Goodwood Park Hotel's Eastern Fantasy & Raffles Hotel's Shanghai Lily Today a white Russian is a sweet tasting, 1960’s cocktail made from vodka, coffee liqueur and cream. Apart from vodka the drink hasn’t any Russian origin. Culturally more significant in the 20th century were the White Russian émigrés. They were supporters of the Tsarist government deposed in the 1917 Russian Revolution...
COLBAR: A taste of 1950’s Singapore Colbar Eating House & Milk Bar. Apart from their Chinese dishes the Colbar Eating House & Milk Bar in Singapore serves chips with everything. Opened in 1953 the café is popular with food bloggers who identify it as ‘British-Hainanese’. Serving mixed grill, pork chops, omelettes, cucumber sandwiches and fish and chips the British influence is...
In October 1969 Columbia pictures released ‘The Virgin Soldiers’ based on a best-selling novel by Leslie Thomas. The story is about a young national serviceman posted to Singapore during the Malayan Emergency, counting the days to demob and more interested in chasing girls than soldiering. Like PFC Chris Taylor in ‘Platoon’, Private Brigg is dominated by two NCO’s; the cowardly, blowhard...
In March 2020, after 28 years in Hong Kong, I moved to Penang as a base to travel in the region. The Covid 19 pandemic ended that plan and I spent much of the time re-reading books I had collected over the years. The only new book I bought was ...