SINGAPORE – Just like the spurned lover in her 2020 song Champagne Problems, American pop star Taylor Swift seems to have an unparalleled Midas touch.
Wherever she goes, legions of screaming fans, swarms of paparazzi and overall economic boom follow. But beyond hotels and airlines, one particular group is hoping to taste the sweet fruits of “Swiftonomics”.
It is the restaurants and eateries located around the National Stadium, where Swift will perform her six sold-out shows from March 2 to 9.
Weekdays are typically a quiet affair for these businesses. “There are no malls or offices nearby, so we don’t get many visitors during lunchtime,” says Ms Priya Joseph, 47, chef de cuisine at Yarana, a riverside Indian restaurant at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Yarana’s neighbours face a similar struggle. Brewerkz, a craft beer brewery which has been operating along the same stretch since 2009, says footfall and sales at its Indoor Stadium outlet tend to fluctuate unpredictably.
Likewise, Japanese hotpot restaurant Suki-Ya and Taiwanese cafe Typhoon say customer traffic at their Kallang Wave Mall outlets has been “erratic”.
“There are days when there is no activity, and days when the outlets are extremely busy when there are concerts ongoing. As such, the operations teams at these outlets have to be very adaptive to the footfall conditions,” says Ms Bonnie Wong, 35, chief executive of F&B group Creative Eateries, which owns both chains.
Survival often depends on the influx of customers on concert days. Eateries such as Al Capone’s Sports Bar + Dining and Yarana see about 30 per cent more customers when international acts perform at the National Stadium.
The spike is even more extreme for French bistro Poulet and Thai restaurant Sanook Kitchen. They received up to 70 per cent more daily visitors – translating into a threefold jump in sales – during British rock band Coldplay’s concerts in January.
Real estate firm CapitaLand, which takes over the management of Kallang Wave Mall from April, is reviewing plans to enhance the Kallang precinct in collaboration with Kallang Alive Sports Management, which runs the Singapore Sports Hub.
“This process involves refreshing the retail and dining offerings, reconfiguring spaces to enhance the overall ambience and seamlessly integrating the retail areas with the surrounding precinct spaces,” says a CapitaLand Investment spokesman.
In the meantime, restaurants are bracing themselves for the floodgates to open once again this weekend and the next when Swifties hit the National Stadium.
For those who will be joining the throng, here is a “Taylor”-made list of what to eat before your show, themed according to the singer’s album eras.
Fearless fried chicken
What: Both Swift’s 2008 sophomore album and fried chicken chain Popeyes have their roots in the American South.
Fearless, with its banjos, fiddles and Southern twang, was heavily influenced by the country-pop sound that grew out of Nashville, Tennessee – where Swift moved to in her teens to pursue a career in music. It won Swift the first of her four Album of the Year Grammy Awards and made her a certified country star.
Popeyes, which American founder Alvin C. Copeland claims he named after the fearless fictional detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle, got its start about three decades earlier in New Orleans, Louisiana. Its menu is inspired by Southern comfort food, and features dishes such as fried chicken (from $3.60), cajun fish (from $4.30) and buttermilk biscuits (from $2).
The chicken and fish are marinated in special spice blends, then deep-fried till they are as crisp and golden as Fearless’ album cover. And if you go on a good day, the meat within will be tender and juicy.
Where: 02-02 Kallang Wave Mall, 1 Stadium Place
MRT: Stadium
When: Noon to 8pm (Mondays to Thursdays); 11am to 9pm (Fridays to Sundays)
How far from the National Stadium: A one-minute walk
Info: www.popeyes.com.sg
Burning Red hotpot
What: Nothing channels the righteous indignation of a jilted lover better than a piping hot vat of soup. If Swift’s emotionally turbulent fourth studio album, 2012’s Red, struck a painful chord with you, drown your sorrows at Qi Lai Feng, a Chinese restaurant specialising in fish pots – which are essentially pots of soup with slices of toman fish, red grouper or giant grouper.
Take it easy with milder flavours such as the Tomato Soup base (from $48.80), full of sour funk and served in a huge wooden barrel. Or, if you need more firepower before gearing up to shout-scream all 10 minutes of All Too Well (Taylor’s Version), opt for the Sichuan Spicy Fish Pot (from $42.80).
Both come with a fish of your choice. Order the latter and you will get mushrooms, tofu and Chinese cabbage thrown in for free.
Portions run large, so take along some friends.
The rest of the menu is as varied as Red’s eclectic tracklist. There is an extensive list of raw vegetables and meats you can pick from to flavour your hotpot, as well as several pages of stir-fried dishes. The spicy chicken or laziji ($18.80) is a solid bet, piled high with addictively tasty bits of fried chicken. It might not heal your heart – certainly not your arteries – but may numb the pain for now.
