Sin-city… Singapore!

Who said Singapore was all about shopping? Once the sun bids a lazy adieu, the tiny city-state comes alive with a throbbing nightlife that will leave you gasping for breath, as Raul Dias recently discovered on a hedonistic night-about-town


The tacky, luridly-coloured ‘Made-in-China’ digital clock—the type that seem to be de rigueur at budget hotels, like the one I was staying at—chimed in the 20th hour of the day with a sound that reminded me of the squeal of piglets missing their mamma. But more than that, it also reminded me that I was alone. All by myself on my last night in Singapore—a city that puts on a great show for travelers like me, be it day or night. Never having experienced its legendary nightlife before, I, me and myself decided to make a night of it and hit the nightspots with a vengeance!

But only one question resonated through the empty confines of my party-hungry mind—just where do I begin? So, on the fervent suggestion of my hotel’s Malay receptionist with a lilting Singlish (that’s Singapore-English for the uninitiated) accent, I made my way on foot to the nearby Clark Quay district to begin my tryst with Singapore. And Boy, was I in for a treat or what?

21.06 hours: I am at the mighty mahogany doors of the super-spiffy Zirca Mega Club that was earlier known as the hallowed Ministry of Sound Singapore, trying to sweet talk my way into the über-exclusive club that is housed in a back alley in Clarke Quay. I am a stag after all. But my spiel works and the burly, yet genial bouncer deems me fit to enter the 40,000 square foot structure that is not surprisingly one of the biggest nightclubs in the world. The music du jour (or should I say du nuit) is the bump-n-grind inducing Reggae that pulsates through my body with its rhythm. I boogey a bit like a Rastafarian gone insane and down a very expensive libation of ace mixologist Tomoyuki Kitazoe’s Bombay Bellini, before hitting the street in search of more…

22.15 hours: My search leads me (on foot again) to the nearby, deceptively-named Crazy Elephant that is anything but crazy. This rather laid-back pub has live blues and rock n’ roll bands playing every evening in an interior that has plenty of warm wood and graffiti-decorated walls. The bartender suggests a good old pint of larger that I turn down in favour of a lip-smacking Plum Saketini that seems to do it for me, for the time being at least.

23.04 hours: Before my Cinder'fella' liberty of 24.00 hours (I have a 06.15 flight back home the next day) gets the better of me, I simply must pay obeisance to the mother of all Singapore’s nightclubs—Zouk. So, I hop into a magenta pink taxi and head down towards Singapore’s ritzy Jiak Kim Street where this iconic club is housed. Zouk that plays mostly House music is famous for its seven resident DJs who make it their mission in life to keep the revelers on their toes. For those with an aversion to heavy Techno, Zouk also houses Velvet Underground, where the crowd is slightly older and the music is mainly Soul and Garage. Deciding that this place is more my scene (I guess I’m getting old!), I lounge about on the plush velvet (what else?) couches with a Singapore Sling as my only source of company. After a good half-hour of doing nothing but chill in this subterranean adult wonderland, I decide that I’m ready to resurface.

24.00 hours: My hotel room. The tacky clock announces that it’s time I hit the sack. But I’m not complaining. My night out in Singapore has truly been about coming, seeing and yes, conquering. Vene, vedi, vici all the way!



Recipes:

1. Bombay Bellini

Glass: Champagne flute

Ingredients:


5 oz. Champagne
1 splash mango juice


Garnish: Mint leaves


Method:

Mix together the champagne and the mango juice with crushed ice in a flute.
Garnish with mint leaves.



2. Plum Saketini

Glass: Martini glass

Ingredients:

2 oz. pearl plum vodka
2 oz. pineapple juice
1 oz. sake
Garnish: Fresh mini orchid


Method:

Shake all the ingredients well with ice in a shaker and strain into a chilled martini glass.
Garnish with a mini orchid.



3. Singapore Sling

Glass: Casablanca/ tall glass

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons pineapple juice
2 tablespoons gin
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon cherry liqueur
1 tablespoon grenadine
1/2 tablespoon benedictine
2 dashes triple sec or Grand Marnier
3 dashes Angostura bitters
Garnish: Slice of pineapple, cherry

Method:

Fill a shaker with ice.
Add ingredients to shaker and shake for about 1 minute.
Strain over ice into a tall glass.
Garnish with a slice of pineapple and a cherry.

(First published in Uppercrust)