What better time to party than a birthday. Since I've just come out of the celebrations, let me tell you all the action while it's still fresh in my mind:
The first night of party started on Thursday. Dips, my cousin, transited in Singapore on his way to Philippines. I started the evening by taking him first to Tapas Tree, Clarke Quay. I looove the menu in Tapas Tree; their portions are thankfully medium sized; neither huge nor skimpy. It was a lovely balmy night, we found a table by the river, and proceeded to order the house down. We feasted on the following items, washing it all down with White Wine Sangria.
After all that food, we wandered out for a walk to recon what else was happening that particular night in Clarke Quay. We found a Belvedere launch party at the Arena, with live music. This seemed like as good a place as any and we wandered in to listen more. The Belvedere guys fixed us with a more-than-generous splash of Belvedere Vodka and Lime drinks. We hung around watching the performance, sipping the cold cold drinks in the sultry heat. We lasted there till the performer was on stage and the drinks were drowned.
After which, I had to get Dips an original Singapore Sling. Where else but Raffles? Next stop Long Bar, Raffles Hotel, South Beach Road, where we ordered the mandatory drink and behaved in the mandatory manner, i.e. we slung back our Slings, ate peanuts, dutifully threw the shells on the ground (mandatory!). We also threw a few at each other for good measure, just in case someone mistook us for mature individuals.
(We sat at the table closest to you in the photo.
The drink on the right is the Singapore Sling)
Once we settled down after a few sips of the potent brew and our peanut throwing competition, we could hear some lovely notes wafting from somewhere overhead. Looking up we saw the cutest ornamental fan system (see photo), after which we realised the music was one floor above us. So we carried ourselves and our slings up a spiral staircase (like the sling is not enough) seeking the music. There we found an adorable old fashioned band, with amazing vocalists and an even more amazing saxophone player! We sat there sipping and applauding till the band wound up - all too soon.
The next logical stop from Long Bar has to be Chijmes! (For non Singaporeans, it's across the street). Since we didn't quite get our fill of live music at Long Bar, I decided Insomnia would be just the thing. Cjhimes is a beautifully (restored?) monastery which now holds bars, cafe, restaurants, spa, shops and night clubs. Insomnia has an amazing band, that belts out hits after hits! I cannot imagine how they have the energy to do this, and what state they are reducing their vocal cords to, but hats off to them for keeping us all dancing! We quickly got into the groove and continued dancing after the band stopped and the DJ came on. We'd have gone on till morning except we both thought Dips should get at least 40 winks before his morning flight. Thus ended the first installment of my b'day celebration.
The second installment was much tamer. Friday evening, I went to Takashimaya for the Bags and Shoes exhibition at Takashimaya, bought myself my favorite Royce Nama Bitter Chocolates, and did some window shopping. Then it was Chopper Chimney in Little India for dinner. It was supposed to be the wonderful Andhra restaurant Shankrati upstairs but they were full and I was famished. Dinner was very Comme ci, comme ça but the paan we had outside Anand Bhavan was lovely.
The third installment was on Saturday: Lunch with Pari and her parents at Shakuntala. Yummy!
- sapaad
- prawn masala
- mutton pepper fry
- spiced buttermilk
- chicken biryani
- Chicken with Cashewnuts and Dry Red Chilies (very similar to the Indian version of dry Kung Pao Chicken)
- Chicken with Peppercorns and Basil
- Thai Green Curry with Chicken and Vegetables
- King River Prawns
Lots of alco, dancing, and one street brawl (moi an innocent bystander) later we decided to go to OT, a rather risqué establishment, which someone mentioned during the evening, and I got a bee in my bonnet about visiting. We went with a hundred safety instructions drummed into our heads by Mukund, but thankfully found the place less scary than what we had anticipated (or maybe our ignorance was our bliss). So hung out there for a while, observing the women, the lady-boys, the clientele, and even managed to shake a leg or two. Afterwards we moved to Mukunds favorite haunt Krrish. After another drink and a few dances to Hindi songs I made my weary but very satisfied and happy way back home.
The final chapter of my b'day was on Sunday. Met Cee for lunch @ Al Qasr in Holland Village. It took the better part of 2 pots of tea and a mezze platter for us to open our eyes after the excesses of last night. The mezze platter consisted of:
- Pita bread
- Hummus
- Baba Ghanoush
- Tabbouleh
- Falafal
- Salad
- Cheese cigars
This we followed up with Mutton Shewarma and Lamb Chops. We were as stuffed as 2 Boa having eaten 2 elephants. The weather had turned lovely with a cooling downpour and we slithered and slipped in the rain to reach Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf where we settled ourselves with tea and expresso to digest the elephant.
Dinner was home cooked by a talented colleague, Vegetable Sambar with Rice and Pickle. Followed by Wall's Carte D'Or Chocolate Inspiration Ice Cream and a discussion on Indian politicians.
Thus ended my 4-part b'day celebration and much much thanks to everyone for making it such a happy and fun-filled one.
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