Who can come to Singapore and not try a Singapore Sling or two???
Not I!
Even though we were running out of time in this city, and we had already dragged the children from pillar to post, we had one last stop to make. The Long Bar at Raffles Hotel for the famous cocktail.
Lets face it, Mr GG knew that if I didn’t try it this trip he would be bringing me back in the VERY near future…
So we walked from Little Indian to Raffles Hotel, probably about 2kms given that we were a little lost. We had intended to catch a cab but didn’t seem to see any vacant ones along the way. Then I noticed the buildings had started to look more colonial in style and familiar, so I knew we were too close to get a cab. Sure enough we rounded a corner and saw the most exquisite of colonial English architecture, Raffles Hotel.
The entrance to the bar is at the side of the building and up two flights of stairs. Singapore seems to have a very lax policy to children in bars but we quickly took a seat in a dark corner away from the service area just the same.
We need not have worried, the waiter was around in a flash delivering a box of peanuts to the table and taking our order. There were no menus on the table but I knew what I wanted and Mr GG was having a pint of beer, the kids ordered a soft drink each and we sat back and took in out surroundings.
The long bar is very 1950’s safari suit British in style, with the swaying bamboo fans on the ceiling, the bamboo furniture and wood trim bar, mosaic tiled floors, it looked like something out of a movie scene. The only thing missing was an elephant gun and Clarke Gable
I was here to try the famous Singapore Sling a Raffles tradition since before 1915.
- 30ml Gin
- 15ml Cherry Heering
- 7.5ml Dom Benedictine
- 7.5ml Cointreau
- 20mlSarawak Pineapple Juice
- 15ml Lime Juice
- 10ml Grenadine
- a dash of Angostura Bitters
- pineapple wedge and glace cherry to garnish
- Add the ingredients to a shaker and shake well with ice.
- Pour into a tall serving glass.
- Garnish with fruit.
You will be interested to know that the Singapore Sling was absolutely delicious. It would have been easy to drink quite a few of these very quickly as they were lovely and sweet, but at $28 each I put the brakes on after the second and took down the recipe instead.
Tell me readers, do you get obsessed with trying things an area, country or hotel is famous for? Do you find it necessary to seek out the local beers, wines, cheese or chocolate?
