Herbal Footcare

Long after the shops shut, Orchard Plaza is still taking feet.

Herbal Footcare is the foot rub for the end of a long Orchard Road day: no-frills, fairly priced for the street and open well past midnight, long after the spas with candles have gone home. It suits mall-weary shoppers, late diners and anyone off a long-haul flight with a scrambled body clock. The compromise is atmosphere, of which there is very little. Come for the hands, not the room.

Orchard Plaza is not where you expect to find a deal, which is rather the point. A few doors from the fairy lights and flagship stores, the operation sprawls across several units on three floors of the mall, which tells you something about demand. The interior is kept to the minimum: neon-red couches and not a scented candle in sight.

The menu is where it earns its keep. Foot reflexology comes in 30, 45 and 60-minute sessions, and there is a combo of 30 minutes on the feet and 30 on the neck, shoulders and back. Every visit starts with a free Chinese herbal foot bath, which is not the part to skip. If you want to go further, the Chinese toolkit is on hand too: cupping, gua sha and ear candling for the curious.

The hours are the other half of the appeal. It runs well into the small hours, which makes it one of the few places in town where you can wander in after a late dinner on Orchard, or straight off a long-haul flight with your body clock somewhere over the Indian Ocean, and still find someone ready to work on your arches. Nobody here is pretending to be a sanctuary, and that is the appeal.

How to do it well: Somerset MRT is the nearest station. If price matters more than the hour, note that the promotional rates run only from late morning to 10.30pm, so an evening visit after dinner is the sweet spot. If it is the very late slot you want, call ahead. Take the combo if your shoulders are in on the complaint, sit back on the red couch and let the foot bath do its work before anyone touches you. Go after a day of trudging the malls, or late on a Friday when the week has settled in your calves.

Good to know Herbal Footcare has several units in Orchard Plaza, 150 Orchard Road (Somerset MRT). It opens well past midnight; call ahead if you're going very late. Promotional rates apply only in the daytime and early evening, so check current prices before you go.

Herbal Footcare | Orchard Plaza, 150 Orchard Road, Singapore 238841 | Nearest MRT: Somerset