Raffles Hotel; Singapore

I must confess that one of my long-held life-ambitions was to enjoy a drink in the bar of the legendary Raffles Hotel in Singapore. This fine establishment was named in honour of Sir Stamford Raffles, the man who founded modern Singapore in 1819. Raffles Hotel is one of those classic Old British Hotels that bespoke luxury, grandeur, empire, good manners and social grace. They were all about High Tea, tasteful furnishings and fittings, impeccable service from gloved waiters, fine dining, and formal Gala Balls. In Canada we have our own grand hotels to continue this tradition; examples include the Chateau Frontenac, the Banff Springs Hotel, the Chateau Laurier and the Empress Hotel in Victoria. However, before any of these fine establishments opened their doors, there was Raffles. And, I was intent on having not just any drink, mind you. Raffles Long Bar also happens to be the very spot where the famous Singapore Sling was created and first served around 1910.

So what if the drink comes with a slice of pineapple and a Marachino Cherry on one of those tiny plastic cocktail swords? At least it doesn’t have one of those cheesy miniature umbrellas stuck in it! That indiscretion would automatically call for the Singapore Sling to be removed from the Official List of Approved MANLY DRINKS. And so what if it cost about $13 CDN – ($20 CDN if you want to keep the glass as a souvenir)? I mean, this is a slice of history that is being served up! Mark Twain was once a regular here, and is known to have done some of his writing within the confines of the wooden-shuttered room with the tiled flooring. And many film stars of a previous day, including Noel Coward, Mary Pickford and Errol Flynn, partied long into the steamy hot Singapore nights here. Uncounted diplomats, generals, spies and hangers-on used the smoky atmosphere of this bar as a meeting-spot in which they could plan and execute their intrigues. What better spot to recover from the heat and the humidity of Singapore than in this famous watering spot. Plus, it was my 57th birthday, so why not celebrate the event in style?

Much of what I had anticipated Raffles Hotel to look like proved to be the case. The original part of the structure is a two story, white stucco building with a red tiled room, and it is surrounded at ground level with brown Terracotta tiled hallways on all sides, and an embracing veranda on the second level. These elegant pass ways serve as the perfect setting for sipping tea or maybe a gin and tonic while sitting on the sturdy bamboo and wicker furniture, surrounded by the lush potted plants that are everywhere, and the big revolving fans that ease a gentle breeze onto the patrons below. Raffles Long Bar was there all right, up a short flight of stairs at the end of Cad's Alley!

Entering through big wood and glass double-hung doors, the dark interior of the bar revealed a traditional, turn-of-the-(19th)-century British-inspired bar, complete with a solid-wood, L-shaped bar. The bar was replete with black leather stools and the de-rigour brass-pipe shoe rest running the full length. Behind the bar the stock of colourful liquor bottles was on display in handsome wooden cabinets with mirrors at the back.. In the middle of the bar, just opposite the brass and ivory pull-pumps for the draught beer, sat an antique mechanical cash register, over which the painting of a lady was placed on the wall. (More on this painting later).

At the side of the bar were large arches with wooden shutters, and comfortable bamboo and wicker furniture. Overhead I expected to see large rotary fans similar to those located on the veranda, but I was in for a surprise. Instead, there were about 6 long metal rods hung from the ceiling. To each rod about 8 bamboo hand-fans were attached. The rods moved back and forth on their hangers, which caused the fans to stir the air for the patrons below. (I wonder who got stuck with the nasty job of powering the fans?).

With my ‘Sling’ firmly in hand, I kicked back to contemplate the ticking-off of yet one more item on my TTDBID list. (I leave it to you to decipher that acronym). At the same time, one cannot help dwelling on the spirits of all of the famous personalities that must still haunt this dark deity of dignity. In fact, after 3 – 4 Singapore Slings I am very confident that even the most ardent of sceptics would have to admit that they, too, feel the spirits! About the only thing missing in this outpost of British dominion and an unabashed monument to self-aggrandizement was a stuffed Bengal tiger head mounted on the wall!

