That's a blue elephant!

We dressed for dinner. I hadn’t been in Le Normandie for 16 years. Tan had only heard of it. On the top floor of the Garden Wing, this is the probably the best French restaurant in Asia. Its windows look both west to the river and east over the city.

Happily, Susie had reserved a table on the river side, and the chef had designed a special menu of extraordinary choices. Among several offerings we chose:
• Sautéed frogs legs with shallot purée and parsley sauce
• Pan-fried duck foie gras from the Landes, Armagnac and grapes sauce
• Roast sea scallops with onion confit and black trumpet mushrooms
• Samplings from the Chariot de Desserts

When we were about to leave, the piano player changed the tune from Cole Porter to ‘Happy Birthday’ and as the fabulous chocolate concoction arrived, everyone in the dining room applauded. I normally hate public birthdays, but I assure you, at Le Normandie in The Oriental everything takes on a sincerity not found anywhere else. The waiters took photographs and brought the digital prints to the table even before I cut the cake.

We had a nightcap in the Bamboo Bar. An American singer held the room in thrall. I had seen her on Broadway in “Bubblin’ Brown Sugar.” When she took her break, I said, “Thanks, you sure are bubbling tonight, Brown Sugar.”

Tan and I went back up the staircase to our home overlooking the river, and were entranced by another nightly performance—the swaying palms silhouetted against the shimmering water, the lights on the barges sliding upstream, and the winking stars that spring into sight.

Magic.

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