Local Delight

Last Saturday, Matt and I stumbled into a pleasant surprise on our date night. We ventured into the city, planning to find some kind of hole-in-the-wall bar or cafe for dessert and drinks. However, we ended up at IndoChine, an extensive bar-restaurant chain comparable to America's P.F. Chang's. Reason? When we were strolling the riverside along Boat Quay, an Ella Fitzgerald-like voice belting out a Bebop number turned our heads and plucked up our ears- an extremely rare incident as the Jazz scene is a bit of a "quiet enclave" here. At first we wondered if it was a soundtrack, then surmised that it might have been some American soul-singer guest-staging at the restaurant. It was indeed a captivating performance so we decided to give it a shot and got a table at the restaurant's outdoor pavillion where the band was situated. We could not believe our eyes. Instead of a statuesque, substantial American chanteuse, the singer was a 5 ft. 4 chinese-looking lady who just happened to have a lot of soul in her vocal chords. She's accompanied by two very singaporean looking female drummer and pianist, a local male bass and a tenor sax, the only expat on board. You probably will have to understand the stereotypical Singaporean social psyche to grasp the absurdity of the existence of a local jazz band that actually got swing, but the solid band with their tasty interpretations of a variety of classic numbers served us up a delightful nightout. It was beyond our expectations and imagination, and we think we will go back again.