Welcome Back!

I kind of teased the existence of this part of my Malaysia travel series at the very end of the blog last week. It was a very, not so subtle, bit of foreshadowing where I basically was pretty blatantly forthcoming with this blog being the follow up to where we left off. What I wasn’t prepared for was just how much I had to say on the subject, so like Malaysia, this will also be a two parter. So, this will act as the follow up to part one & part two of the Malaysia portion of this trip, but will be their own part one & twos. That make sense? You can go back & read about the Malaysia segment of this trip in the links that I post below if you’d like! I won’t be titling this segment “part three” simply because it’s not. It doesn’t depend on previous context other than knowing where we were prior & how we ended up in Singapore following our time in Malaysia. For all intents & purposes, it is a stand alone as it has nothing to do with diving, navigating Malaysia, or the vast majority of the people listed therein (Evan naturally still exists & we have a few cameo mentions here & there). The only direct tie we’re going to have is the dating. I’m going to continue where I left off in part two of the Malaysia series finishing out the day I left off on & using the continued dates thereafter. We’ll say it’s like a stand alone sequel, both to the Malaysia portion of the trip, as well as my previous trip to Singapore, which I will also link below! Any questions about that? Well, it wouldn’t really matter if you did because this is a blog, now a forum so, let’s get this show on the road once more!

Travel Blog: Singapore 2022: Day Drinking My Way Through A Two Day Layover

SINGAPORE

Day Nine Continued…

Our flight from Kuala Lumpur was a quick one, maybe an hour total. We landed in Singapore at Changi Airport right around 8:30 in the evening. I’m glad someone was looking out for me in the booking of our Scoot flight in, because we ended up picking to sit on the left side of the aircraft, which got us the amazing view of the harbor with all of the ships docked on the way in.

We were with our luggage & through customs fairly quickly with little to no fuss & were immediately spit out in Terminal 1, right in front of The Jewel.

The Jewel At Night. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn

In all of the pictures, if you search the “Singapore Airport” or “Changi Airport,” the first thing to come up is the Jewel. The Jewel is effectively a mall, but to say it’s just that would be to do it a massive disservice. You see The Jewel IS a mall, but it also holds a massive botanical garden complete with sky bridges, 360 viewing, & a massive waterfall that rains from the center of the glass dome encapsulating the gardens, five stories down, into a basin. It’s breathtaking, honestly, & it was one of the main ‘touristy’ things that Evan wanted to see while we were in Singapore. It got marked off the list as soon as we walked out the doors from baggage claim.

At the time that we were there, The Jewel was doing a partnership with Disney to celebrate the introduction of the Disney Cruise that now leaves from Singapore. This meant that many of the topiaries, the floral arrangements, the what have you, were modeled after Disney Characters. Even the music that played in the botanical gardens, overlooking the falls, were popular Disney, or Disney owned, themes or melodies. As we walked up to the first floor observation platform for the waterfall music from Avatar was playing. By the time we left it was The Avengers theme.

For a Saturday night The Jewel wasn’t overly crowded. It was busy, but it wasn’t a mad house, which was refreshing. We left it behind & descended the escalator down a level or two to the ride share pick up.

Several years back Grab had bought out Uber’s license for the country of Singapore. The app & the interface for Grab is almost identical to that of Uber or Uber Eats & it’s just as easy & friendly to navigate. We Grab’d a ride & off we went from the airport to our hotel.

I’d like to stop here & hype up our hotel. When we were booking this trip I stumbled upon a major deal for the hotel we ended up staying at. Evan was a little on the fence about it, but I ended up insisting & booked us a three night stay at the ParkRoyal Pickering. He later would inform me that I was exuberantly & expertly correct in my selection for us.

The ParkRoyal Pickering is a staple of Singapore. It is a Michelin Guide recognized hotel, receiving what is known as a Michelin Key which is the hotel version of a Michelin Star. There are seven total Michelin Key’d hotels in Singapore. The hotel itself features an incredible biophilic design that features over 15,000 square meters of sky gardens, waterfalls, & planter terraces. It also has a rooftop farm where many of the ingredients for the restaurants housed within are farmed. It boasts eco-friendly amenities & designs throughout & actively practices sustainability & incorporates a number of facets to reduce the building’s carbon foot print. In addition to all of these statistics, the hotel & its rooms are simply stunning.

