How To Celebrate A Birthday At The Churchill Room Restaurant, Tanglin Club, Singapore

 

Angela Lansbury at The Tanglin Club, belated birthday lunch. Photo by Trevor Sharot.

We had lunch at The Tanglin Club in Singapore. We had told them on booking that it was my birthday. In case they forgot, I had with me both a home made badge with the words happy birthday stuck over it (which sank to the bottom of my tote bag and got forgotten), and my happy birthday hat from Daiso. It is small enough to pack inside a small handbag. it can be seen by serving staff close up, without causing a distraction to others in a restaurant.

The Happy Birthday Hat

That worked a treat. Firstly, a member of staff wished me happy birthday. 

Later, another member of staff wished me happy birthday, and produced a cigarette lighter and asked if I wanted him to light the candle on my hat. (A joke of course. The candle is fabric.)

By then, I had forgotten that I was wearing it. 

Without prompting they produced a tiny one person cheesecake with a lit candle. Instead of writing the words happy birthday on the plate, as is often done in restaurants, they had a small chocolate oval with the words happy birthday neatly engraved. I imagine they are bought in, boxed in batches, quick to add. 

Gold Board

Under the cake was a small gold covered board. (You get the same sort under smoked salmon, if you ever need one in a hurry. But plan ahead. You may need to wash it and dry it a couple of times to eliminate the fishy smell, and be sure it does not attract insects.

Across the entrance hall is the relaxed tea room where you can order cakes and tea.

Useful Websites

https://www.tanglinclub.org.sg/dining/churchill-room.html

daiso.com

Christmas Tree, Masks and festive fare at the club: Which restaurants have my favourite food for Christmas and 'winter' in tropical Singapore's Tanglin Club

 Why do we stay members of the Tanglin club? e keep getting enticing offcers. When you can't think what else to do for a birthday, Chirstmas, New Year, or an anniversary, or just to swim or lunch with a friend, you have lots of options, different places in one venue, sports and food, seasonal decor. This year, the latest idea was a tree lighting - and a goody bag from Santa. What could be in it?

The red carpet at the entrance is welcoming. Seasonal for Christmas. The Chinese favourite colour. Traditional.

The welcoming red carpet entrance to the Tanglin Club, Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

If you or anybody in your group cannot manage the club's entry stairs, look for the nearby lift.

We went to the tree lighting of the giant Christmas tree in the entrance hall of the Tanglin Club. I took several photos. The tree alone. Myself and the tree. We had taken the precaution of arriving early. While we waited for the lighting, we went to the bar in the Tavern for a drink.

The Tavern Bar Drinks, Nosh & Decor

I am not keep on drinking alcohol on an empty stomach. but was able to order a juice. We were provided with a jar of salted nuts.

Although we were not eating in the Tavern, we were able to enjoy the cozy atmosphere, and the Xmas theme decorations.

The Tavern was fully booked, for this special event day, although normally for ordinary days you cannot book lunch and dinner in the Tavern, which is a fancy name for a pub, with traditional brown or black beams and brasses and beaming people in photos of the old days. 

The Tavern menu, which we were able to look at, has regular British style items such as fish and chips, and three or four Chinese items - plus a seasonal day or week special. My eyes lit up when I noticed crepes Suzette, the dessert which I had specially liked in the more expensive Churchill room, was also available at the Tavern. 

Staff Costumes

The club staff were dressed in red tee-shirts. To add to the festive effect, marshalls wore white masks printed with snowman pictures.

Santa

Santa arrived. People took turns having seasonal photos with Santa.

Barriers

The staff started by positioning people in their family groups, distanced apart. However, as the place grew more crowded, children were running around willy-nilly. The floor markings were in front of the reception desk, not at intervals in the lounge. The put up barriers at the entrances and for Santra to make an entrance. But they did not have enough. We should have had spaced single seats and numbered tickets, called to stand, one at a time, like at the Covid-19 vaccination centres. 

Staff dressed as Santa and Santa's helper. Tanglin club. 

We saw the lights switched on, then raced downstairs to the Wheelhouse restaurant. Not a moment too soon. There was already a queue. Having a drink and some nuts first in the Tavern bar had been a good idea.

The Wheelhouse

Why is it called the Wheelhouse? It has a wheel on the wall outside.  

If you like eating outdoors, it has an outside area. The outdoor tables are under a roof' with open sides, looking out at the swimming pool.

We joined the queue for a table in the larger, and recently redecorated indoor area. I loved the new decor. Colourful paintings. Well-lit.

