My path in life has been fairly linear. I have wanted to be a writer since I was seven. Most of my choices since then have been in support of this goal.

This persistent emphasis on money, money, money at the expense of almost everything else, including happiness, is anathema to my sensibilities.

If your head is so far up your ass that you can’t bother to show the slightest shred of human empathy or kindness, then you are utterly wasting your time on this earth.

I like to think of myself as a classy, reasonably sophisticated guy, but fart jokes just crack me the hell up.

I write literary speculative fiction, which is set in a place that looks an awful lot like our world, but one that is slightly off-kilter, so the fantastic is possible and metaphors can become literalized.

I was a teacher for four years and the principal was shocked into silence when I turned down a promotion in favor of fewer working hours.

The most difficult part of my day job (as literary fiction editor at Epigram Books) is actually finding the time to read manuscripts.

Writers never get a break. The times when I’m not directly writing or revising, I’m still constantly thinking about the current work-in-progress, and counting the minutes until I can get back to it.

I’m a Humanistic Buddhist, in that I treat Buddhism more as a life philosophy than a religion. I don’t necessarily do a lot of chanting of mantras or meditation.

I have little patience for stupidity, so people who display intelligence are almost immediately attractive to me. I try to surround myself with as many of them as possible.

I recently bought a PS3, and have so far finished L.A. Noire, Sleeping Dogs, Red Dead Redemption, Uncharted 3, LEGO Batman 2, and Rocketbirds. I’ve got Bioshock Infinite and the Mass Effect trilogy, too—but won’t start until I’ve finished revising my novel.

I love Junot Díaz. He’s so effortlessly smart, I could just listen to him talk all day on YouTube.

I tried writing under the influence a few times, but the prose turned out far less shiny in the sober light of day. It was a lot like dictating a dream—it may make complete sense within the dream world but reads like utter nonsense once fully awake.

I write while listening to Nine Inch Nails and Trent Reznor’s other sonic projects. His songs often put me into a sort of in-between dream state that facilitates creative thinking.

Every so often, I’ll eavesdrop on conversations in cafés in the CBD, which are full of corporate speak and euphemistic buzzwords—all are concerned with either the acquisition or retention of wealth.

I saw the South Park movie on opening weekend in 1999, and was sore all over for a week afterwards, for all of the laughing.

The Internet is fantastic for finding a wealth of visual stimuli.

In terms of politics, I definitely lean leftward. For a while I was a member of the Green Party in the USA.

The only Nine Inch Nails song I didn’t have in my collection was “Home”, and its absence drove me batty. A friend eventually emailed me an MP3 of it. Otherwise, I consider myself a law-abiding citizen.

I make enough money to live on, and a bit more for the occasional nice dinner out, movie or new book. That’s enough for now.

Lundberg’s short story collection Strange Mammals ($18), chapbook Embracing the Strange ($10), speculative fiction journal LONTAR ($22) and anthology The Epigram Books Collection of Best New Singaporean Short Stories ($24.90)—phew!—are available at BooksActually.

Cans
“Canned craft beers are a big thing in the States; you can get extremely good beer for very little money, and that’s why it’s so big there. It keeps better, you don’t have to keep it out of sunlight, and it’s a lot cheaper to ship.”
Evil Twin Hipster Ale. $9 from Working Title.

Citrus
“Using citrus fruits in beer is really popular at the moment—in the brewing community, we've actually started talking about ICU rather than IBU (International Bitterness Units). There are so many citrus fruits being used now, like yuzu, orange, lemon, lime. I think it’s perfect for beer.” 
Mikkeller Green Gold IPA. $13.50 from The Great Beer Experiment.

Low alcohol
“Low alcohol with a lot of flavor is a big trend at the moment. I’m often asked what I think the perfect beer is, and in my opinion that would be a beer without alcohol—but with all the flavor—so you can drink it like water.”
Brewdog Dead Pony Club. $7.50 from Thirsty - The Beer Shop.

Tell us about your most significant childhood memory.

