 2D1N experiential staycation package with a chocolate bar making workshop in celebration of their full reopening post-refurbishment. We excitedly agreed because why turn down an opportunity to kick back and relax right?

If you’re thinking of booking your own staycation at Studio M, check out our honest review of the hotel stay from the rooms to the workshop and even the café food below!

^{Disclaimer: The staycation, workshop and food were sponsored. However, this is not a paid review and all opinions are our own.}

Room Types at Studio M Hotel

There are 3 room types in Studio M — Studio, Premier and Executive. All the lofts feature a high ceiling of 3.8m and floor-to-ceiling glass windows, which allow a ton of natural light to filter through. Each room has a maximum occupancy of 3 persons.

For our 2D1N staycation, we got to stay in the Studio Twin Loft!

Studio Loft

^{Ground floor}

^{Second floor}

Walking into the brightly-lit Studio Loft, we were first greeted by the comfortable looking queen bed. Along the entryway were the toilet and shower, which were separated into 2 stalls along either side of the corridor.

As we ventured to the upper level, we found a spacious yet homey workspace with a wall shelf and a sofa bed. 

Here’s a tip — if you’re here with a friend, you can request for their Studio Twin Loft (subject to availability) which houses a double bed (54 x 75 inches) on the upper floor instead of a sofa bed! Though it’s smaller than the queen (60 x 80 inches), it’s definitely more comfortable than a sofa bed.

Premier Loft

^{Ground floor}

^{Second floor}

The Premier Loft features a similar layout to that of the Studio Loft, except that the workspace is located on the ground floor instead of the upper level. With this room type, you’ll step into a spacious living space with a sofa bed for you to recline and take a nap!

Upstairs, you’ll find a cosy bedroom with a queen bed and a small nightstand. Similar to the Studio Loft, the toilet and shower area is separated so 2 people can use the bathroom at the same time.

Executive Loft

^{Ground floor}

^{Second floor}

Found at the corners of each floor is the Executive Loft. This room offers the best privacy and the most natural light with its L-shaped glass windows! Like the Premier Loft, the living and study area is located on the bottom floor while the bedroom is located on the second floor. 

Unlike the other 2 room types, this loft features a single bathroom that combines the toilet and shower area. 

Experiential Staycation Packages

Instead of simply offering a getaway, Studio M is offering a unique experience that’ll make your stay extra memorable! They have 2 experiential staycay packages for you to choose from — a chocolate bar making ($240++/night) and resin workshop ($185++/night).

^{Chocolate bar making}

^{Resin workshop}

The chocolate workshop was launched in collaboration with Janice Wong, award-winning pastry chef and founder of 2am: dessertbar. On the other hand, the resin workshop is organised in collaboration with Resin Play, a renowned school for resin art and jewellery here in Singapore!

When we first heard about these workshops, we were immediately drawn in but ultimately, we chose the chocolate workshop 🍫  I mean, chocolate bar making and Janice Wong — how could we possibly resist?

Chocolate Bar Making Workshop

The 60-minute chocolate workshop is held in one of their lofts on the highest floor of the hotel. It’s an intimate space ideal for 2 guests and it’s limited to 2 sessions a day.

When we entered the room, it felt like we were stepping into the whimsical world of Alice in Wonderland but with hints of a chocolate factory. The floor of the room was covered in a grass carpet and there were cocoa beans and chocolate bars on display.

The walls were plastered with forest-themed wallpaper and one wall showcased the entire chocolate-making process, from roasting to winnowing, grinding, conching and so on. There were also some props for us to take photos with!

The workspace where we would be making the chocolate was facing the windows and all the ingredients, tools and machines were laid out neatly for our use.

To start the workshop, our instructor, Sean, gave us a brief overview of how chocolate is made. He shared about the processes and told us that we’d only be doing the mixing and weighing of ingredients and conching today as certain steps require specific tools and working environments.

