[Play] An Evening Of Oppulence
Yesterday I pottered over to Malaysia on the Eastern & Orient Express for a couple of hours. It was rather rather, if you know what I mean, and I was joined by some fabulous folk from ANZA
Our journey started from Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, a strangely crumbling relic amidst Singapore's constantly refurbished CBD. Passing through customs into Malaysia in the heart of Singapore, surrounded by affluent expats in frocks and DJs, was equally odd - reminding me of some of fae literature I have read and the courts of the Sidhe
We boarded the Eastern & Orient Express, a menagerie of people trapped thirty years ago and people just passing through, and sipped gin whilst the formalities were completed. Once done we chugged along at a sedate pace through the backwoods of the CBD - seeing the run-down parts of town, the worker's dorms and occassional shanty, the bits you normally don't see; seeing this and being surrouded by silk and pearls and the fine veneer of civilisation
After stopping at Woodlands for a final saunter through customs those of us in the first sitting for dinner sat and dined. Four courses of fabulousness, with quiet and attentive service, as we crossed the Johor-Singapore Causeway and headed into the heart of Johor. Our first course was a quiet robust and delightful mushroom soup, served in tiny fine china coffee cups and frothed to resemble a cappuchino (sadly I was hungry enough not to photograph this); it was followed by cinnamon sea-bass on a bed of asparagus and then rarely-done lamb on a rosti made from risotto rice that was accompanied by peppers and zucchini. Dessert was chocolate mousse with a crispy peper-chocolate shade and a mandarin coulis, accompanied by coffee of petit fours. Portions were carefully sized, big enough to let one play with combinations of the flavours in each dish - but equally not too big, leaving us feeling full but not overly so
Around the end of our seating the train turned round and began to head back to Singapore. And so we found an unoccupied stateroom, a few bottles of champagne - and thus quaffed, chattered and laughed bawdily in equal measure. Definitely an experience to savour, enough that I would be tempted by the Singapore-Bangkok overlander in the right company
[Photos]
Our journey started from Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, a strangely crumbling relic amidst Singapore's constantly refurbished CBD. Passing through customs into Malaysia in the heart of Singapore, surrounded by affluent expats in frocks and DJs, was equally odd - reminding me of some of fae literature I have read and the courts of the Sidhe
We boarded the Eastern & Orient Express, a menagerie of people trapped thirty years ago and people just passing through, and sipped gin whilst the formalities were completed. Once done we chugged along at a sedate pace through the backwoods of the CBD - seeing the run-down parts of town, the worker's dorms and occassional shanty, the bits you normally don't see; seeing this and being surrouded by silk and pearls and the fine veneer of civilisation
After stopping at Woodlands for a final saunter through customs those of us in the first sitting for dinner sat and dined. Four courses of fabulousness, with quiet and attentive service, as we crossed the Johor-Singapore Causeway and headed into the heart of Johor. Our first course was a quiet robust and delightful mushroom soup, served in tiny fine china coffee cups and frothed to resemble a cappuchino (sadly I was hungry enough not to photograph this); it was followed by cinnamon sea-bass on a bed of asparagus and then rarely-done lamb on a rosti made from risotto rice that was accompanied by peppers and zucchini. Dessert was chocolate mousse with a crispy peper-chocolate shade and a mandarin coulis, accompanied by coffee of petit fours. Portions were carefully sized, big enough to let one play with combinations of the flavours in each dish - but equally not too big, leaving us feeling full but not overly so
Around the end of our seating the train turned round and began to head back to Singapore. And so we found an unoccupied stateroom, a few bottles of champagne - and thus quaffed, chattered and laughed bawdily in equal measure. Definitely an experience to savour, enough that I would be tempted by the Singapore-Bangkok overlander in the right company
[Photos]