Red Dot Design Museum – Inspiring Exhibition & Food Designed for a Good Time [Cafe has closed]

Looking for a unique place to explore in Singapore? Head down to the Red Dot Design Museum and get your minds blown by award winning futuristic design concepts. There are only two Red Dot Design Museums in the world, located in Germany and Singapore, which present the world’s largest exhibition of contemporary design. Besides embarking on an educational trip at the Red Dot Design Museum, you can buy carefully curated design objects from around the world, and savour delicious, highly “instagrammable” design food, craft beer, gourmet coffee and tea at the café bar.

As some of you might know, the Red Dot Design Museum used to be located at the rustic red building along Maxwell Road. After its relocation to Marina Bay and being given a new facelift, it is now the only night museum in Singapore that opens until 2am in the morning. The ongoing special exhibition, “A Preview of the Future”, features over 300 Red Dot award winning futuristic design concepts from the Red Dot Award for Design Concept.

The Red Dot Award for Design Concept is organized from Singapore and is the leading international design award for concepts, prototypes and new products that are about to be launched in the market. The award received a total of 4,724 entries from 58 countries in 2017. You can learn about today’s most exciting design research project and get a glimpse of what the future might bring.

In addition to the special exhibition of the winning design concepts, there are award winning designs from the Red Dot Award for Product Design throughout the museum – at the galleries, the museum shop and the museum cafe bar.

The Design Museum Shop curates a large collection of design collectables from all over the world, including many design objects from Singaporeans. Many of these design objects are unique in Singapore or are winners of the Red Dot Design Awards. Check out the above picture of the galaxy. It looks like an ordinary paper bag on the outside, but when you take a peep into the paper bag, you’ll be very surprised! It is a great place to shop for design gifts and presents for your loved ones, or for yourself.

We highly recommend ending your visit at the Design Cafe & Bar. Created by Food Anatomy’s Jia Xin and Sean, the cafe and bar redefines the experience of dining. Instead of traditional culinary plating, the food is presented in cubes that are both a gastronomic and visual treat for customers. Have fun assembling a meal from the wide variety of dishes available.

Our favourite bar bites are the Beef Rendang Dips and the Sriracha Porkers. The former consists chunks of beef slow braised in coconut milk and spices, and is served with crispy bread sticks. The latter is made up of spicy smoked shredded pork, drizzled with sriracha mayo. Salted Egg Fish Skin is also a bestselling bar bite here.

For those who prefer something light, there are appetizers and salads to please your palate. The Sakura Ebi Glass Noodles features a Thai inspired cold noodle salad tossed in sakura ebi, nuts and shallots dressed with home-made Thai lemongrass vinaigrette.

The highlight of the Design Cafe & Bar is the cubed food which range from Asian to Western flavours. Out of all the food cubes we tried, we particularly enjoyed the Hainanese Chicken Rice, the Rendang Beef Rice, and the Yuzu Salmon cubes. Do remember to add the tangy chilli sauce for the Hainanese Chicken Rice.

Desserts are also available, so please save some stomach space. The Creme Brûlée is so light and creamy, with a hint of torched caramel layer on top.

The museum bar serves iconic craft beers, Hitachino Nest from Ibaraki, Japan and Fourpure from London, UK. There are also other beverages such as gourmet coffee, tea, and juices. The famous cafe “Chye Seng Huat Hardware” and roastery “Papa Palheta” provide their beans and training to ensure the museum cafe serves one of the best coffee by the bay.

The Red Dot Design Museum is a wonderful place to visit over the weekend, especially for those who are interested in architecture and design. You can pop by just to get some unique gifts or hang out at the café bar. Each lunch set (1 appetizer, 3 savouries, coffee or tea) is priced affordably at $10 between 11am and 1pm, and Happy Hour starts from 5pm to 8pm. There is 50% off all food between midnight and 2am.

Red Dot Design Museum
Address: 11 Marina Boulevard, Singapore 018940
Opening Hours: Daily from 11am till 2am
Contact: 6514 0111 (Museum & Shop) / 6514 8268 (Cafe & Bar)
Website: http://www.museum.red-dot.sg/
Email: museum@red-dot.sg
Entrance Fee: $6.00 SGD per person. Free admission for children aged 6 and below.

Note that this is an invited museum tour and food tasting.