SINGAPORE'S ACCIDENTAL HOTELIER

From building a hotel out of a former brothel and navigating it through Sars to running a global empire of more than 20 restaurants and five hotels during the Covid-19 pandemic, it's all about the art of pivoting, shares Loh Lik Peng.

- PEARLYN THAM

A nondescript oil painting of pigs hangs on the wall outside the meeting room at Loh Lik Peng's office premises at Cantonment Road. Like how some entrepreneurs might choose an artwork of dragons or tigers to herald good fortune and business acumen, you wonder if the porcine theme, with its depiction of full bellies, is symbolic of what he does for a living.

Loh is, after all, one of Singapore's most famous restaurateurs whose Unlisted Collection: empire comprises more than 20 F&B establishments and five hotels in cities as diverse as Shanghai and Dublin.

But, no, the affable businessman says, with an easy guffaw, that it is just an old painting from one of his restaurants, Salted & Hung, which uses culinary methods like curing and smoking to propel its nose-to-tail concept. His simple, laid-back explanation-nothing too theatrical or philosophical, even for a magazine interview-is just one of the many ways in which the former lawyer exhibits a pragmatic approach to his businesses.

The mothership of a mastermind behind some of Singapore's hottest restaurants and swoon-worthy heritage hotels around the globe is hardly what you'd expect. Look around Unlisted Collection:'s office, you will see that although it is three storeys high and nestled in a row of gentrified shophouses, its insides are unembellished, even mundane. The meeting room is a cosy attic space packed with boxes of papers and a random 3D architectural model.

"It's so utilitarian, right?” Loh laughs. "We are quite a thrifty group, and we don't splash money on flashy things, but we spend it where the customer is touching things." He lets on that being prudent is more of a personal value because growing up, his parents taught him not to waste money on frivolous things.