It was then that I noticed that most of the ‘regulars’ in the bar were, in fact, ordinary sparrows that hunkered down on the overhead beams. At a suitable moment the little thieves would then swoop down and scoop up some of the ‘free’ peanuts that literally overflowed the containers on the tables. As for the other patrons of the establishment, they were obviously all tourists like me, and almost all were slinging the same overpriced Slings that I clutched in my fevered hand. Good grief! What has become of this cherished institution when it is reduced to grovelling from mere tourists like me? Come to think of it, the Sling is a bit too sweet for my liking; I think somebody must have spiked a Shirley Temple, put in some red food colouring and passed it off as a novelty for the novice! Suspicious now, I lifted the glass to search for the manufacturer’s mark on the bottom. There it was; Made In China. Really and truly, the Sun has set on the British Empire! Pity! Fortunately Jay had taken the precaution of simultaneously ordering a pitcher of Tiger Beer, which was quickly downed as a chaser. Above, me savouring, (choking on?)my first sip of a genuine Singapore Sling.

With our drinks empty and the short séance with All Things British now concluded, we decided that we would conduct a little impromptu personal tour of the premises, just to satisfy our curiosity about the local state of affairs. We were particularly interested in cornering a notable local denizen of the hotel, The Raj, for a few shots – photographs, that is. Now The Raj is a fabled institution at Raffles Hotel; sort of the Palaeozoic prototype for the current-day Wal-Mart Greeter. The Raj meets and greets guests 'alighting' from their conveyances at the front door, and generally hob-knobs with the VIPs in and around the lobby. Sporting a turban, baggy pants, a black beard and a flowing silk shirt, The Raj also makes an ideal foreground for crass tourist photos, (just like we wanted to take).

Unfortunately, other than fleeting glimpses of him scurrying off, we never did acquire an image for you, so all I can recommend is that sometime you have a good look at a tin of Nabob Coffee, and you will get a good visual impression of The Raj.

And yet, the chase was still profitable, providing us as it did with views of elegant terrace bars and restaurants; palm-treed, lush interior courtyards; more cosy nooks for a meal or a drink; and an antique fountain. Whilst poking about on the grounds, (note the quaint British twang one is liable to acquire merely by incidental exposure to the place), we learned that Raffles is also distinguished by being the place in (at?) which the last Asian Tiger was shot, thereby making it entirely extinct in Singapore. Seems that in 1902 the interloping beast was hiding out under the Billiard Room on the grounds of the hotel, (some claim it was actually in the bar), no doubt disrupting a post-dinner drink and a gentleman's game of Skittles and Beer.

Rather than calling the SPCA or even postponing the game of pool, a retired British Army Major dispatched the tiger with his old service revolver. I bet that called for a round of drinks, Wat? (Note to the reader; I can match this story. My parents were members of the Regina Golf Course and ever since I was a small boy I was familiar with a big stuffed buffalo head that was mounted above the fireplace in the dining room. One of the last remaining wild Buffalo in the area, It had been shot on the golf course, also around the beginning of the 20th century. On my 21st birthday my father took me into the Men’s Bar, which was located directly behind the dining room. There I discovered that the fireplace was actually double-sided, and directly above was mounted the stuffed remains of the OTHER end of the Buffalo!)

Then we came to the awesomely elegant Front Lobby of raffles Hotel. This was located in the new part of the structurel; an attached 3-story building of similar architecture. It contains a soaring, 3-story atrium topped by an antique skylight, luxurious marble floors, pillars and counters; all of the tasteful furnishings one would expect from this grand dame of grandeur. It even had a Cashier Cage, complete with solid brass bars on top of a sumptuous marble counter.

There were really only two disappointments in my viewing of this legendary hotel. First of all, Raffles might have been on the edge of the harbour when it was constructed over 100 years ago, but ever since it has steadily fallen victim to the trend of infilling the harbour in order to reclaim land. Raffles Hotel is now about a half a mile from the Pacific Ocean, and the once-fabled view is confined to the high-rise buildings of downtown Singapore which surround it! Somehow, the din of bustling traffic and shadow of the towering skyscrapers do not compensate for the gorgeous Pacific sunsets and the gentle sound of the lapping of the surf on the sandy shore.

The second disappointment regards the painting over the bar. It is an oil rendering of a formally dressed lady standing in a field of flowers; Tiger Lilies to be precise. It seems that to celebrate the year 2000, (and to boost the revenue stream, no doubt), the locals decided to invent another drink in this very bar, which they call the Tiger Lily. (The drink; not the bar!) Smacks dangerously close to crass commercialism, I would say, and I was pleased to note that there were no Tigers in the bar; either real or of the liquid variety!

So there it is; a marvellous hotel in mid-age in romatic Singapore. I was glad to have had the opportunity to explore it, and I can only agree with its official motto:

Raffles hotel: ‘Patronized by nobility; loved by all!’


Doug-san; (not in Japan )

Saying 'Ta Ta Old Chaps!' for now.