 The open cooking area is great. That always inspires confidence. I feel that cooks cannot be doing the wrong things to your food, when they know they are being watched.

Because I had recently tried a Thali (tray) in an Indian restaurant, I thought it would be interesting to try that again at another venue and compare the two. A thali also offers several mini-dishes, ideal for the indecisive, fussy or greedy. I reckoned if I did not like one dish, I would probably like another.

The food looked good. Nice rice. Surounded by varied colours. Fish, chunky white. Burgundry brown meat - chicken tandoori, bbq? Solid chunks of yellowy mango in the mango chutney. Mystery green. Plenty of food.

Taste? Good - but not special. Not as good as the distinctive flavours in the Indian restaurant (Ballaji Bhaawan, 103 Syed Alwi Road, opposite Mustafa's department store Gate no 2) which I reviewed earlier.

However, the Wheelhouse thali was good enough for that evening.

Food Temperature

My food was luke-warm. I wondered whether it had been left standing. I watched. No. The waiting staff seemed to be collecting cooked dishes fast from the collection point. 

My husband commented that one of his ex-pat friends, a New Zealander married to an Indonesian, had once said, "Asian restaurants and customers don't set the same standards of serving food hot which we expect in the West."

Why is that? Does it matter? I like to know that my food was cooked thoroughly to kill off germs. I also want to know that it has not been sitting around so long in the heat that it can be breeding more germs. 

Dessert

The wheelhouse offered a large choice of desserts, but not the crepes Suzette, which required a member of staff to devote time to cooking at up at your table. 

Staffing Level

The restaurant seemed short staffed. They had empty tables, whilst people queued for a table all evening. A couple with children, the mother in the queue ahead of me, decided to go off to the nearby American Club instead. That was good for us, because it moved us one place further forward in the queue. (Which Americans call line-up.)

It is not like London, where the restaurants would have pre-Christmas menus of turkey, Christmas pudding, and crackers.

However, it is a suprise to see mock-snow in the tropics.

Tips

1 If you want Crepes Suzette, go to the Tavern or the Churchill Room.

2 You can book restaurants online.

3 The Tanglin club has reciprocal arrangements with clubs all over the world, including London, England. (For example, the Cavalry & Guards Club, which I have reviewed and pictured in an earlier post).

Useful Websites

Tanglin Club

https://www.tanglinclub.org.sg/

Cavalry & Guards Club

https://www.cavgdsclub.co.uk/

Angela's review of the Churchill Room

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-tanglin-clubs-churchill-room.html

I have other reviews of the Churchill room. 

Angela's review of the Cavalry & Guards Club

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2021/08/londons-cavalry-and-guards-club-with.html

I have other reviews of the Cavalry & Guards Club.

About the Author of this blog, Author Angela Lansbury

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books, including: Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time 

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

I  also have a blog on comic poems.

 Please share links to your favourite posts. 

Belated Birthday dinner at the Tanglin Club, Singapore

Covid-19 Restaurant Restrictions Eased

The Tanglin Club restaurants in Singapore were closed in early June 2020 because of Covid-19 restrictions. When the restaurants reopened it was only for tables for two. As soon as the previous restrictions were lifted the available bookings were snapped up. We spent ages changing days and trying different times which we didn't want to be sure the restaurants really were fully booked at the popular times and not showing fully booked due to a glitch or the booking site not being updated. 

Time and Space

In the end, we booked for 6.30 although we wanted to eat at 7, reckoning that by the time we ordered drinks it would be getting on for seven. On the night in the large Churchill Room restaurant the tables were widely spaced out and all set for two, very different from the usual layout. The restaurant was never completely full. We guessed that the bookings were limited not because of too many diners, but because of too few staff.

 

Entry

Your taxi drops you outside the front entrance. Up a flight of red carpeted steps. Temperature control past an automatic machine. In the olden days doorman used to open the front door. Now your credentials are checked carefully.

The Churchill Room restaurant has a picture of Winston Churchill by the doorway.

Decor Of Orchids

The Tanglin has an orchid display outside in the hallway. The centre of the Churchill Room has another orchid display. A third orchid display was at the side.

Set Menu Choices

The menu online was not the same as offered in the restaurant, but gives you an idea.  

We started by ordering drinks. I had a glass of Prosecco. My husband ordered a reasonably priced Champagne.Then a glass of red wine.

Complimentary Bread

We were brought a little bowl of breads. The white bread roll with seeds was hot. Melted the butter. The black bread I saved for later. 