Under The ParkRoyal Pickering. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn

When you disembark your ride at the entrance of the hotel you are greeted by concrete, stone, soft water features, & an army of orchids. In addition to the very personable staff of course. When you enter through the main doors the orchids continue endlessly & the reception desk sits off to the right in what looks like a limestone cave made entirely of wood. The tile floors give way to dark wood floors which eventually melt into soft green carpet with clustered tuffs of ‘moss’ sewn in. To the left as you walk towards the elevators & the main level restaurant are a number of seating areas made of high wicker chairs & low, lava rock-esque tables. The right side of the walk is dotted with paper lanterns that sit perched above the lava rock bed water feature that runs the length of the hall. It is truly an immersive marvel & I haven’t even begun to talk about the scent.

Orchids In The Lobby. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn

To say the scent of the ParkRoyal Pickering is intoxicating would be an understatement. I want to bathe in it. I loved it so much that, not only did I request to buy a candle, a sample, something, of the scent at the end of our stay, I kept my suitcase in the bedroom at home for an additional week just because it was permeating the smell into our bedroom at home. It’s delightful. The woman at reception gave me a site to look up for a candle of the scent, but it unfortunately doesn’t seem like they make it anymore or carry it. However, the notes are Green Vetiver, Rosebud, Lily of the Valley, Saffron, Rosebush Leaf, Lavender Blossom, & White Cedarwood. It’s warm & green & vivacious but also incredibly calming & soft. The florals, while being one of the main notes across the board, aren’t overbearing, nor do they lean overly feminine or masculine. It articulates the duality of the hotel in a perfect way, this urban garden made of concrete & wood & stone & an overabundance of greenery. I desperately need a way to have it present in my home.

We checked in fairly quickly & were given our keys to our room on the eighth floor. One thing that I didn’t realize about the hotel is that after the fifth floor, where the amenities reside, the hotel is made up of three interconnected towers that are connected by walkways to get to your room. I am desperately afraid of heights.

We got up to the eighth floor, too a right, & went out the glass doors onto the walkway & I immediately froze. The walkway is only about three feet wide & the railing is made of concrete poles stuck in the cement with no top railing between them. The walkway also isn’t flush against the building, it features a couple of rooms along the way, but also large gaps where there are climbing plants that go from floor five all the way up. Additionally these walkways are on the outside of the building, so off to the side, if you look down, it’s just straight down to the street. Every time I crossed it, the multiple times a day, I had to hug the plant side & stare straight ahead.

We got to our room, again, a vibe & then some. It featured large glass windows with a series of shading & privacy options, a very Japandi style aesthetic of almost entirely wood surfaces, & a massive bed.

When I say a massive bed, I mean a massive bed. This thing was listed as a king but was definitely two fulls, if not two queens, pushed together. I could lay on it, as a 6’4” individual, & not reach the other side. It was wild. Literally with the two of us laying in it we could’ve fit probably two more people between us comfortably & still had room.

Seeing as it was getting fairly late in the evening & we’d had a long day of travel, we freshened up & went in search of food.

We asked the receptionist who had checked us in for any late night food recommendations, at this point it was around 9:30-ish. She pointed us to the Hawker stalls at Lau Pa Sat just down the street. Which I thought was an excellent idea & it was only about a ten minute walk from us.

If you aren’t familiar with the term, a hawker stall is a small trade stall typically specializing in a small handful of relatively inexpensive items. They are notorious all over Asia, Singapore boasts around 285 of them that are Michelin recognized. They are typically open facing with a counter you walk up to & place your order at with a quant kitchen sat behind them. They are typically in groups or centers, which is exactly what Lau Pa Sat is.

Lau Pa Sat Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn

Lau Pa Sat (Old Market in Mandarin) is one of Singapore’s oldest food markets. It recently celebrated its 130th anniversary. It contains around 80 hawker stalls under its roof & the surrounding streets, & sits right in the middle of the Downtown Core surrounded by mountainous buildings. It’s sitting on a plot of land that is worth hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars & I applaud Singapore for preserving it & keeping it a priority & a cultural center!

