A Postponed Lunch

Our lunch at Caprice originally scheduled for early December got pushed back til mid-January due to unforeseen circumstances, and that also meant our party of 6 need to be seated across 3 separate tables with the prevalent dining rule. But what didn’t change was the top-notch food and service that the restaurant team consistently delivered. 

Ravishing Char Siu and an Unusual Pairing Idea

A box of wines arrived at our doorstep a couple of weeks ago, courtesy of Toasst, a new business venture based on the wine club concept co-founded by my friend A just over a year ago. Most of the time I do have a good idea what kind of wines I would like to get, but I did find this wine subscription model interesting as a supplement to my usual collection. There are always those odd bottles – either from an obscure region or made using a rarer grape varietal or both – that one often overlooked, or there’s time you wanna be more adventurous. That’s when these bottles sent from companies like Toasst would come in handy as they focused on some unusual choices. 

First Star of 2021

It just so happened Arbor was the first starred restaurant we visited in 2021 – a few weeks ago we went online to check the earliest availability for a table at the restaurant and January 2 it was, fell conveniently in the first weekend of the year. And of course with the dining restriction still in place the booking for 4 people became 2 adjacent tables separated by a partition – they already did the best they could to make us feel like sitting together. 

Early Dinner in a Chalet

Call this either a late lunch or early dinner, we made a booking to eat at Chesa at 3pm just as we checked out from our room at The Peninsula. The ambience of the cozy dining area, hidden in one side of the floor just above the lobby and resembled a Swiss chalet completed with dark wooden furniture, dim lighting and traditional wall décor, has always been my favorite part and it did feel like we were transposed to another part of the world once stepped in. Barring the rowdy family who sat right next to us with the parents treating the restaurant like their own (dysfunctional) home with lots of screaming and running around, it was actually quite nice. 

In-Room Michelin

We were not going to let the dine-in restriction deprive us the enjoyment of a proper dinner while staycationing at The Pen, so we went for the room service from Spring Moon downstairs. With our suite that came with a separate dining area and a long dining table, we found that almost as good as a proper sit-down meal but in the comfort of the posh, private space.