The crisp in a tall triangle contained blackened sesame seeds and was delicious, very more-ish. Crispy, salty, tasty.

Complimentary Amuse Guele

Dice size vegetarian mousse with contrasting green peas.

We chose two different starters and main courses and desserts. 

Choices included

Starter

Salmon mousse. Mushroom soup. Foie gras. 

I liked the salmon. That was my choice. 

I was disappointed in the foie gras. Just another smooth pate and less flavour than chicken liver pate. If I had to pay extra for it, I would not.

Main Course

Beef.

Barramundi Fish. 

Pork - excellent. 

Vegetarian option.

Main course - Served Under Domes

Served smartly under domes which are lifted simultaneously. No serving one person who has to wait feeling frustrated for the other person to be served. Nor one person starting and being told off for not waiting.

Dessert

I chose the mango mousse dessert, with ice cream. I thought the fruit was a healthier option.  Mango - excellent choice, looked great.

Why not the chocolate desserts? I admit I hesitated. Mango was a change from chocolate, which we eat a lot of at home and are offered at almost every restaurant and coffee shop location. Chocolate we could eat later at home. 

One of the options was salted chocolate. That must be very tasty, and salt is an ingredient of savoury chocolate dishes featured in a film about France. Sugar and salt does not sound healthy. 

Vanilla ice cream, often tastes of nothing. Or it is drowned by the chocolate flavour.

Nonetheless, I was hoping my husband would opt for one of the chocolate desserts. I told him so. 

He retorted, "It's my birthday dinner. I want to choose what I want to eat."

My husband chose the cheese board. It looked great. Wooden platter. Several cheeses, hard and soft, including a blue cheese. Circular crackers. Some grapes. 

He said the cheeses were a bit industrial. He is a connoisseur when it comes to cheeses.  He buys from speciality cheese shops such as the Cheese Arc. He looks online.

My dessert came up with the happy birthday words written in chocolate and a candle in a blue candle-holder.

More Photos will be added shortly.

Useful Websites

https://www.tanglinclub.org.sg/

http://www.thecheeseark.com/locate-us/

About the Author

About the Author

Angela Lansbury is Vice President Public Relations of Braddell Heights Advanced, and Tampines Changkat Advanced, speakers' training club which are part of Toastmasters International. The USA has several Spanish speaking as well as the English speaking clubs. You can pick up Spanish from buying or reading online their Spanish clubs welcome pages and manuals. 

In The USA, UK, Singapore and worldwide, there are many clubs which are English speaking, as well as Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, French, Tamil, Malay.

The inauguration of Tampines Changkat Advanced was Tuesday 29th 2021, online on  zoom. Their meetings are on the fourth Tuesday evening of the month. They hope to hold meetings with a few people meeting physically, the others online, as soon as the Covid-19 conditions allow.

You can find the club through their Facebook page as well as through Toastmasters International find a club. 

https://www.facebook.com/tampineschangkatadvTMC

The meetings are free for visitors. Visitors can watch, and join in speaking by introducing themselves and volunteering to do a 2 minutes impromptu  speech in table topics.

If you wish to join for a year, it costs about 190 US dollars, to have monthly meetings online, a mentor, a magazine, and one of the 11  Pathways, consisting of 14 projects. Each project starts with 3 speeches of your choice of subject, lasting 4 to 6 minutes, then 5 to 7 minutes. The Pathways include the most popular Presentation Mastery. I chose  humorous speaking as my second Pathway, costing 20 dollars. Then my third was a leadership course. Come and see for free.

The club also has meetings in person in Singapore

You can also contact my other club, smaller Braddell Heights Advanced, which is a cosy little club with more chances to speak.

Login through bha.learncool.sg/meet/bha 

That will link you through to Zoom or googlemeet. 2 pm to 5 pm.

BHA meets the first Wednesday evening each month, starting at 7 pm Singapore time. 

Then an extra meeting on the 3rd Saturday afternoon, starting at 2 pm Singapore time.

To check your time zone,  

https://24timezones.com/difference/singapore/ 

Meetings will be on Wed July 7th and  Saturday July 17th.

Contact either of these or other clubs through Toastmasters International Find a Club.

Birthday and Anniversary Dinner At The Tanglin Club

 Angela Lansbury with Prosecco at The Tanglin Club in Singapore. Selfie.

The Tanglin Club gives members a voucher for money off dinner. The club also charged no corkage on one bottle of wine. We dined in the traditional Churchill restaurant which has several photos of Winston Churchill.

Photo by Angela Lansbury. 