Having been to Singapore in the past, I was no stranger to the hawker markets, though it was new for Evan. It was something that I knew I wanted to include in our itinerary at some point, the opportunity had just presented itself earlier than we’d expected. We wandered around the fairly busy market, it was a Saturday night after all, taking in the smells & the options before settling in on traditional Satay.

Satay is super easy; grilled meat on sticks with a dipping sauce & some rice cake. We opted for a shop called Stall 7 & 8, which came highly recommended for basic satay & had clearly done well enough for themselves that they took up two stall spots on the road outside of Lau Pa Sat. We walked up & ordered a number of beef & chicken skewers as well as a couple of prawn skewers. They gave us a pager & we went over a Sugarcane Juice vendor for drinks. Evan got the calamansi one & I got the traditional.

Our pager went off shortly thereafter & we sat at one of the communal tables, working through our skewers until the point where we couldn’t take it anymore & threw in the towel.

Before heading back to the room for a shower & bed, we popped into the 7-Eleven right next door to pick up an energy drink for the morning & a protein bar, as well as a small assortment of local candies & a coke zero for the night.

Taxi Out Front Of The ParkRoyal Pickering. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn

End Of Day Nine

Day Ten

Barry’s Raffles Place. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn

The reason for the protein bar & the energy drink purchase the prior evening was because Evan & I had booked a spot at Barry’s Raffles Place at 8:30 AM. We typically are Barry’s frequenters here in Nashville, but it’s always nice to find one when you travel as well. It helps to have an idea of what you’re getting into & allows you to get a 50 minute, hard workout in, & go about your day.

We got up around 7/7:30 for the class & made our way back towards Lau Pa Sat to the building that hosts Barry’s. It was at this point where I noticed a little bit of fogginess in my left eye. It was just in the lower right corner & honestly, just looked like a bit of grime on my contact lens. I attempted to clean it off at Barry’s to no avail. And yes, this strange detail will have relevance going forward.

The class was a difficult one, with several challenges imbedded throughout. Having not done a formal workout (scuba burns a lot of calories) in over ten days at this point, it proved even more difficult, but we made it through with sweaty, depleted colors.

Lau Pa Sat From Barry’s. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn

After the workout class I grabbed a “Barry’s Raffles” t-shirt to join my collection of Barry’s shirts from around the world & we headed back downstairs & across the street to Lau Pa Sat in search of a bit more morning sustenance. We both were in desperate need of coffee. We had early lunch plans so we were trying to save our appetite for that, but we needed that caffeine carryover in the interim.

At the center of Lau Pa Sat there is a 24 hour drink stand. It serves all kinds of beverages of the soft variety & I think maybe also beers. It was one of the only things open at what would have been about 9:45 in the morning & they had drawn in a little bit of a crowd. Many people who had ordered & were eating had plates with Kaya Toast & Dippy Eggs in addition to the glorious elixir of life. No, not whiskey, Kopi.

Kopi is the Singaporean term for a robusta brewed coffee with condensed milk & sugar. It is very similar in style to Vietnamese Coffee. It is heavenly as most things with condensed milk & sugar are known to be. I ordered one for myself but Evan resigned himself to waiting til we got back to the hotel to pop a Nespresso pod in the in-room Nespresso machine…that was until he tried mine at which point he got back in line to get his own.

Back at our hotel we started getting ready for our early afternoon lunch, showering the workout & morning humidity away, laying out outfit, & ditching my contact lenses for glasses after the cloudiness had begun to spread from just the corner of my eye to the entirety of it.

It is now time for a “my personal medical history” break. In the past I have had a small number of optical migraines. Essentially what happens here is that there’s some sort of pressure put on the optic nerve & your brain perceives the information through a hazy lens. It can be brought on by a number of things & as of yet, we have yet to find what my trigger for them is. That’s the theory we were going with at the time at least & yes, I have seen a number of doctors about it.