I remember asking for my first cooking book when I was 8 years old. And every year for my birthday, my parents were bringing me to a new restaurant I had carefully chosen. I think I must have been born with this love for food, and I am fortunate to have this common passion with Singaporeans! My family and my trips over the years inspired me a lot. When I was a kid, I used to eat a lot of different cuisines, from traditional French to Asian, German and Polish.

What do you like about Singapore?

Our multiculturalism is a wonderful strength. It gives us a cutting-edge advantage compared to other nations. The unique combination of people from such a vast variety of backgrounds and cultures is exactly what I love about this country.

What aspects do you think can be improved?

There has been an increasing global demand for personalized services over the past few years. Tourists and businessmen are not only looking for a place to stay, a restaurant to eat or a casino to play in, they look for a good quality of service as well, which is lacking in Singapore. People want to be entertained and stimulated rather than just pampered. While spoiling was often a top priority, this is no longer the case. New expectations have emerged for more active holidays and experiential journeys; they are not new in Europe and North America, but have still to mature in Asia. If we want to be even better, we must work out on the quality of service provided. Grooming and attracting new and experienced talents is a national issue to me.

What inspires you to set up a new restaurant?

I draw my inspiration from everything I see, people I meet, but also travel, books and various moments. Passion has also served to inspire and drive me since the very beginning of my career. I have always been passionate about hospitality: some people were born with a passion for design, other for IT; I was born with this passion for F&B.

What kind of experience do you craft for your customers, and how do you do it?

When we think of a new concept, it’s always with our customers’ expectations in mind. As I said before, people are not only looking for good cuisine but also for a whole experience. From cooking, to the ambience and including the interior design, a restaurant must be in osmosis with the area it is in. Consumers are increasingly looking for an added benefit to their food: not only does it have to taste good, but the environment they sit in to eat must make them feel good. The rules have changed! Restaurants are not only places where you come to eat, but also unforgettable experiences to live.

Where is your favorite place to dine and why?

Any table around which I am seated with my friends and/or family enjoying a good meal with fine wines. The moments in I love most in life are the ones I spend at home around the dining table or in a restaurant. Good friends and good food is the best combination.

What advice would you give to a restaurateur who’s only just starting out?

"Don't start!" (haha) Well, jokes aside, I think a restaurateur developing her own unique concept has to be sure that it is strong and a concept that Singaporeans will be receptive towards. The F&B industry is very competitive, especially in Singapore, and being able to maintain the standard and sustain the business is the real key. She needs to consider not just the recipes and quality of food, but also the entire ambience of the restaurant, how the design echoes the food, the service and eventually the entire brand image. Too many interesting concepts had failed to hold on to one or more of these elements and ended up unable to sustain the business, which is such a pity.

Oxwell & Co.

This fun, refreshingly non-elitist gastrobar has a stripped-down drinks list with a local touch. Think indigenous spices and botanicals—like leaves plucked fresh from nutmeg trees around Ann Siang Hill—in their housemade sangria and G&T ($12 each). And their house beer, the Oxhorn Lager ($12), is a collaboration with local brewer Jungle Beer. All of these, plus rotating wines ($12 per glass), come out of actual plumbing-style taps mounted on the wall behind the bar.

Napoleon

Looking and sounding like a stylish friend’s apartment with black leather, exposed brick, iPad menus and an indie-dance playlist, this wine bar is perhaps the unstuffiest of them all. The centerpiece is a long row of enomatic machines holding 32 (count ‘em!) wines sorted by flavor. You get a little “credit” card, insert it and press the right button to dispense however much of each wine you want into a glass (from $1.50 for a sampling portion). Self-service intoxication!

Ding Dong

This hip Southeast Asian small plates joint isn’t exactly the place to go for classy eats—bright pink lighting and Asian motifs lend the place a kitsch ‘70s vibe, except with thumping drum & bass rather than disco tunes—but it’s fun for drinks. Apart from an innovative cocktail list, they also serve red and white wine on tap (from $9); you can opt for a glass or go straight for a carafe of the good stuff.

