Duxton Hill's Delightful Chinese Signpost, and Seeing Conservation in Singapore and England

Gorgeous!

Notice that the Chinese pictogram on the far right is the sign for hill or mountain.

Duxton Hill is old Singapore, little shophouses. Each shop is different. It is the owner's style. 

We are generally taught that in the East everybody conforms, whilst in the West everybody expresses their individuality. However, in architecture that doesn't seem to apply.

In London, you see terraces with basements in Notting Hill. In Hampstead Garden Suburb rules restrict the changes you can make. You can't rip out the old wood windows and replace them with white modern double-glazing. 

You are not allowed to paint your house bright pink in 'The Suburb'. Many of England's small towns are now enlivened by contrasting colours. 

The Romans and Greeks did not have plain white statues. The paint has washed off and that's why old statues are all boring white. If you look at medievel statues and religious paintings the clothes are colourful and convey the status and identity.

In the West of England the Nash terraces, designed by Nash, are designed to form a whole. The terraces are a belt across the hillside, and viewed from afar they match, like a necklace in a neat line. 

Let us look at Singapore again.

Singapore Shophouses

Singapore's shophouses are all in different colours. The shop is below and the owner's dwelling is behind or overhead. 

Singapore Signposts

Everything about this signpost is harmonious. The signs have a border. The writing is large so it can easily be read from a distance. The colour of the red post contrasts with the tiny turquoise tiled roof. The little roof is soothingly and restfully curved. 

You can admire the streets of other countries on the website Street view. That may inspire you to travel overseas or take a trip to a shop or restaurant or go for a stroll around other parts of your own city.

The Duxton Hill Signposts, like the ones in Chinatown in Vancouver, Canada, and other cities, are attempts to keep the character of the area consistent.

Useful Websites

streetview

singaporeair.com

visitsingapore.com

visitbritain.com

visitengland.com

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker

Latteria mozzarella bar, my latest favourite Italian restaurant in Singapore

Problems
Location
Finding the Latteria Mozzarella bar.

Name
What does the name Latteria mean?
What exactly is mozzarella?
Menu translation - what is burratina?

Answers
Location
Finding it is not problem. It's on the corner in Duxton Hill, which is clearly marked by a signpost.

Name
The name Latteria means dairy. My first thought was latte is milk. Right. As Singaporeans say, correct. But I guessed milk bar, and it's dairy.

Menu and Mozzarella
According to Wikipedia:
"Mozzarella (English /ˌmɒtsəˈrɛlə/; Italian: [mottsaˈrɛlla]) is a southern Italian dairy product traditionally made from Italian buffalo milk by the pasta filata method. Mozzarella received a Traditional Specialities Guaranteed certification from the European Union in 1998. This protection scheme requires that mozzarella sold in the European Union is produced according to a traditional recipe. The TSG certification does not specify the source of the milk, so any type of milk can be used. In Italy mozzarella made with the milk of the Italian water buffalo is an important variety."

Ampelos Wine Cellars of California
I went to a wine dinner, a set meal with pre-arranged dishes (no choices) and matching wines. The meal featured wines from Ampelos Cellars in Santa Barbara, California. The name Ampelos is Greek for vine. The winery owner Peter Work wore a distinctive American cowboy hat.

Peter told us about the winery following the organic principles established by Rodolf Steiner, better known to me for his architecture featuring curves to soothe both the well and the sick.

The other speaker was Peter's wife Rebecca. She enlightened us about how many choices you make when deciding on the kind of wood for wine barrels. Wood from which country (American Oak, French Oak etc). Should it be roasted, if so, medium ...etc. Should the wood be made with dry or wet treatment.

Wine - Prosecco!
We started with Italian Prosecco which is my favourite. The staff are Italian and the waiter who served us came from the same place as the Prosecco. The name Prosecco di Valdobbiadene means Prosecco from Valdobbiadene. (Confusingly, Prosecco was originally both a place name but the grape has now been renamed Glera, to avoid confusion.)

Welcome Canapés
As we stood around outside the front of the restaurant, we had Prosecco with canapés. My favourite was the smoked salmon - which I love. I'm allergic to calamari, which other people sampled.

Sit Down Menu
Then we sat down for the dinner, matching the food to the pre-ordained wines brought over by the wine maker, rather than the usual way you dine by choosing your food and then the wine.

I marked both the wines and food dishes out of ten as a simple guide to what to re-order. (My husband made proper detailed tasting notes for himself, on appearance such as colour and density, bubbles if any etc, aromas, taste (sweet, acid, tannin, finish) and quality assessment.