I know I just did an ADHD indulgent aside, but I’m going to require another one here. This one is not about my ocular health, but instead about the lovely duo we were about to go to lunch with.

I met Linus & Karen Chua on my first Singapore Airlines flight from LA to Singapore back in 2022. At the time the Singaporean couple was based out of Los Angeles & were commuting back to Singapore to visit family & friends. They were kind enough to see me, a solo traveler on his first expedition to the Asian continent, & strike up conversation with me. They also essentially ended up giving me about 50% of my itinerary for the last time I was in Singapore. They’re the loveliest of people & over the years we’ve kept in touch, even following their move back to Singapore.

I had messaged the two of them on Instagram prior to our departure from the states, asking if they wanted to do lunch or something while we were in town, not knowing if the phone numbers that I had for them were still theirs or not. I never heard from them. That was until a day or two prior to our flight to Singapore when Linus replied & we arranged to meet up for lunch. Come to find out the Chuas, who are devout Catholics, had given up social media for Lent & Linus had randomly received a pull to check his notifications for the socials that he’d moved to the last page of apps on his phone & found my message.

They were gracious enough to come by the hotel & pick us up & right at 11:30, they pulled out, sprung out the car, & greeted the two of us with enormous hugs even despite having never met Evan. They even brought us two jars of Kaya from Ya Kun! They are truly lovely people.

They had picked out a spot for lunch for the for of us called “Violet Oon” by famed local chef Violet Oon. We went to their Dempsey Hill location, which was in an old army barracks that had been converted into a series of shops & restaurants, as well as a park. The barracks themselves had been where Linus’s family had dropped him off to begin his Compulsory Military Service.

They had picked out Violet Oon because it was a restaurant that served Peranakan Cuisine. A food steeped heavily in Singaporean culture, Peranakan blends elements of Chinese cooking with Malaysian & Indian to create something uniquely Singaporean that reflects the culture, history, & the Peranakan people themselves. Honestly, to most people I pitch the idea to they seem strangely skeptical, that is until you frame is as the very best of Indian, Southeast Asian/Malaysian, & Chinese foods meshed into one dish. Then they’re always on board.

At Violet Oon we ate family style. We had the Chuas order with a few suggestions here & there from the waitress. They were lovingly very careful with Evan’s limited spice tolerance which was very thoughtful of them to do.

For lunch we had a large assortment of foods over just as large an assortment of courses. We started with their version of chicken satay, Kuay Pie Tee, & Ngoh Hiang. Our next course was Assam Nanas Barramundi, Dry Laksa, Beef Rendang, & Babi Pongteh which is actually one of the first dishes that Linus said Karen made for him when they started dating. For dessert we had Calamansi Sorbet, Roti Jala with Banana Pengat, Kueh Beng Kah, & Gula Melaka Tea Cake with Gula Melaka Ice Cream. Of all of these dishes my favorites were the Kuay Pie Tee, the Babi Pongteh, & the Roti Jala, if I’m just picking one from each course.

We ended up sitting at lunch well into the afternoon, to the point where the restaurant was actually closing at which time we were given an amazingly in-depth driving tour of the city by our hosts!

CapitaSpring Building, Central Business District. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn

We didn’t ask them to do that for us, but they generously offered & we weren’t about to turn down a chance to see the city through the stories & eyes of those who grew up there & lived there. Especially when they’re such warm & welcoming individuals. They took us around the city showing us everything from the Botanic Gardens, to the Raffles Hotel, finally ending at the Marina Barrage. At the Marina Barrage we got out & walked the dam. They informed us of the history, as well as Singapore’s ongoing problem with water retention. The barrage was installed to cut the city’s water loss exponentially. They then took us back to our hotel where we hugged them & thanked them profusely for such an outstanding afternoon & the exemplary company.

By the time that we got back to the ParkRoyal it was about 2:30 or 3 PM. We opted for a nap after our early morning & when we awoke we decided that it was time to go downstairs & check out the pool.