The Table Napkin

The napkin was an entertainmne on arrival. The fabric table napkin has a small buttonhole so you can attach it over your top shirt button - or the lowest shirt button if you prefer to keep your napkin on your lap.

Prosecco

I ordered a glass of Prosecco. We had a bit of a wait for the drinks but we had the bread to stave off hunger.

Hot Bread

The bread, served hot was a delight to look at it and taste. The crackers were a dramatic spike. The white bread was covered with seeds. The black bread provided colour contrast. butte pats were served. (I prefer butter to the oil you get at some Italian restaurants.)

We chose one three course meal and one four course meal. I am allergic to shellfish and the four course meal had an extra course of shellfish soup.

Canape - Chef's Choice

Two items hard to identify. The waiter did tell me. The tiny ball in a greenish colour was proably wild mushroom and something. Delicious, tasty. tangy. The tiny flat toasted bread with sharp cheese on top was also exquisite.

Starter

The fish starter was served with roe. This is the life. I wish I could afford to eat like this every day. 

Main Courses

I had one sort of steak. My husband had a kobe cheek. For the first time I had melt in the mouth Kobe stead and saw why it was so famous. I have twice had so called kobe stead before and found it not different from any other steak. This time it was the real deal, the real thing.

The sauce was magical. I used some of the bread I had saved to soak up the sauce. French style. That's what the French do. They soak up the sauce with bread. Not to waste a drop.

Birthday Cake

Finally, the piece de resistance. As I had requested on arrival, they brought up a plate with the words happy birthday and happy anniversary written in chocolate.

Dessert - Melting Chocolate  Centre

My birthday was over two weeks ago. We had had to cancel our restaurant booking because first my huband had a cold, then I caught the cold from him. Now we were a couple of days away from our wedding anniversary.

More photos to be added shortly.

Useful Websites

Tanglin Club

About the Author

Angela Lansbury is a British author who has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore. Her 20 books include Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations.

She has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore. She is a travel writer and photographer.

Angela Lansbury is a teacher of English (advanced and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, aspiring polyglot.

Angela Lansbury is also a speaker. Member of many toastmasters -  speaker training clubs - and a speaking contest judge.

She is VP PR for Braddell Heights Advanced toastmasters club which meets online the first Wednesday evening of the month at 7 pm Singapore time; then the third Saturday afternoon at 2 pm Singapore time. Please come along. Open to Toastmasters and guests. In April and possibly longer BHA will be on bha/learncool.sg

Next meetings are Saturday April 17th, Wed May 5th, Sat May 15th, Wed June 2nd and Sat June 19th.

 On Wednesday May 5th 2021 BHA meeting is a workshop on using short stories in the workplace, by Garan Tee. 

On bha.learncool.sg which has served us well for some time. However, it is possible that meetings next month will move to Google meet or another service.

She  has several blogs and writes daily on at least two of the following:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Please share links to your favourite posts.

The Birthday Cake Wording Went Wrong

Here was my home made cheesecake for my birthday. Because of the coronavirus,
I could not go to The Tanglin Club in Singapore for my birthday.

In previous years I had enjoyed the Churchill Room. Here's a picture of what they did for me on a previous birthday.

Because of the Coronavirus, I understand, they were short staffed. I could have gone to the Tanglin club's Chinese restaurant. But that was not what I had in mind for my birthday meal.

The curved lines like fingerprints come from photographing a picture from the computer screen. Would you believe I cannot find my photos from long ago on my own comptuer, but a search on the internet brings up my own previous blog post.

So here is another of my previous birthday cake pictures from a restaurant. This was the El Vaquero restaurant in Mill Hill, London, England.




But I was now stuck at home.

I consoled myself by thinking of birthdays which had gone wrong in restaurants.

Humorous Birthday Story Memories
Now that big birthday parties are banned, in restaurants, and homes, worldwide, because of Coronavirus, we can console ourselves with memories of great birthday cake memories, or disasters.

At least with online pictures of online cakes you have some control.

I remember a restaurant birthday cake disaster. One year we went out for a birthday dinner at the now closed Alpine restaurant in Stanmore, north west London.

The Alpine
The starter and main course were lovely, but what I was waiting for eagerly was what I expected would end the meal. We waited eagerly for a cake with candle to appear at the end of the meal. Another table received a birthday cake.

We waited. I presumed the chef was busy, but we were next. We waited longer.

 I grew increasingly impatient. I decided to look at the other table's cake and ask if they liked it.

I went over. They had not touched, not eaten more than a morsel. I asked if I could photograph it. I photographed it.

