Hermitage at One Raffles Boulevard is the latest kid on the block of wine wholesalers. Only three weeks old, it is conveniently located at the basement of NTUC building – good for the yuppie crowd they’re trying to target.
The place is spilt into two levels with the upper level used to house the bottles of wines and the lower level has several tables and chairs where people can sit around to sip wine. It’s very pleasant with its wooden shelves and panelling and sleek, modern black furniture.
I went for a wine-tasting session there on Saturday afternoon. It was actually a wine-tasting cum speed dating thing organised by a friend of mine. But really, all I wanted to do was drink and wasn’t in the mood to make any conversation whatsoever ‘cos I was so bloody tired after paddling for about 1¾ hours just awhile ago. (My teammates and I had paddled to Kusu, Lazarus, St John’s and Sisters Island again! Was a great paddle!)
We tasted one sparkling wine, two whites and two reds. We also tasted four types of cheeses. One of them was my Brie, a cheese that I like. The sizes of the cheese we were given were really disappointing though. They were the size of 1cm cubes. Pathetic! They really could have been more generous. The wines were OK, but I wished, Soo Hoo, the owner of the place could have said more about the wines and taught us how to taste the wines, and maybe write tasting notes. We were given a sheet of paper with a small write-up, but I thought he could have gone further with the tastes and smells we should be looking for.
I had asked a friend to come along with me. She later told me that she spoke (we didn’t get to speak to everybody which was really fine by me!) to one guy who didn’t drink anything ‘cos he said a friend of his was sentenced to a few weeks imprisonment just the day before for drunk driving. For god’s sake, if you’re coming for a wine-tasting session and you’re afraid of getting drunk, leave the car at home or just ask for a bucket to spit the wine into. DUH!
Another complained to her that he was disappointed the wine wasn’t free-flow. Hello? This is a wine-tasting event not a wine buffet. *roll eyes*
Another was so sleepy and groggy that he looked as if he was going to fall asleep anytime. OK granted, he said he had been working from 5am – 1pm, hence the tedium. I don’t think gulping down wine really helps in staying awake though…
One complained that Singapore’s VERY boring. I had to argue against this statement by saying that there ARE things to do in Singapore. It’s just a matter of looking for them. In my opinion, people who say Singapore is boring are the boring ones themselves. I don’t understand these people. To them, I guess visiting new clubs/pubs equates to ‘having things to do’. I suggested sports to Mr. Singapore-is-Boring as a way of filling his time. Mr Singapore-is-Boring goes on to say, ‘Oh, it’s so difficult to do water sports when I stay in the West ‘cos all the water sports are in East Coast.’
Well well, you just haven’t been looking hard enough, mate! I have teammates who stay all the way in Jurong West yet they can make it for dragon boat and outrigger canoeing practice. I don’t live near Sentosa yet I can make it there for practice at least twice a week. It’s only a matter of how much you want to do it, Mr Singapore-is-Boring! I could think of a million things to do if I had more time and money to do so. I think people who say such things are so bloody lame.
Anyway, this is my first and last time going speed dating. It’s just so tiring having to introduce myself and reiterate what I do ten million times. I happened to sit with another girl and at any one time there would be both of us and two guys at the table.
Once, one of the guys said ‘Oh, since you work as an editor, your English must be very good, right?’ And being too tired to act falsely modest as any good, demure Chinese woman should, I just went ‘Er, yah’ in a very deadpan, nonchalant manner. (But of course I’m hardly demure even at my best. Hahaha)
Oh you should have seen their reactions to what one might consider my social faux pas. That was a truly comic moment I tell you. The guy who asked the question said, ‘Aiyah, when people say such things, you’re supposed to say “No lah, not really. OK lah.”‘
Whatever. I would have retorted that it was a rhetorical question he asked, but I doubt he would have understood the term ‘rhetorical question’. OK, as you can see, I’m in a very bitchy mood now. Anyway, I left it as that and I doubt I left a very good impression. Hahaha.
No more speed dating thank you very much! Anyhow, it’s a cesspool of men here!