Desmond organized a “treasury farewell lunch” for me today. Yeah I know. I’m not from Treasury. How nice of them, right? There were three of them in the team – Des, his boss Ewee, and their management trainee Nidhi. The other member of their team, Xin Min, was on leave. We headed to Pine Court Chinese Restaurant in Meritus Hotel in Orchard. We had to take the lift to fifth floor then walk from there to the other wing and take another lift to 35th floor.
The hotel’s corridor design reminded us of Changi Airport. When we got to the restaurant door, we were greeted and ushered to our reserved table. Ewee explained that this was his favorite restaurant because of its excellent interior design and ambiance and great food. He said the high ceilings gave it the illusion of space but it was actually small. He had considered holding his wedding reception here but it could seat only 200 guests. “But that’s already a lot,” I said. “No, here in Singapore we usually have 400-500 guests at our weddings,” he explained. Yikes.
We were all having the buffet, and the two guys carefully scrutinized the menu for vegetarian food as Nidhi was one. There was a separate menu for that which they gave to her so she could order. They asked me to pick what I wanted from the normal menu. I told them to do the honors. Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea as they ended up ordering around a dozen dimsum dishes. When Ewee said earlier that he and Des had a tendency to overeat, he wasn’t kidding! I would have been happy if they had eaten them all by themselves, but they insisted that I try everything. By the fifth or so dish, I was so full already and begged off, saying, “I have a small appetite, though I may not look it.” They laughed. Still they asked me to eat. Moral lesson: do not have lunch with men. I simply can’t keep up! The food was quite nice, though. I especially loved the century egg porridge and the pork puff that Des practically forced on me, insisting that it was really good. I would have had seconds if there was still room in my tummy. I wish I could say “the price is really worth it” but I wouldn’t know because Des picked up the bill and said it was their treat. I won’t miss the work in UAPL but I sure will miss the nice people. (And maybe the free Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.)
the inside of Pine Court
the treasury team – Des, Ewee and Nidhi – at the Meritus Hotel lobby