Although we’re already starting to see cool bars like The Spiffy Dapper and Ah Sam Cold Drink Stall springing up around Boat Quay—and places like The Mad Men Attic Bar and Bitters & Love upping nearby North Canal Road’s hip quotient—this part of the river still hasn’t quite shaken off its reputation for touristy seafood restaurants, trashy bars and dodgy KTVs.

All that looks set to change on November 1, which is when a big chunk of Circular Road—from Lorong Telok to Molly Malone’s on North Canal Road—will be closed off to traffic from 6pm to 1am every Friday and Saturday for a three-month trial period. If you checked out Boat Quay’s St. Patrick’s Day festival earlier this year, you’ll know this is the same stretch that was closed off for the parade and street party. All that festive bar-hopping was a success, resulting in some establishments enjoying up to two-thirds more business than usual.

And it’s this success that Singapore River One (SRO) executive director Tyrone Tabing hopes to see more of. On their plans to close off the road, he explains, “The street has the right scale and location. It complements the front side of Boat Quay, making the area feel more like a destination; additionally, it’s right next to the CBD, and it’s not a major arterial street. It makes perfect sense.”

Changes Afoot

Judging by what we heard at a recent meeting for SRO stakeholders about the plans, most venues in the area are, as you might expect, in favor. “It’s a great project to revitalize Circular Road into a destination for locals and tourists,” says nightspot manager Kuan Siang. Some, though, are skeptical about whether people’s behavior will change.

“There may be some initial effect on Boat Quay following the closure—patrons seeking new experiences may try out Circular Road, but barring any extraordinary promotional activity there, we believe that most people will still gravitate closer to the river,” says Sanjay Sabnani, marketing and sales director of Harry’s.

Others have more specific concerns. “This will affect businesses which have clientele who drive,” says chef Patrick Tan, who owns Tamashii Robataya. “My clients normally come to my restaurant to entertain—and if they can’t drive, they won’t think of coming to my place.” And Geffrey Teo, manager of Cuisine Master Hotpot, points out that some F&B venues might be hit by a road block when it comes to deliveries.

Tabing assures us that the team is well aware of these concerns and will remain flexible. But, he adds, “the reality is that in other cities [where similar efforts have taken place] many former detractors actually end up becoming the strongest proponents.”

Step by Step

Still others think that all this road closure business is only part of the puzzle. “It doesn’t really matter until the types of establishments here change. Hopefully closing the road will lead to new outlets,” says The Spiffy Dapper barkeep Abhishek Cherian George, while Kuan Siang gets straight to the point: “The sleaze issue must first be solved.”

SRO agree. Pedestrianization is but one of several steps in a grander scheme to reposition Circular Road, and the organization are already in talks with the team behind slick CBD watering holes The Vault and Kyō for a large scale retenancy program that will see many of the unsavory bars replaced by classier operators by March next year. Ultimately, they’re looking at turning this into an attractive after-work hangout that entices a more sophisticated crowd, including more Singaporeans in the mix.

No Cars Go

It’s an initiative that’s already met with considerable success elsewhere in town. The scheme is endorsed by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), who were behind similar pedestrianization programs on Club Street and Haji Lane earlier this year. Over at Club Street (closed on Fri-Sat 7pm-1am until Oct 26), the dining and nightlife establishments we polled report a solid increase in business, with patrons visibly enjoying the street party vibe, alfresco options and improved safety. At Haji Lane, retailers and F&B spots liked it so much they’ve taken over managing the road closure (Fri 6pm-midnight; Sat-Sun noon-midnight) after the URA’s trial ended. “Making our city pedestrian-friendly with public spaces for activities, recreation, and respite is a key part of our plans to make Singapore liveable,” says a URA spokesperson. “We are happy that our experimentation with the road closures has encouraged more local communities to step forward.”

Whether or not Circular Road enjoys that kind of commercial success, it’s important for a jam-packed city like Singapore to be creative about how we make use of space—and here at I-S we’re right behind anything that gives pedestrians priority over private vehicles. “Should streets really just be for cars?” asks Tabing. “We’re trying to rethink how they can benefit people in a different way.”