Cabanas At The ParkRoyal Pickering Pool. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn

The pool at the ParkRoyal Pickering is situated on the fifth floor of the building. It occupies the right side of the level (if you’re on the street looking at the building) & has a mirrored fountain on the other side that, while we were there, was being used for wedding photos for a reception happening in the building. There is also a greenway walk around the entirety of the level which takes you through some of the main gardens of the facility. Additionally, the fitness center & spa both overlook the infinity edged pool. All along the pool, recessed from the walkway, or outright jutting into the water, there are several birdcage-esque cabanas, each painted a different pop of color amongst the otherwise earth tones & the greens of the facilities.

Pool At ParkRoyal Pickering. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn

When you exit the elevator you are greeted by a member of the hotel staff who hands you a towel & offers you a glass of the daily fruit infused water or their hot lemon tea. We parked our towels, phones, room keys, shirts, shoes, what have you on a lounge chair near the fitness center & made our way into the water.

The pool is almost entirely shaded, at least it was when we were there, but it honestly kind of matches the vibe. However, that, mixed with the wind, made the water in the pool pretty chilly. We hung out there against the ledge that overlooks Hong Lim Park, watching the people below & the crows swoop in to take a drink from the water return below the end of the infinity pool. When we had our fill of the cool water, we toweled off, & made our way back upstairs to get ready for dinner.

At this point my left eye had degraded further. My vision, which was only slightly blurry at lunch, was now almost entirely clouded. Not only that, but the physical lens of my eye had clouded over, something that had never happened in the past when it came to my optical migraines... Or at least it was something that I had never noticed happening before. I opted to try some medicated eye drops that I had & doubled down on the migraine medication that I carry with me.

The eye drops were not so fun. They burned horribly & made my eye completely red. I then switched to the dry eye drops I use that were recommended to me by my optometrist. Of course, google always points you to the worst possible diagnosis & was telling me that I had Acute Angle-Closure Glaucoma, which is where the iris gets stuck trying to contract/retract & causes the eye to be unable to drain fluid. It can lead to blindness if not treated very quickly. We ruled this out however when I found no “severe pain” as is listed all over, nor did I have shadowing, or half the other symptoms. Apparently ocular migraines can also have physical clouding of the lens, the thing that concerned me was the fact that I had developed halos in my vision around lights, which definitely leans more into the glaucoma lane. We decided that we were going to go ahead with our evening plans & in the event that things got any worse in any way, we’d go to the emergency room.

Planter Terraces At The ParkRoyal Pickering. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn

I always debate telling stories like that in my travel blogs. I always think to myself “well, what if ParkRoyal sees this & that’s what deters them from wanted to do anything with you in the future?” or “what if one of the other places listed & tagged here don’t share this because of that?” & I guess my answer to that is simple. While I do these blogs & tag & mention all of the parties involved, none of this is paid for or incentivized by any of them. I write these travel blogs for the same reason that I write any of my other blogs or why I write songs; to tell stories. That’s a part of the story of this trip. It frames why certain decisions get made, why certain things get opted out of, & informs those of you who come here simply looking to read the story I have to tell of the details of this adventure. Not every part of every adventure is glamorous or shiny or positive & that’s life. Without all of that, this would feel inauthentic to me, too polished, & that’s not why I do this. The moment I do something like that, where it’s praise to the high heavens & lacks the nitty gritty, it will because it is in partnership with someone involved in the story, at which point I will let you all know that was the case & that they have asked me to refrain from such details. Anyway. Continuing on.

Dinner was at a little restaurant called Odette. This year Odette was once again labeled the top restaurant in Singapore by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants. It currently sits ranked 19th in all of Asia & last year was #25 on the list of the best restaurants in the world (this year’s list isn’t out yet). It currently has three Michelin stars & offers French Contemporary food framed around Chef Julien Royer’s tenure in Singapore.

We initially weren’t going to go, full transparency, it’s pricey, but were talked into it by Erica while in Malaysia. Erica had previously dined at Odette her last time through Singapore & claimed it as one of the top ten meals of her life. She gave it glowing review upon glowing review & when we initially looked to book it, following this conversation, we found it booked up. That was until one night when we checked again & found that they had opened up reservations for that Sunday evening. We then justified it because our trip had been payed for already months in advance, so other than our resort incidentals & our food in Singapore, the trip had already been budgeted out & executed.

