1/8 Ian - Singapore: What if...?

Sweet lord. I didn’t want to get a munk on about Singapore. Honestly, I didn’t. Problem is, if you don’t like mediocre shopping malls and spangly Americanised tourist attractions, then stay away from Singapore. Because essentially, that appears to be it.

As a consequence I’d been sulking about Singapore pretty much off and on ever since we arrived, comparing everything rather unfavourably to Japan. I guess it seems a bit harsh in retrospect – picking on a whole country like that, even if it is about 10 square miles of coast to coast high rise buildings – but there you go. I’ve been working hard to erase all memory of the rather miserable experience from my brain, but now I’m getting gip from Claz for unfulfilled blog duties.

So I have one thing to discuss. And what I want to consider is this: what if you’ve had the best, well, whatever, already, and you know that you’ll never beat it again? Do you stop searching? Do you struggle on optimistically, nurturing some tiny hope that you might? Do you accept that it’s just never going to be that good again? If you’ve been lucky enough to take curry in the Tiffin Room at Raffles, Singapore, then like us, you’re going to be asking yourself this question about curry. I’d say eat curry, but ‘take curry’ sounds more appropriate for this astonishingly impressive experience. Good job Claz did some research back in England really, otherwise I’d have been sulking (yet again) in some ubiquitous and sadly lacking international food establishment in yet another characterless shopping mall.

Tiffin, apparently properly defined as a light mid-day meal, has long been a Raffles tradition. Although tiffin curry has been served here since 1899, the Hotel’s main dining room has only officially been named the Tiffin Room since 1976. A restaurant run by the Sarkies from the 1890s at Raffles Place was known as the Raffles Tiffin Rooms. For most of this century a mild chicken curry was one of the few Asian mainstays on the hotel’s daily menu as the partaking of Sunday tiffin curry was an essential aspect of colonial life. (I got that bit from their website by the way, so don't be too impressed - it was a cut and paste!)

Raffles itself is big, airy and colonial. Crisp white elegance everywhere – walls, ceilings, marble floors, impeccably pressed tablecloths, waiter’s suits. Classic cocktails at the lounge bar with olives, with a pianist playing standards on the grand nearby, leaping into comedy interaction with the smartly dressed clientele given the slightest opportunity. I reckon he would have segued effortlessly into Professor Longhair’s Big Chief if I’d asked, but I didn’t have the courage. The bloke charging through a bottle of Krug all by himself next to us at the bar seemed happy with the standards in any case, and we had the poshest all you can eat curry buffet you have ever seen to get into.

Now one good thing I will say about Singapore is that after Japan, the food was remarkably good value. This was a curry buffet in one of the ‘classic’ hotels of the world. How much in England for that privilege do you reckon? £50, £60 a head maybe, food only? In Singapore it was closer to £25. Nice. They made up for it with the booze though, but no worries - we had a plan. When the sommelier shows up recommending a red that costs more than a bottle of champagne, just order a bottle of Veuve Clicquot to go with your cuzzah. Curry and fizz. What a combo. You won’t be disappointed, and it keeps the somellier on his toes, sure enough.

So take a look at these pictures. We’re talking soup, pops and pickles, cold starter, hot starter, mains and deserts. Plural in all cases. And everything was just absolutely delicious. The trick with buffets like this is to pace yourself. Pile your plate high in one go and you’ve blown it – your eyes have got the better of your belly. It might taste good for 20 minutes, but you’ll be too full to continue. Take it real steady – aim for at least two hours to work your way leisurely through everything. Perfect.

But what if you’ve then had the best curry you will ever have? Full stop? Done? It’s a bittersweet feeling, sure enough….