I asked, 'How was the cake?'

The lady answered glumly, 'The cake was fine - except for the happy birthday message. It's our wedding anniversary!'

Then I knew what was wrong. The diners had received our birthday cake.

My son and I sat speculating. The kitchen now had an anniversary cake. Should they give the aggrieved couple a second cake? No. We did not think they would do that.

The pastry chef could change the wording on the anniversary cake to birthday, for us. Or give the anniversary cake to the others and defrost another cake and re-ice it for us.

No wonder the delay. Re-icing. Plus arguing about what to do. Having an inquest on who had made the mistake!

Eventually we got a birthday cake. Just as we were about to leave. Too late to eat it. Then we had to see if they could pack it up.  If not, photograph it. Try to pack it up ourselves. Argue about whether we should do so.

Pastry Chef Left?
Was that the occasion when the restaurant manager apologized because the chef had left? I speculated, "Why has the pastry chef walked out? In a huff? Resigned. Because his work was wasted by the careless wait staff or phone operator?"

My son replied, "I don't think so. He has just gone home early. Gone home because he was employed until 9 pm and his work was done"

"Ah. He had left the cakes behind for the waiters to serve?"

Oh, dear, oh me. It was stressful at the time, for us, the other diners, and the staff. But humorous in the re-telling. We enjoy re-telling this story.

You can see a higher quality picture here of my Tanglin Club birthday, with the picture of cake, with happy birthday wording:
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4474319509042475984#editor/target=post;postID=4458240656501699522;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=44;src=link

If you need to send an online card overseas because you cannot travel to be together on a birthday,
you can use 123.com website's cards.

Here's what I sent to a relative.








Useful Websites
https://www.123cards.com/birthday-ecards/
https://www.jibjab.com/
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/03/tanglin-club-birthday-lunch-in.html

About the Author
Angela Lansbury is the author of twenty books. See Amazon and Lulu.
Please share links to your favourite posts.

Chinese restaurant Tang Yun at The Tanglin Club in Singapore

Problem
Which restaurant to choose at the Tanglin Club? For lunch with friends, no booking, just walk in early, I like the
Tanglin Club's lovely food in The Tavern. The jolly bar is where people gather for a drink.

Coffee In The Lounge
Afterwards at lunch time you could have coffee in the ground floor coffee lounge overlooking the pool, almost next door as the lounge and Tavern are both on the ground floor. They serve cakes and scones and macaroons. In the evening after about 8 pm the prices are halved if you want to take home some leftovers but you have to be quick.

Story
The Chinese are very kiasu (which means one-upmanship, getting ahead, first in the queue, beating rivals. If you see ten pieces of chocolate cake and there are ten people in the queue (Americans say line up), chances are the first, Chinese, customer will take all ten pieces of chocolate cake. If you want chocolate cake you'll feel a bit peeved.

However, that's fine if what you wanted was the cheese cake. I recall standing, watch a Chiense lady emptying the entire shelf. She took all the chocolate cake, the all the scones. By some miracle she left the last lonely piece of cheese cake for me.

The Churchill
Across the spacious hall is the grand rather pricey restaurant called The Churchill.
Look closely and you'll find a picture of Churchill.

Peak in and its off-puttingly large and formal although they now allow people to dress down and admit children on Sundays.
It delivers great food on themes for special occasions, sometimes with music from a live band on stage, but is too big to be cosy. There is a bar at one end.

Tang Yun Chinese
Tang Yun the Chinese restaurant upstairs is just right. The decor is perfect, original and colourful. Flowing lines on the ceiling. Whites and flower patterns. Table cloth in white or cream and napkins keep the noise level down, as does the jolly red carpet with curling pattern.

Nuts on the table whilst we are waiting to order. Water comes up straight away, fast.
Every dish a delight.

My starter was something fishy, salmon with truffle. Not a strong flavour but very pleasant. For my main course I chose chicken with cashew nuts. Enough for me to have it wrapped up to go. I'm told the crab was good.

Dessert a surprise.

Reasonably priced sparkling wine. However, nowhere in the building has yet got a sweet dessert wine because they claim there's no call for it. I can't understand why a place this size with four restaurants can't manage what almost any pub and restaurant in the UK can provide in terms of range of drinks.

What else did I miss? Some special ending to the meal, delight for the eyes and tastebuds, such as a chocolate or tiny chocolate and almond biscuit.

Toilets are elegant, specious, with good gel for washing and big mirrors, all spotless.

Photo by Trevor Sharot.

Please shae links to your favourite posts.