When was the last time you stopped at Raffles Hotel? I thought so.
The concrete wedding cake confection of an establishment is not solely for tourists as most imagine. There are amazing cocktails besides the Singapore Sling and the tiger under the billiard table is long gone, likely a rug in front of some colonial dude’s fireplace.
And, the best french fries you’ll eat this side of the Causeway is served in Halia at Raffles Hotel (where the Seah Street Deli was once upon a distant past). It is served with two dips, unparallelled elsewhere (also our side of the Causeway). Piquant Mayo & Truffle Aioli. You can’t stop eating them, no, it’s true, and only S$8 for a good serving enough for two. Or a party of four if you order other stuff. And very good stuff it is too,
Halia has an excellent menu of everything-also-you’ll-want-to-try. Like the fried squid, the pulled duck on soba, the chevre (goat’s cheese) on toast, the crab linguine, the fried asparagus. Loads more, ad the desserts!
Surprisingly, wines can be bought for S$60 the first bottle and then S$40 second and subsequent bottles. That makes S$100 for two bottles in a joint like Raffles Hotel?!
As for the stronger stuff, Balvenie whisky you can quaff in a series of Toto numbers: 12, 15, 17, 21, that’s how many years it’s aged. (30 & 50 as well.)
The best bit – go Saturday nights, from 9pm and you’ll not hear finer than Jeremy Monteiro, Rick Smith, and Tama, as they play jazz for your delectation, a joy to hear, a rarity today. But only on Saturday nights though.
A shout-out to the service staff at Halia, especially its restaurant manager Isham, great team!