Odette Sign Through Fabric. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn

Odette was only around a fifteen minute walk from our hotel. It was around mid-dinner time when we began to walk there so there were quite a few people out, each settling into their respective restaurants. The sun was also starting to set, though we’d clearly dressed more for the fact that we were going to be inside & the night we would greet upon exiting the restaurant. It was a warm walk.

Odette is one of three restaurants housed in the National Gallery Singapore, which is an art museum that used to be the former Supreme Court & City Hall buildings until the two buildings were merged & converted into the art gallery. When I went in search of a restroom to reapply eye drops towards the beginning of the dinner, I was instructed through the gallery & told to turn right at the jail cells. They weren’t joking, there are literally jail cells still in the build that now serve as a historical exhibit.

We were sat fairly close to the kitchen, greeted by Sarah, who would be the one primarily taking care of us over the evening & handed our menus. Sarah went over the pairing & wine options with us before leaving us with our first couple of bites.

Grignotages. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn

To say this was a long dinner with a lot of courses would be an understatement. I have, in my record here, three courses that appear before the menu we were given at the end of the night even kicks in. They are referred to as Grignotages or roughly translated to “nibbling.” So for them, I will have to be a little vague as this was almost a month ago & I do not recall entirely what they were specifically. I can tell you what I do remember, as well as my feelings around them still!

Mushroom Soup & Tart. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn

The first set (yes set) of items were little bites. Served in a group of three we had a Tuna Belly, Maki-esque bite, a “taco” made from sashimi, & fresh herbs with a radish as the “shell,” & a Yeast Doughnut stuffed with soft cheese & topped with some form of cured pork. Of the three of them I definitely favored the donut, but that’s only in the slightest bit over the others. I could have made a meal of any or all three.

The next snack was an ode to the mushroom. It consisted of two parts; a Mushroom Tart & and a creamy Mushroom Soup. Served in a mushroom shaped cup with a wooden cap lid, the mushroom soup was warm & evolved as you went down the layer & the tart was earthy & flakey. Both felt very comforting.

The final snack course was bread, but not just any bread, different varietals of sourdough that used an heritage rye from Les Moulins d’Antoine cultivated & milled by 15 local farmers. We had a slice of the loaf, small individual loaves, & a black truffle, laminated roll of some kind. They came with a cultivated butter & our first wine pairing, a sparkling Greek Cuvee Des Vignerons by Vassaltis called ‘Gramina’ from 2022.

Hokkaido Botan Ebi. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn

In addition to bread & cuvee we also got our first course, the Hokkaido Botan Ebi. Bafun Uni (Sea Urchin) with Brown Butter ‘Ponzu’ & Maison ‘Kaviari’ Caviar. The Uni was served atop a buttery bit of bread itself. Small but packed a punch. The rest of the course came presented in a bowl. The ‘ponzu’ acting a broth for the Botan Ebi (shrimp), with the caviar nestled in the middle. The whole course was buttery on buttery on top of buttery in all of the right ways. What?! Butter?! In French food?! Shocking!!! Sarah would make a similar joke later in the meal & I have genuinely no complaints over the amount of butter use in this tasting menu.

Crab Contrast. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn

Next up was a dish they call “Crab ‘Contrast.’” It was also a monster of a course in terms of its respective size. The Crab ‘Contrast’ consists of several items. A bit of Crab Leg swimming in a deep green Béarnaise, chilled Crab Meat in a Rémoulade served under a dollop of Horseradish Ice Cream, & a bun stuffed with their take on Singaporean Chili Crab. My clear winner here was the one with the savory ice cream which Sarah said took them a while to perfect. She said a lot of guests wouldn’t finish the course initially because they found the ice cream had far too much horseradish in it. It has since been adjusted several times. This course was paired with ‘Fermier’ Albariño from Niigata, Japan from 2024.