Before we got our hands dirty, we got to choose between making milk or dark chocolate. This would determine the amount of sugar and milk we would be adding to our sweet treat. To help us decide, Sean gave us a taste of 3 different types of chocolate — milk, 70% dark chocolate and 80% dark chocolate. We went with the first option because we’re clearly basic 😂

After deciding on the type of chocolate, it was time to get started! We weighed out the respective ingredients and stirred them to ensure that they were mixed well. We also melted the cocoa butter. Once that’s done, we moved on to the conching.

For conching, all we had to do was pour the dry ingredients and melted cocoa butter into the machine slowly and ensure that the mixture was going under the wheel. After some time, it started looking smoother and more like liquid chocolatey goodness 😋

After watching it for 15 minutes, we left the machine to do its work for the next 24 hours.

That concluded the workshop and we each got to take home a bar of chocolate made by Janice Wong!

Overall review

Though it was a relatively simple workshop that didn’t require getting our hands too dirty, we did feel a tad bit like bakers for that hour. It was definitely a relaxing and interesting hands-on experience that chocolate lovers (like us!) and bakers would likely enjoy. 

Plus, you even get to bring home your own chocolate bar!

MEMO Café

MEMO is a casual bistro and café serving modern European cuisine. On their menu, you’ll find familiar dishes like salads, pasta and burgers. When we went during lunchtime on a Friday afternoon, it was quiet and made a great place to just chill and relax!

Healthy Mixed Salad

The Healthy Mixed Salad is one of the dishes that’s part of MEMO’s farm-to-table concept. Some of the vegetables in the salad are plucked fresh from the indoor garden wall!

The salad was incredibly well-balanced in terms of flavour. The honey balsamic vinaigrette dressing was salty, sweet and sour all at the same time. The cherry tomatoes helped to add some sweetness to the dish while the roasted peppers added a spicy, peppery kick. 

The smooth and creamy texture of the avocado also paired really well with the crunchy vegetables!

There wasn’t much to dislike about the dish so if we had to point out 1 thing, it’d be the lack of colours on the plate. The salad looked dull and flat and the only pop of colour came from the cherry tomatoes.

But we’re just nitpicking at this point! When we dug in, that didn’t matter so much to us anymore 😂

This is a great dish in terms of taste and texture, and the vegetables are very fresh. We really enjoyed the dish and could totally finish an entire bowl each! And this is coming from people who aren’t fans of salads at all.

Crispy Cereal Chicken Bagel

Instead of the classic brioche bun, MEMO uses a bagel for this dish. It’s one of the café’s best-selling mains and features their homemade BBQ sauce.

Looking at the plate made our mouths water immediately, especially with the shine on the bagel and the crispy-looking golden brown cereal. The chicken looked thick and there was a generous portion of salad (with the same honey balsamic vinaigrette) and fries on the side.

Taking a bite, we could feel the crunch from the cereal and man, that was great. The sautéed red onions offered a welcoming sweetness and softness to the burger and the lettuce gave a juicy crunch. The homemade BBQ sauce was multidimensional; it was sweet, salty and ever-so-slightly spicy.

When we first saw the menu, we immediately assumed that it’d be a chicken thigh or breast fillet. So when we cut into the bagel, we were admittedly thrown off by the fact that it’s a minced chicken patty and found it to be slightly dry and under-seasoned.

Also, though it’s an interesting choice to use a bagel, we would’ve preferred the typical fluffy brioche bun as the bagel made the dish feel a little heavy. Furthermore, while the BBQ sauce was a flavour explosion, we weren’t huge fans of it and the mayonnaise was lost amidst those strong flavours.

Although this cereal chicken bagel excelled in texture, the main component of the dish could be better. If the minced patty can be traded for a thigh or breast fillet, it would be much juicier and tender, taking this dish to another level.

Wagyu Beef Burger

The Wagyu Beef Burger is yet another one of their bestsellers and comes with salad and fries on the side.

One of the most important things when it comes to a beef burger is the cook on the patty and they nailed it. It was pink and juicy in the middle and had a nice colour on the outside. It was lightly seasoned and carried a subtle sweetness.

The burger also packed a whole lot of other ingredients including bacon, pickles, tomato, lettuce and cheese.

