The Tanglin Club in Singapore is one of the great clubs of the world. I am proud to be a member of it – and have been for the last 45 years. Many members are friends. The staff are always helpful and obliging. They provide a service which is second to none of the other many hospitality venues I have visited. The menus are good, the prices, even in today’s inflated world, reasonable. Singapore is blessed to have such a club.
The Tanglin Club members are doubly blessed to be part of it.
As a regular diner there I have a choice of several restaurants, each with its own unique cuisine and atmosphere. At 92 I need somewhere not too noisy. As a businessman I need a place that has the right atmosphere for discussing weighty matters of commerce, politics and the future of humanity. The Churchill Room is ideal for this. I eat there several days a week. My guests appreciate it as much as I do. I sign a tablet device to signify my acceptance of the bill but, honestly, am usually so absorbed in my guest’s views that I seldom check the price.
Tanglin Club staff are honest and do not need checking up on.
I was somewhat surprised recently when I ate there, two days running, and looked at the bill on both occasions. Our meals on the two days were not identical but were very similar. The price on one day was approx S$100. The next day approx S$145. I asked the manager for an explanation and got a reply I didn’t understand.
So I asked one of the waiters to explain the menu’s costs to me. His explanation was very clear. If you have a desert you are considered a Table d’hote guest – fixed price. You get coffee or tea at the end of the meal thrown in for good measure on this deal. Very reasonable.
If you do not have a desert, as many guests in this diabetic-ridden age prefer, you are an A la carte diner. No bonus coffee or tea here and the individual dish prices for A la carte carry an extra charge. A la carte seems to be considered somewhat upmarket. Hence ‘up dollar’.
Should you be eating there any time soon and feel in need of guidance on this intricate matter do give me a call. I can guide you through the little labyrinth of the puzzle.
It is particularly pleasing that the dining room is named after Winston Churchill. He once said “The more you have, the more you are occupied; the less you have, the more you are occupied.” I’m sure that, were he still with us, he would find a handy phrase for the present scene in the hostelry bearing his name..
Perhaps “the more you get, the less it costs”?
Who knows?
Good morning
John Bittleston
A silent grace before each meal remembers the myriads of people who have no choice and the many who have no food. We shall send them the price of a few meals each month from now on.
10 September 2024
