It started off as a tough & difficult day BUT all is well and back in harmony.
I fell back in "love" with Raffles today .. more on that later.
I got an answer ... the whisky from Tasmania is called Sullivan's Cove. It's excellent.
The "angel" is called Rahmat ... my butler here at The Sarkies Suite. He ensures that I have Strepsils for my sore throat, hot water drinks everywhere, that I don't get lost around the hotel ... and that my clothes are tidied up! I certainly would be in a stress without him.
OK - so up early again - as today it's "Raffles Day".
We film the drive up to the hotel ... in the 1960's Daimler Classic limo. Very refined. Sarjit the doorman is there to greet me. He's a legend here. The facade of the hotel is one of the most famous in the world. The address is Beach Road ... the property used to be at the waterfront but land reclamation means that the hotel is some 500 metres from the sea now.
The hotel opened in 1887 as a 10 bedroom "Beach House" ... was bought by the Sarkies Brothers and turned into this iconic hotel. In 1987 it was awarded National Monument status ... it now boasts 103 suites ... It would be fair to say that like The Ritz in London, Taj in Mumbai and Peninsula in Hong Kong ... Raffles is THE hotel landmark in Singapore. With such greatness ... comes even greater responsibility.
It's very different here to The Fullerton. While there it's a "new" product, here it's a real step back in time with a very long & well-documented history as a hotel - and its a tough call to uphold the tradition - keeping the history in place while also updating the product can't be easy.
We met up with Leslie Danker - the hotel's historian. He has been here over 35 years, the ONLY member of staff here before, during and after the major refurbishment of 1989 that lasted 2 years or so. He knows EVERYTHING about the hotel. The museum is excellent and full of photos that tell the story ... and what a story. Bankruptcy, wars, tigers being shot in the bar, Hollywood stars, writers ... Raffles has seen it all in over 120 years.
The hotel has a new General Manager for the past 5 months - Pierre Jochem. This hotel is in need of some TLC and he is the right man to do it. We interviewed him in my lounge ... more on that on Wednesday - when we actually get to film the dining room. bedrooms, bathrooms etc. As you may have gathered I LOVE my hotels and I have come across some that have lost it, some that have it all and some that need a tweak. I am 100% sure that with Mr Jochem at the helm, within a matter of weeks, Raffles will be once again the world beater that it has been for so many decades. Pierre gets "it".
Off to the Long Bar. In around 1915 - a couple of years before I was born - a chap called Ngiam Tong Boon created the Singapore Sling. The mix of gin, cherry liquer, pineapple juice, cointreau, benedictine and grenadine was originally a hidden secret ... but soon got out and is one of the most popular cocktails in the world. The home of it though will ALWAYS be Raffles - Long Bar. It costs around £13 (SG$25 ++) and is pink and is really a ladies drink BUT it's a MUST! WIth Jimmy the Barman at his best, I supped a couple ... yum!
The last feature of the day was at The Raffles Culinary Academy ... the cooking school. Tim ALWAYS groans when we film a food feature as I am so inept in the kitchen, it's scary. Today I managed to turn Singapore's most famous dish - the mud crab in chilli sauce - into a gloop AND a chocolate fondant into ... a sad stodgy mess. Chefs Wilson Fam and Gael Etrillard were VERY patient ... but I think were slightly peturbed at my culinary mischief. Thank you guys! I will be posting all my recipes on a new page on the site later this month.
My issues with all things digital came to the fore today. I lost most of the photos from my disk - for now ... James assures me that he has copies on his proper camera. SO more tomorrow!
BIG thanks today to Iori - who has been brilliant in getting us from A to B ... and finally to G - while feeding us with smiles and hot water!
Tomorrow is going to be painful ... and pleasurable. I feel it.
SERVICE IS EVERYTHING
Song of the Day: Someone Somewhere in Summertime - Simple Minds (from the Live in the City of Light album)
Weather: healthy
i can't cook!
i try to cook!
a warm welcome!