Langoustine Comme Un Dumpling. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn

The following course was my favorite of the night. It had the option to add black truffle to it, but Evan & I opted out of it. I can see how it would make the dish pop off even more than it already did though. Langoustine “Comme Un Dumpling’ (like a dumpling). Langoustine (obviously), Leek Fondue (to die for), Vin Jaune (a dry French white wine), & Katsoubushi (a dashi made of skipjack & seaweed). Oh my lord. This dish was everything. Truly everything. It was herbal & buttery & packed to the gills with umami. It was so good that we had the staff save the pitcher of sauce on the table for us so that we could dip bread into it. This is where that black truffle roll really came in handy. The menu could’ve just been this dish over & over & over again & I’d have left overjoyed. It was paired with Marques De Murrieta ‘Capellania’ from 2018.

To follow this high, however, we have what is probably, unfortunately, one of my least favorite courses of the night. I think my reasons for disliking this dish lay entirely in the ‘fattiness’ of it. It was a Jeju Abalone & Foie Gras Duo.

The dish is served like a soup. A bowl is brought out with the abalone & foie gras cut up in equal parts & intermixed then a Pork Broth with Shiitake & Yuzu is poured over top. It was just a lot of the same textures happening within the soup & the broth was a little too ‘wintery’ for my taste & what otherwise felt like a fairly spring forward menu. It was paired with the 2021 vintage of the Yangarra Estate in McLaren Vale, Australia’s ‘Roux Beaute.’

Our last course before the main course was fish. Shimane Cod to be exact. This dish came with a Sauce Champagne, grilled Yari Ika (spear squid), & Tarragon Oil & sprigs. I really loved this dish. Buttery, of course, but the fish was so perfectly cooked & offered such an amazing contrast to the texture of the squid with the lulling herbaciousness of the tarragon. Top marks. Honestly, this dish might have been top three of the night for me in retrospect! It came paired with Antoine Chevalier Coteaux Champeniois from 2023.

The main course was first presented to us from the pan in which it was cooked. Very showy with smoke & all! Roasted on a bed of Cambodian Kampot Peppers accompanied by an assortment of flowers, we had Pigeon from Brittany. It was then returned to the kitchen to be dressed & plated.

I can feel it. I can feel the amount of people reading this who were just put off by the notion of eating pigeon. How do I know? Well, every time I mention this story/menu to people I get that reaction. It seems to me a lot of the, mostly American, audience is put off by that & I honestly get why. We don’t view pigeon like we do dove (which people active hunt), even though they are from the same family. In the US, pigeons are generally considered dirty street pests that most people can’t fathom consuming. However, some of you may have already eaten pigeon without your knowing. It occasionally appears on a menu as “Squab.” These pigeons are specifically raised for their meat & are fed a particular diet. They aren’t just flying about a city picking through the ruffage.

The pigeon was plated & served with a glass of Clusel Roch 2021 ‘Les Grandes Places’ from Côte-Rôtie. A red to go with the intense pepperiness of the bird & the medium-rare preparation they had suggested for it. It came with the butterflied breast & a leg which had a note wrapped around it, harkening back to the days of the carrier pigeon. The liver had been turned into a mousse & injected into a Moral Mushroom which was nestled next to a bed of shelled Sugar Snap Peas. The whole dish was then laid with the jus from the bird & a Black Garlic paste.

I talk of the pigeon a lot, it was the main course after all. That being said, I don’t think it was my favorite. In all honesty, I actually think it sits pretty far down the list of my ranking for the overall meal. It wasn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination, in fact it was quite good. It just didn’t blow me out of the water like some of the other dishes on this menu.

Palette Cleanser.Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn

Before dessert we were offered a cheese course. Both getting fairly full & working on plans that followed dinner, we graciously passed.

Before we moved on we were given a palette cleanser. A very vivacious & green sorbet of some kind served with citrus & granita. I wish I could recall what type of any of it it was, but unfortunately, all I have is a picture to offer. I remember it being exceedingly bright &, as aforementioned, green. Maybe it had something to do with apple if my mind serves me…

Our main dessert course was right up my alley. I noticed a bit of a trend in Singapore while we were there of the Hazelnut. While Dubai Chocolate is currently ransacking The US, hazelnut was having its moment in the sun in Singapore. I actually spent the first four years of my life growing up on a hazelnut farm in Oregon, so they have a very special place in my heart & of course my palette. I love them.

