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Singlish


Wilfrid

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Unusual place. I have been aware of it for a while and blithely assumed the name meant a kind of singles bar. Completely wrong; apparently it refers to a Singaporean/English idiom which, despite visiting Singapore twice, rings no bells with me.

In fact, it's an ambitious cocktail bar, reminding me of Martinys, but it's tiny. Almost all seating is upstairs, a few booths and some bar stools. That means make a reservation, show up on time and be prepared to close out when the next reservation is due (we had nearly two hours which surprised me).

It really is about the house cocktails; not much point coming here and ordering your regular. I ordered two takes on a martini; didn't take notes but I know the second one came with a salted egg vermouth and a large olive in a floating eggshell. My friend's second cocktail, which she deemed strong, was garnished with a rice crispy cube. It's that kind of place, but everything was good ($22-$26).

There's a short menu of share plates. The duck tongues could have served four people.

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Just now, Wilfrid said:

I think you need to try them. They certainly weren't disgusting.

See - here's the thing.  I would never try them, because they just sound disgusting.  Why do I need a Martini with salted egg vermouth and a large olive?  I take my olives on the side, and my Martinis at 2:1 (or, with respect to Audrey, "Fitty Fitty").  And I used to take my Rice Krispies with milk.

I think are plenty enough classics that aren't being served, that if they were being served, could almost pretend to be new.  

 

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You see, you're imagining them to be unsubtle catastrophes with weird flavors. I can just tell you they're not. They're very subtle and interesting. But nobody is ordering you to go try them.

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On 3/16/2025 at 1:23 PM, Wilfrid said:

apparently it refers to a Singaporean/English idiom

Around the time you posted, the NYT read your mind and published a "36 hours" piece on Singapore:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/03/13/travel/things-to-do-Singapore.html?unlocked_article_code=1.5E4.v9ec.ZEySRQTPPTXI&smid=url-share

Right at the start there's a mention of Singlish with a link to this:

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/14/opinion/do-you-speak-singlish.html?unlocked_article_code=1.5E4.sg7z.D5M4Lp7Ga1Gz&smid=url-share

amusingly "rebutted" here:

https://mothership.sg/2016/05/pm-lees-press-secretary-rebuts-sporean-literary-critics-new-york-times-article-on-singlish/

Edited by relbbaddoof
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