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A Bit of Background!
This trip comes by way of a crazy thought to 'really get away from it all' way back in March of 2009. Being still early in the year, I decided to go as far away from Singapore as I could possibly imagine to avoid the madness of the Singapore Formula 1. Yes, shock-horror, but SORRY - Kyo does not get excited about road blockages, traffic diversions, extra charges for taxis and exorbitant prices at F&B outlets.
So... I decided to go to Greenland.
*stop/rewind*... GREENLAND?! ("Don't you mean Norway?" I hear you ask..)
Yes. Greenland! Nuuk (the capital city of Greenland), actually.
So with my mind set on Greenland I started to do some research.
I Googled. I calculated.
All sorts of factors were running through my mind...
-to visit at least two countries I'd never been to
-to transit in London overnight without a stopover to maximise my holiday
-to catch up with other SQTalkers in London for a bite to eat
-to once again fly SIN-LHR with SQ in F (this was showing a 744 config back then)
-to gamble that the 774 would be upgauged to a 388, i.e. gambling for a Suite upgrade
-to try an airline I'd never tried previously (I settled on Lufthansa rather quickly, inspired by the Mother of all TRs by that famous nickbot - their FCT was the decisive factor)
-and many, many more that I shall not list for the sake of brevity
It became apparent that the sheer amount of time it would take to get to Nuuk, Greenland and back would see me using almost 4-5 days in travelling time alone. Taking ten days leave from work was simply not going to be an option back in March. It was also necessary to fly with Star Alliance carriers, or not pay much more to get to Nuuk.
And it was this final criteria that sunk the whole Greenland idea.
Flights were not cheap to begin with, costing circa $1000 for the particular flights I wanted and that was ex-Copenhagen or Reykjavik. Why didn't I just go through to Reykjavik and pay Iceland a visit, then? I could have - but there was no award availability for every date I searched on (I also searched other months, just for the heck of it to no avail) so I'd have needed to buy an additional ticket and stop my ticket in London. The budget I'd set for this trip was also fast being eclipsed and that was just on the travelling aspect alone without factoring in shopping, food or accommodation!
Just as a side diversion - if anyone is considering a visit to Greenland, please do yourself a favour and read this nice little summary and save yourself a lot of time/effort (that didn't exist when I was planning this trip)
The solution: Norway
Lots of preparation went on behind the scenes, but lo and behold, the weekend came and I set my plans into motion. The 'To-Do' list by Friday evening was already extensive and growing by the second despite the flight departing only on Monday morning!
Before we even leave the sunny shores of Singapore, we had a few things to check off the 'To-Do' list at Changi itself!
To-Do List at Changi
#1 - The Private Room
#2 - Attempt to order everything on the menu (self-proclaimed member of the SQTalk Research Division) whilst maintaining a straight face
#3 - Take pictures of the dining area in TPR and combine to create a photo montage / panorama
#4 - Spend the night in T2's F Slumberette and live to tell the tale
Whilst I *was* intending to guest alienguy99 into SKL F, who was flying on the Saturday, I felt that checking-in 48 hours prior to departure was a little bit of a stretch (two nights in-Terminal is not my idea of fun before a 10-day European skirmish). So, I checked in at 1300 hours on the Sunday, some 17.5 hours prior to takeoff and another kind SQTalker guested our dear friend inside instead.
#1 - The Private Room (TPR)
The sacred inner sanctum of the monastery that is the rear section of SIN T3's F SKL as most of you know, is reserved only for those flying SQ in F. Whether this is an outrage or not has been debated ad nauseum in another thread on this forum, so I won't go there.
Whilst this wasn't my first time in TPR, it was the first time I had sufficient time to dine here.
Allow me to be your host - Let's start off with a glass of champagne
And since I *really* had sufficient time, I began perusing the menu...
The Private Room's Private Menu - So many possibilities, so little time...
When thinking about the amount of time I had left to departure, and what to eat at what time, I was inspired of the words of the great John F. Kennedy when thinking about the less-desirable items on the menu...
Kyo's slightly-modified pledge:
To eat everything: "Not only because they are easy, but because they are hard"
With a hunger matched only by the fact that it was 2PM, and that I had waited this long before commencing lunch, I began with that perennial SQTalk favourite - the lobster. The common observation of which has been the increasingly shrunken crustacean throughout the course of this year. The waittress even apologised for the small size and suggested I order a second main course (she had no idea...)
Items are pictured in sequence with the menu (various items not pictured include the bog-standard SKL F/J-available soup and one or two other dishes on another SD card that I will only get back next week, my apologies in advance). These were not consumed in order and admittedly yours truly failed to consume all these dishes in one sitting. Not through lack of trying, however.
Baked Lobster with 3 cheeses (Gruyere, Ementhal and Cheddar)[/URL] - Boston Lobster served with fresh chives, asparagus, fresh baby carrot
U.S. Prime Beef Burger with Foie Gras, Rocket Leaf and Fried Quail Egg - Homemade juicy burger in a sesame seed bun
Korean Ginseng Chicken - Ginseng chicken served with Japanese steamed rice, Korean kimchi, Korean chilli paste
Baked Cod Fish with Green Pea & Tomato Mango Confit - Pan roasted cod fish fillet with mashed green peas, mango & tomato confit
Capellini with Wild Mushroom Ragout and Truffle Oil - Angel hair pasta tossed with olive oil and mushroom ragu
Chicken Satay (another SD Card, will be available next week)
Shanghainese Xiao Long Bao (another SD Card, will be available next week)
Dim sum delights - With your choice of tea to go along: Jasmine, Oolong, Pu Er, Chrysanthemum, Green, Fresh Mint Leaf Tea (I choose not to have any tea)
Laksa (this was served next door in the regular SKL F, so I didn't bother to order it this round - but I'll include it later on from another TR)
I did try the Chef Station Special (which is only available from 6PM to 10:45PM, the chef prepares this in the regular F lounge), however.
Beef Brisket - Braised beef brisket with thick hor fun served dry or with soup
I did not bother with the Thai Mango Salad as this doesn't really excite me very much as a BKK regular, sorry...
More to come tomorrow, hopefully...
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