Dessert was a dish they call Hazelnu-t-ella. It was a pastry shell with Piedmont Hazelnut Praliné & Jivara Chocolate topped with Chestnut Ice Cream & little droppers of pure hazelnut oil. I was in heaven. What a perfect dessert. Honestly, I’m such a sucker for a really good hazelnut dessert & this delivered over & over again!

Last we closed out the night with just a few more little bites. Some sort of meringue bites, a plating of different fruits; Melon, Apple, & Strawberry, & two final little baked bites.

I think all in all we were at dinner for around 3-4 hours. It was definitely in the top 10 meals I have had in my lifetime & I think the pacing we went at prevented the common problem that wine pairings often result in, which is drunkenness. On our way out the door Sarah gave us gift boxes with a jam inside as a souvenir, in addition to our menus from the evening.

At this point my eye had almost entirely cleared up! This fortunately mostly ruled out glaucoma which tends to get worse at night from the pupil trying to open up as wide as possible to let light in. There was still a slight blurriness, but the eye drops I’d been dipping off to the restroom to apply over the course of the meal certainly seemed to help.

While we were at dinner Evan had been in contact with a coworker of his, Io. They both work for Duolingo, on the Duolingo English Test side, & had never physically met. Most of the Duo English Test team is scattered all over the world & Io, & her partner, Piri, who also works for Duo, just happened to be in Singapore at the same time as us.

Marina Bay Sans At Night. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn

Typically splitting time between Dubai & Greece, they had flown Dubai after the war broke out in Iran. The only flight they could get out was to Vietnam. Once they got there they found that they couldn’t get many flights back to the Mediterranean, so they came down to Singapore to see if they’d have better luck at a larger international airport. He’d been coordinating with them all day & we were finally able to set a time & met them for drinks!

The last time I was in Singapore I spent a long afternoon in the MO Bar. Located inside the Mandarin Oriental hotel, the MO Bar, at the time I was there last, was doing a series of cocktails that celebrated a number of countries on the Asian continent. This time the drinks were themed around the many different prominent art forms of Singapore & I had convinced the group to make it the destination for our meet up & collective nightcap.

The last time I was at the Mandarin Oriental it was an entirely different vibe. Dark, brooding, earth toned, natural elements. This time it had undergone a full make over. The walls were bright, the art colorful & full of whimsy. An entirely different feel from before.

We met the Duo duo down out in front of the lobby, hugged & greeted, & we made our way up to the bar together.

They didn’t have a table for us, unfortunately, but they were able to put us at one of the standing room high tops. They brought around a small snack & the menu. We each took turns looking through it & getting recommendations from the bar manager who was serving us before we made our decisions.

I ended up ordering the Pine-dustry, a cocktail of Cold Distilled Pineapple, Silver Patrón, White Wine Reduction, & Coconut garnished with a little Pineapple Tart. It was design to commemorate the Singapore bar industry, which is one of the top rated in the world. Evan had the Bukit Kemas; Ryukyu Baijiu, Lotus Lillet Blanc, & Roasted Corn. It was in celebration of local jewelry house Forbidden Hill. Piri got the Forest Fire. A Monkey Shoulder Whiskey, Los Siete Misterios Mezcal, Pala & Cengkeh Amaro, & Lapsang drink inspired by the National Gallery Singapore, where we just were, specifically Raden Saleh’s painting Boschbrand. Finally, Io got The Jukuleles, named after the four man Singaporean band. It was Código Mezcal, Yuzu Marmalade, Tulasi, & Angostura. The drinks were excellent as always & the conversation was joyful & felt like drinks with people we’d known for ages.

We were at the bar for a good hour/hour & a half. At one point we were brought a round of shots by the staff, which we hesitantly, yet gratefully accepted. We all found ourselves getting more & more tired & I, unfortunately, found my eye burning more & more. So we called it, rode back down the elevator to the lobby, called our separate cabs, bid each other luck & well wishes, & went back off to end the night in our respective hotels.

End Of Day Ten

End Of Part One