With women toting bigger bags these days, chic restaurants are serving up a new service: stools and baskets where one can place one's belongings.
Female customers need no longer put their precious 'It' bags on the floor or, worse, stash them uncomfortably behind their backs.
Where to put one's bag has become more of a problem with the trend towards bigger 'statement' bags that can cost thousands of dollars.
However, a LifeStyle check showed that a clutch of restaurants now cater for customers' carriers.
The earliest to introduce the idea of stools and baskets for bags was French restaurant Les Amis at Shaw Centre, in 2000.
Other eateries soon followed suit, with the Goodwood Park Hotel restaurants - Min Jiang, Gordon Grill, L'Espresso and Coffee Lounge - introducing them in 2004.
Il Lido at Sentosa Golf Club and Japanese restaurant Ramen Santouka at The Central have had them since their opening two years ago and January this year, respectively.
The latest to join the pack is Prive, Marina At Keppel Bay, whose stools just came in last Wednesday.
Most of these miniature seats are custom-made by the restaurants or specially ordered, to complement the decor and style of the dining area. They number between five and 40 in these restaurants.
Says Ms Teh Choon Ling, marketing communications manager of Goodwood Park Hotel: 'For instance, there are Chinese characters on the bag stools at both Min Jiang and Min Jiang at One-North, just like the actual seats at these restaurants, and they adopt the colours of the actual seats, which are light grey and deep red respectively.'
However, instead of customising special chairs for their diners, Ramen Santouka uses rattan baskets from Japan that can accommodate a big handbag or even a briefcase for the men.
Asked whether this is just a trend here, Mr Michel Lu, owner of Prive, says it is a basic service in any restaurant that cares about its guests.
'Handbags today are statement pieces, reflecting the personality and aesthetic inclinations of the owner. We cannot possibly expect the ladies to place their handbags on the carpet during a meal or squeeze them behind their backs on the chair as they dine,' he adds.
A Ramen Santouka diner, Ms Karen Liew, in her 30s, says that it all depends on the size of the chairs in the restaurant.
'Some of them may not have enough space for us to put our bags behind our backs,' the marketing executive notes.
Another diner, a 47-year-old head of administration who wants to be known simply as Mr Yoneyama, says: 'The basket is a good idea, especially if you're sitting in cramped areas like these with no space to put your bag beside you.'
