Our Last Night in Singapore

After a hard day of shopping, orchid watching, and lurking in the children’s garden we cleaned up for a night on the town. 

A little backtracking is required here. I previously left out the part where we were denied entrance to the children’s garden.  Maryana and Jeff texted us when they arrived with Oz and Sawyer at the gardens to meet them in the kid’s fountain area. When Dad and I came puffing up to the children’s garden entrance, an attendant politely stopped us and pointed out that this was the Children’s garden.  We explained that we were meeting my brother’s family, but he would not let us enter since we were not accompanied by a child.  It was the first time in my life that I ever had to send a text reading “Help! They won’t let us in without a child.”  Then I explained to the attendant that I was an uncle and this was a grandfather visiting from the USA and that we were meeting my brother and his family at this location, showing him the text message. He then allowed me to enter to look for a child, but only if I left dad as a hostage.  I guess that is an effective deterrent to pedophiles, and honestly, we looked an unsightly mess when we arrived. We were both dripping sweat, and Dad’s shirt was more unbuttoned than buttoned – not a pretty sight.

Would you let this man into your playground?

Anyway, after the children’s garden, Jeff and Maryana had planned an evening of strolling along the main shopping area on Orchard Street ending at Le Bistrot du Sommelier for an 8:30 dinner reservation.   

  

This evening was oddly reminiscent of our hike across Barcelona for Dad’s birthday some years ago. On that occasion as well as tonight, we had on our hands a tired, dehydrated, hungry, sweaty grandfather who could care less about shopping, fashion, or humid strolls among the masses since he was already about 2 hours past his preferred dinner hour.

All of these issues aside, Orchard Street has really become a hot spot for seeing and being seen. This was another moment in which I understood why my brother and sister-in-law were so happy in this city.  Everything was bright, vibrant, exciting, and orderly.  Love love love

The restaurant was located at the end of the main shopping district.  Most of the seating was outdoors, but luckily we had a reserved space inside where we could see both seating areas and dry out from our walk. The atmosphere was very homey, including a sideboard from which the glasses and plates for each course were pulled to set  the table. The menus were printed on the back side of varnished wine crate planks – very country provincial and warm. I was in love. 

The head server tempted us with some specials and we enthusiastically accepted a wine suggestion based on our order. We started with a buttery slab of pate de foie gras that was served with a dollop of fig jam. In our enthusiasm we also ordered one of the special appetizers – fromage de tete made from fresh shredded pork cheek marinated in a light olive oil and vinegar, shaped into a loaf, and topped with finely chopped onions and parsley.  OMG – and all these years I thought that head cheese was a thing to avoid. Hunger is always an excellent sauce for any meal, but I was blown away by both starters. We lost all semblance of civilized dining and leapt into both. Based on the grunting and a few “Hell Yeah’s” that escaped from me, I think these selections were a hit all around.

Our main courses consisted of a cassoulet –made with house made pork sausage, pork belly, beef brisket, and duck confit stewed with white beans in a clay pot and a lamb stew with fresh spring vegetables.  Both were delivered to the table still bubbling from the oven. All of the meats had comforting bold flavors and were braised to fork tenderness. The white beans had absorbed the combined flavors of the various meats and were a taste sensation.  The lamb was exceedingly tender with a hearty, meaty flavor that was not gamey.  The spring vegetables were lightly steamed in the broth and maintained their bright colors and crisp textures.  Once again there was a round of grunting and animal like rending of flesh and vegetable until we were fully sated.

The remnants

Lamb pieces

We were too stuffed for a sweet course and we also had a sleepy grandfather who had pretty much checked out of the conversation and pushed away from the table 15 minutes earlier as a signal of his eagerness to get up and head home – so we settled the check and took the short way home.  This was a fitting celebration to end our time here in Singapore – great company, great conversation, and an astounding spread of French provincial comfort food.   

Tomorrow we begin the last leg of this whirlwind tour as we head to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. 

PS - we actually arrived home Sunday (Oct 16) - but our touring schedule in Vietnam prevented me from staying up to date on the postings.  So stay tuned... more adventures to come.