The Burratina
The mozzarella cheese I tried was a burratina, served in a white bun shape, with a soft centre. Rather bland, but lifted by the tasty accompaniments. That was a novelty. I gave it 5 out of ten, but loved the Viognier, which I gave 8 out of 10.

An Italian meal includes a past a course, before the meat. Yes, we then had pasta. Veal ravioli. Enhanced by a cream sauce, visually enhanced with the contrasting colour of pistachio nuts scattered on top. The numbers I awarded were creeping up. Seven out of ten both food and the Pinot Noir, Santa Rita 2012. I don't normally like Viognier, nor Pino Noir, so I was impressed.

The next dish was the highlight for me. Oven baked Chilean Cod fish. I normally prefer plaice to cod but the cod was exceptional, with roasted pumpkin. None out of ten for that.

The main dish was Lamb shank. To finish we had dark chocolate and hazelnut parfait.

Service was brilliant, except I was not offered the coffee or tea.

My observation is that when you have a speaker, they should go round every table in turn to speak to every diner. The waiters should have a tick list of every table being served tea and coffee. Also just because the husband or host says, 'no thank you.' to the offer of coffee, does not mean that the wife or guest did not want any.

My overall assessment of the meal was 4 out of 5 stars. That's the top mark for a restaurant.

What would have taken it up to 5 stars - Michelin standard in my opinion?
1 A real surprise in the presentation of the dessert. For example, made in the shape of a swan or ship or basket; or a surprise - doing something unusual such as an exploding bombe, or cutting open to reveal another colour and flavour.
2 Special chocolates served with the coffee and/or bill.
3 Something to take home - such as a rose for the ladies, a chocolate wrapped in foil, a discount for another meal on paper shaped like an origami swan, or even an address card in the shape of a Prosecco bottle, or shutters opening to reveal a Prosecco bottle.

At the side is a pleasant patio if you want to eat and drink al fresco.

Latteria mozzarella bar (and restaurant)
40 Duxton Hill, Singapore 089618
Tel:(+65) 6866 1988.
Open lunch time 12-2.30 and evening 6-11.30.
info@latteria.com
www.latteriamb.com
www.ampeloscellars.net
www.ampeloscellars.com (the vineyard in California, USA)

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker

Top Restaurants in Singapore - Try the Tippling Club

The Tippling  Club in Tiong Bahru was listed as one of the top 50 restaurants in Asia and one of the top ten in Singapore, a friend told us when we needed a place for a business meeting. Afterwards we went back for a lunch with family and friends. The price was 46 Singaporean dollars for two courses, 60 for three, plus 21 Singapore dollars or more for a long or short cocktail, and extra for coffee. But that included three appetisers and there teeny sweetmeats per person with the coffee.

It would be hard to describe the food because nothing was recognisable from any other menu I've had elsewhere. I am allergic to shellfish to my first free appetiser was swiftly changed to what looked like a prawn cracker, but it was not shellfish although it was salty.

Then on a different shaped plate is what looks like blackened pepper, but succulent with a thick sauce like a cross between tomato sauce and soy sauce. Delicious.

Along came a tiny flat shaped glass with what appeared to be a thimble ful of tomato juice. The serving person added what seemed to be oil and the result was a very tasty yet refreshing little drink.

My starter course was a kind of fish soup. It looked like a potato soup with lots of cubes of colour and flavours.

The main course was equally odd shaped, odd coloured and a mix of ingredients.

The sweetmeats were behind cute. Cutissimo.

My coffee was served on a metal saucer which I liked so much I asked for the supplier. The brown sugar oblong was placed over the white sugar oblong, so simple yet so visually effective. Lovely presentation.

Service was solicitous. When I stood up a lady stepped forward to escort me all the way to the door of the toilets. The two toilet cubicle doors reached the floor fro maximum privacy. The washbasin was in what looked like a tall vase. At the bottom of the base was inserted a conventional rise and fall plug.

Bar stools with a view of the kitchen were supplied with solid looking backs.

They seem to be open Monday to Friday for lunch, Saturday evening for a la carte dinner only, closed on Sunday. If you are looking a good value midweek lunch, this is the place.

The street is full of restaurants and bars. Duxton Hill for years has been famous for some of the few remaining historic shophouses,  two or three storey buildings, with shops and ground level, connected by a covered 'five foot way' named after the width, installed by Raffles when he founded the city's layout and architecture (in the days before air conditioned shopping malls). Not just a delightful restaurant, but a detour into old Singapore.

Tippling Club
38 Tanjong Pagar Road
Singapore 088461
teL +65 6475 2217
enquiries@tipplingclub.com
www.tipplingclub.com


Glossary
Bahru is Malay for new as in Johor Bahru in Malaysia.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.