Where: 198 Geylang Road
MRT: Kallang
When: 5pm to midnight (Sundays to Thursdays); 5pm to 2am (Fridays and Saturdays)
How far from the National Stadium: A 20-minute walk
Info: qilaifeng.com
Wine and dine like it is 1989
What: Swift’s unapologetically maximalist 2014 pop triumph, 1989, is a lot of things: slick, big city anthems, catchy avowals of independence, bright synths, bright lights and, apparently, seagulls.
But that era is remembered as much for its music as for the tabloid-fodder events that swirled around her fifth album’s rollout. Remember the curated New York papwalks, KimYe drama and, of course, Swift’s ever-present girl squad?
It may be hard to serve up glossy New York vibes from one of Singapore’s quieter – well, on most days – regions, but you can still dine in Style at Yarana. Plus, it guarantees lots of loud flavour and quality squad time.
The Indian restaurant places a premium on celebrating friendship, with a menu designed to encourage sharing. It has an assortment of platters, ranging from lighter options like the Chat Pe Charca ($18), an elevated collection of Delhi street snacks, to the more substantial Yarana Meat Lovers Platter ($70), which includes lamb chops, kebabs, as well as grilled marinated fish and chicken.
Smaller plates of butter chicken ($22) and naan ($6) are also available.
There is a collection of cocktails too, in case you need something stronger to shake your worries off. They include classics like the Singapore Sling ($18) and Bloody Mary ($18), as well as Indian-inspired concoctions like the Rum Panna ($18) – made with Jeera Masala and a mango base.
Where: 01-04, 2 Stadium Walk
MRT: Stadium
When: Noon to 3pm and 6 to 10.30pm (Mondays to Thursdays); noon to 3pm and 6 to 11pm daily
How far from the National Stadium: An eight-minute walk
Info: yarana.sg
Burgers with a big Reputation
What: After the fallout from her infamous phone call with American rapper Kanye West and then-wife, reality television star Kim Kardashian, Swift went silent for nearly a year. It meant no new music in 2016, breaking the two-year release cycle she had hitherto set for her albums. When Reputation finally dropped in 2017, fans breathed a sigh of relief.
Sometimes, the wait is worth it.
Bear that in mind as you stand in line at Blackgoat. The burger and meat stall at Jalan Batu Market & Food Centre does not take reservations or advanced orders, so there is usually a snaking queue. But if you are looking to channel the dark, edgy aura of Swift’s vengeful pop manifesto, then you have come to the right place.
The kitchen is a sensory onslaught, the hiss of rendered fat, spurts of fire and mouthwatering fragrance of grilled meat as dizzying as Reputation’s bombastic synth-heavy soundscape. Staff are dressed in all black – the colour that has come to be associated with that album.
It goes big on flavour too. No snakes here, just good ol’ steaks. Highlights include the cheeseburger ($14), chicken burger ($13.50), stuffed squid ($9) and ribeye steak ($14 for 100g) – all precisely cooked, generously seasoned and immensely tasty.
Where: 01-05, 4A Jalan Batu
MRT: Mountbatten
When: 5.30 to 8.30pm (Wednesdays and Thursdays); 5.30 to 9pm (Fridays to Sundays)
How far from the National Stadium: A 25-minute walk
Info: @blackgoatburgers on Instagram
Midnight(s) snack
What: Swift described her most recent original studio album, 2022’s Midnights, as “a journey through terrors and sweet dreams”. Perhaps you have experienced such sleepless nights too, occasions where you – in the words of Swift – “lie awake in love and in fear, in turmoil and in tears”.
At least you do not have to spend them hungry.
Of all the supper spots near the National Stadium, G7 Live Seafood & Frog Porridge Restaurant remains a perennial favourite. Open till 3am daily, it runs on a reliable line-up of zi char favourites. There is, of course, the titular dish – frogs in a claypot start at $18 for three; top up $3.80 for porridge.
Cut through the post-concert Lavender Haze with more punchy flavours. There are cereal prawns (from $28), marmite pork ribs (from $22), black pepper beef ($32) and sambal kangkong (from $10).
You may need to queue, but the line usually moves relatively quickly. And anyway, you might need something to do while waiting for the crowd at the MRT to thin.
Where: Lorong 3 Geylang, 163 Geylang Road
MRT: Kallang
When: 3pm to 3am daily
How far from the National Stadium: An 18-minute walk
Info: g7liveseafood.com.sg
