Problem
Who was holding the popular meeting at the Sheraton Towers Hotel?
Answer - My Elevator Speech
I had been planning my training workshop on the elevator speech, and had told members of Toastmasters about it, when I performed my own elevator speech.
I went down in the lift and spoke to the lady the short journey from the second floor to ground, known as floor one in Sinapore. She was from SPH magazines and told me that the event was awards to restaurants. When I told her that I wrote about food and restaurants on my blog and wanted to know who had won, she suggested that I go back to the event where I would be very welcome.
A big display showed the names of what I thought were the winners, but turned out to be the sponsors. Sheraton Towers Hotel, Perrier, and other big names.
On the Fossa chocolate stand I met Jay Chua, Chocolate maker of Fossa Chocolate. Dark and hard chocolate. Different.
Another display featured products made from natural ingredients, by Esther Sng. She said I would get a sample in the goodie bag available at the end, so I thought I could photograph that.
I also encountred Yuan Oeji, a charming young man wearing an amusing tee-shirt. I wasn't sure whether the deisgn was a toy or a monter or an animation but it made me smile. He said he had bought it in Turkey.
After I got home I looked up his company. He is the real deal. Firstly, he went to the LSE (London School of Economics). When I was in London at University College, London, the only people who outclassed us in London and impressed me (apart from medics - who studied 7 years, architects, and lawyers) were the entire faculties of LSE for economics and business (and Kings College for science).
Secondly, he is a forward thinking person who establishes new concept restaurants, new themes, new ideas, innovation. He moved on and I moved on - to the food!
Sheraton Food
I found time to admire the Sheraton's display of ice creams, in three flavours, which were encased in what looked like profiteroles. (In fact authentic profiteroles were orginally ice cream centres, but mostly nowadays they are made with solid cream centres.) I found the ice cream quite bland. That would please the Japanese. Why did I not register flavours? Maybe because I had had a swig of red wine.
What really impressed me more than the flavours were the colours and shapes of the displays. Parma ham was in a boat of carved melon in the shape of a bowl with a handle. Figs decorated the table. The savoury strong tastes and dark reddish brown of the ham were contrasted with the colours and flavours of fruit, white melon, green figs.
The sweets were mingled with cubes of fresh fruit. The Sheraton Towers did everything so well at this event, the fountains below in the background, and the food displays on the balcony.
Unfortunately I did not get the goodie bag. the organiser desk person said it was only for those who had attended teh event. She made me feel like a gatecrasher, alhtough sombody had invisted me. So I cannot show you the pcitures, and don't know who won the awards. However, here's what I do know. As the popular saying goes: it's now what you know, it's who you know!
Useful Websites
www.sheratonsingapore.com
www.sphmagazines.com.sg
www.theprivegroup.com.sg
www.fossachocolate.com
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer, photographer, speaker and author. See my other posts on Singapore, the Sherton Towers, toastmasters International, other countries and other hotels and restaurants.
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