Though the burger had lots of elements, the dish felt like it lacked harmony overall. The beef got lost amidst the big bold flavours of the homemade BBQ sauce, bacon and pickles. This was a pity given that the patty itself tasted great!

The bun was also a little flatter and less fluffy than others we’ve tried, but it’s not a big issue.

It was a good beef burger, though it could’ve done without some elements to allow the Wagyu beef patty to shine as the star of the dish. After all, less is more sometimes!

Truffle Cheese Fries

The fries were crispy on the outside and had a nice golden colour. They were also nicely salted. Portion wise, it was decent for its price.

Being truffle fries, we felt that the chefs could’ve been a little more generous with the truffle oil. The taste of truffle wasn’t very prominent and the dish as a whole tasted more like regular fries with shaved parmesan cheese.

Avocado with Gula Melaka Smoothie

^{Iced Matcha Latte (left) and Avocado with Gula Melaka Smoothie (right)}

This smoothie had a strong avocado taste with a hint of Gula Melaka that was just the right level of sweetness. FYI, this is coming from people who drink 25% sugar for their milk tea. As it had a thick consistency (not that we’re complaining!), a bigger straw would’ve been better 😆 

This was definitely one of the better avocado smoothies we’ve had, and we’d come back for a second cup any day!

Iced Matcha Latte

If you’re a fan of creamy and milky matcha lattes, this is the one for you! It has a smooth consistency and though the matcha flavour leans more towards the lighter side, it’s still a wonderful drink that calls for seconds.

Do note that the default is unsweetened, so you’ll have to request for sugar to be added if you want your latte sweet.

Hotel Amenities

Pool

Located on level 2 of the hotel, the 25m lap pool offers a serene retreat away from the hustle and bustle of the Robertson Quay district. A small jacuzzi pool can be found just beside it where you can relax your muscles after a long day.

If you’d prefer, you can simply lounge on one of the deck chairs and enjoy the heat of the Singapore sun!

Gym

Unlike most hotel gyms, this one at Studio M is an open-air gym surrounded by lush greenery. The plants surrounding the room offer fresh air and a resort-like ambience that’s relaxing and calming to the body and mind.

Here, you can find all sorts of gymming equipment from bench presses to weights, treadmills, rowing machines and LAT machines.

MEMO Café

Located on the ground floor of the hotel, MEMO Café is a modern and chic dining space with lots of potted plants around. This cosy café offers indoor and outdoor seating areas with power plugs so diners can study or work there.

One unique feature that caught our eye was the plant feature wall situated in the indoor seating area. As it turns out, it’s a farm-to-table initiative launched together with Grobrix, where the chefs at MEMO would use the vegetables and herbs grown in some of their dishes!

Many different vegetables and herbs were being planted including lettuce, mint, rosemary and basil. We got to try some of these fresh off the wall and though we aren’t the biggest fans of raw vegetables, they tasted really fresh and juicy 😋 The herbs were really fragrant too!

Opening hours: 6am – 6pm (Mon – Sun)
Email: Memo.StudioM@millenniumhotels.com
Phone: 6808 8885

Breeze

Breeze is a non-air-conditioned dining space found on level 2 across from the pool. Decorated with lots of greenery, this relaxing space is the perfect spot to start your day.

If you’re looking for a place to dine in the evening after MEMO Café closes, you can also head to Breeze for a meal.

Overall Review of Studio M Hotel

Overall, we had a wonderful stay at Studio M and it was a much-needed retreat from the hustle and bustle of the city. Though if you’re planning to have a staycay there, do note that the hotel is a distance from the nearest MRT station.

The chocolate workshop was also a memorable experience as we got a little glimpse into the work behind one of our favourite treats.

Moreover, the hotel staff were friendly and accommodated to our needs, especially when we requested for separate beds after agreeing to share a bed initially (we decided that separate beds would be better so that we could both enjoy a good night’s sleep 😂)!

Address: No 3 Nanson Road, Singapore 238910
Phone: 6808 8888
Email: reservations.smh@millenniumhotels.com

Thank you for having us, Studio M! ❤️