2009 - July 11 (Singapore)

Saturday found me craving something for breakfast that was NOT Asian. And I wanted to go to the Singapore Botanical Garden to see the orchid display. It is certainly the finest show of orchids from all over the world. And the gardens cover several hundred acres with paths, lakes, and sculpture of all types. So Kimberley and I head next door to the Marriott where I really had a need for some Eggs Benedict and real (known as “streaky”) bacon. The meal was delicious and we sat around until nearly 11AM having our first meal of the day. The Marriott puts on some excellent brunches and this was no exception. Finishing our breakfast, Kimberley points out that we could walk to the garden. I check Google and find that it is a 2.2km walk. So off we go. There were light showers along the way as we navigated through boutique shop areas, embassies, and some fantastic personal residences. It was really hot for Singapore, about 90, but there were breezes and the showers helped keep us cool. Our visit to the garden was fabulous. I am posting a large (very large) block of photos on Facebook in an album called Orchids, and a small set just called Singapore Botanical Garden. I hope you enjoy the images. I took over 150 pictures, mostly just the orchids. I know from the maps that we walked over 5 miles of trails and paths through the gardens.
At the end of our visit we had a really nice afternoon late lunch under a pavilion roof amongst the trees at the Halia restaurant in the Ginger garden. I had a beverage that I will bring home and share with guests for future parties. It was a Ginger Honey infusion that consisted of dried ginger boiled in water and cooled, then honey was added to the level of desired sweetness. It was garnished with a piece of dried ginger and mint and served cold. I had a shrimp satay salad with lettuce, tiny tomato wedges, slivered bell pepper, diced cucumber, cilantro leaves, mango slices, orange slices, glass noodles and ginger dressing. The overall effect was a peaceful light meal, cooling drinks, and shaded breezes among thick growths of flowers, date trees, and fragrant shrubs.

We finished the day by have a walk back home (another 2.2km) so that by the time I finished the day, I had put in a 7 mile walk with a healthy, low calorie lunch. If I could do every day like this I would not be the walrus sang of by the Beatles.

That evening Kimberley decided to have a night in to read and relax. I made dinner reservations at the Mezza9, the Grand Hyatt’s premier restaurant. It contains 9 different open kitchens with seating around each one where you can watch the various dishes being prepared. This is a very upscale location that is not only visited by hotel guests, but is considered one of the best places to dine in Singapore. Many local people plan major events around dining there. So I shared a lovely meal with beautiful people and selection of immature human units who thought that diapers and repeating new language skills infinitely was a desirable skill. And the breeding units thought the skill should be shared with everyone in a restaurant where guests were spending over $200 per person for their meals. I did not agree.

I started off with an appetizer that was a Chef Selection of Sashimi called Hairy Crab. And that is what was delivered. A Japanese deep water crab the size of a large blue crab. Thin shelled. It was presented with the interior cleaned out, the shell replaced, the claws all split ready to eat and reassembled to look like whole crab on the plate. IT was very sweet and delicate but the shell hair bite like Hell! To the devil with propriety. Ate with my fingers and lots of wet finger towels. This crab is the closest to my favorite warm water blue crab of the Gulf Coast. I had cold Sake with it that I did not get the name of but went well with the crab.

I requested assistance in finding an appropriate wine for my entrée, which was to be a beef tenderloin. The waiter comes back without anyone but with a single bottle of wine. I was skeptical since I expected to have a bit of discussion before making a selection. I quizzed the waiter for several minutes seeing what he really knew about it. After he answered all the questions with answers that seemed reasonable. I went ahead and had him open the wine for me to sample. It was a red, of course, a 2004 Palazzo Della Torre Veronese Allegrini. It had a moderate nose with raspberry and strawberry. The front is slightly tobacco with strawberry, middle is slightly tart with hints of cherry, finish is mildly tannic with a long duration. It was really nice. I thanked him for the suggestion. I went ahead and ordered my Angus tenderloin grilled on a wood fire grill with Béarnaise sauce and a side of wood-roasted mushrooms (probably portabella). The steak arrived very nicely grilled and perfectly cooked. The mushrooms were very earthy and had been cooked with meat broth to enhance the flavor. It was quite nice. It was at that point he called over the man who suggested it. I encountered Tony. He was a Sicilian native and he was shakin’ his little money maker all around the restaurant. Tony is the one of the management staff at the hotel and he was asking me why I was drinking a whole bottle of wine by myself. I told him that I had no one to share it with but he should sit down and make sure I did not drink it alone. Bang! He was in the seat and the server was bringing him a glass. We talked for a while and he suggested that I go to the adjacent martini lounge area in the restaurant when I finish and he would join me there later.

So the server moved me and my wine to the lounge. I finished my glass, corked the wine bottle, and in keeping the RDRR tradition, left it to the servers. I switched back to Jack and Coke (Terry, I hear you from here about the alcohol! I use you as my throttle when I travel. Thank you. You are my other sister and I know you care for my well-being). While there I met a gentleman next to me who was having espresso and an aperitif. I asked him about it and he said it was a Nebbiolo Grappa. The man’s name is Frederick and he is from Sweden. Frederick said he came from a service/restaurant background. Currently he was managing Italian cruise ship services on contract here for next 3 years. Very interesting. He said he was heading downstairs to the basement to the Brix club. He told me to lose my tie for a Brix evening. He also knew Toni and several of the other Hyatt management personnel. About that time one of them showed up. This was Jonas. He is the Swedish, tall, dark, and VERY handsome manager of the Mezza9 floor. He wanted to know how other Hyatts compared (no comparison). Tony then showed up and he and Tony wanted me to have a Brunello Grappa. I tried it. It was more grassy and had a nice nose. Very high alcohol content (>40%). They both agreed with Frederick’s suggestion that I visit Brix. They were heading down and asked me to join them.

I closed out my tab, it was pleasant discovering that I got a 15% discount as a Hyatt platinum member. Very cool. So I pay up, head to my room to lose the tie and switch to a more “stylish casual” look that the club required and headed down. You have to step outside the hotel to get to the basement entrance of the club. There were about 20 people waiting in line for access with a burly bouncer (in suit and tie, but with a shaved head and a wrestler’s build). As I walk up he sees me and asks if I am Mr. Flewellen. Of course I said yes. I would have said yes if he had asked if I was Sasha the Dancing Bear. He unlatches the velvet rope and leads me past the line. An “associate” then asks me to follow him downstairs, where I am taken to a side bar area and another velvet rope is moved aside to let me in. There is a man named Sashi, who introduced himself as the General Manager of Brix. He calls over a young lady who introduces herself as Didi, my bartender. She takes my drink order and gives me a small card. She tells me that if I go to any of the other bars in the club, to just show the server my card and they would know what I was drinking and who to send the drink order to for tracking. About this time Toni shows up with his girlfriend, a very lovely young Asian girl whom I do not remember. But she was not part of the décor of the room.

This club holds more floors of whores than doors to hide them behind. A few of them come by and Toni introduces them to me. Then he notices I am not grabbing and drooling. So he suggests that I might have “other interests” that could be accommodated. I let him know that in fact I do have other inclinations, but that I am not in the market this evening. He nods and tells the next girl coming up that I am a friend of his and that they can come by but are not to bother me beyond saying hello. She takes off and the rest of the evening I meet a lot of ladies but they are all pleasant and attentive without propositioning me to take them upstairs. I proceed to meet other management of the hotel and we close the club at 3AM. I believe that during the entire night I had a total of 3 cocktails. And I did not receive a bill. Courtesy of the management is what Didi told me.