My first Ladies Night experience!
Couple weeks back I found myself at The Exchange, which happens to be one of the best spots to strut your swag at on a Wednesday night in Singapore because from 5-9pm ladies get free flow of martinis, margaritas, and beer there. *blink, blink* I did a double take when I first saw that on the event poster and had to clarify; just to be sure and yes, it is FREE FLOW FOR FREE. Wuuuuuuuudddddd. For the love of mankind, I seriously need to get out of my cave more often. Turns out Wednesday night is the night to get crunked for free. Why is it that I’d never been to one before!? This is friggin’ phenomenal!
My evening was off to a good start already. And as if there is a need for another reason to sweeten this deal – uh huh, there is – the pastry chef at The Exchange has prepared a special dessert platter served only on Wednesday evenings from 11 Feb to 27 May. In between double-fisting mugs of Hoegaarden Rosée, I got to sample this dessert platter when I was there. It’s pretty awesome.
+ Pliable FIJI Water Chocolate Ganache with homemade vanilla ice-cream, mint scented lime curd, dehydrated Manjari mousse
+ Deconstructed Pear & Passion Fruit Frangipane with FIJI Water baby poached pear, almond crumble, frozen FIJI Water lemon foam, passion fruit custard
+ FIJI Sweet Corn Sorbet with hazelnut parfait, egg yolk glass and fresh strawberry
At first I thought it was three separate individually-served desserts, but this is a creative dessert medley incorporating Fiji Water in a creative manner and served in one platter. While I’m not big on chocolate – and one of the anchors in this platter is the pliable chocolate ganache – there are so many great components that made up this dessert-scape that I didn’t mind digging into the chocolate for the full experience as every element played well together.
I had my eyes set on the sweet corn sorbet as soon as I spotted it on the menu and it definitely didn’t let me down one bit. I loved every bite and it was even better with the texture of the almond crumbs. What surprised me was the dehydrated Manjari mousse, which had a honeycomb-like airiness and satisfying crunch which melted on the mouth instantly. There were other surprises too, such as the eggyolk glass; although not as crispy as the name suggests, I was tickled by the creativity. Then I spied a strange small white sheet which turned out to be lemon foam. It had a soft and chewy texture like mochi but packed with lemony tartness. Love! The other anchor in this dessert-scape is the hazelnut which I didn’t quite care for but it balanced out the lemon foam and the passionfruit mint cream which graced the platter. Fresh berries and vanilla ice cream rounded out all the flavors nicely, with edible flowers to boot too. The only thing which I believe can be much improved is the poached pear which isn’t as soft as I’d have liked it; it’s still crunchy – maybe it’s deliberately so!?
The dessert platter is S$35++ and meant to be shared, but I’m sure no one’s going to stop anyone from hogging the entire platter.
Fiji Water is also comping the first 100 ladies with a goodie bag*. And I’ve got one to show you what’s inside:
330ml of FIJI Water
FIJI Water straw
Café Melba 1 for 1 Pizza voucher
Pure Fitness 7-day pass
Effect Energy Drink
Hoegaarden Rosée
Spa Espirit Group booklet
* The Ladies Night goodie bags will be distributed once a month and head to The Exchange’s Facebook page to look out for an announcement to find out when. Some of the bag’s contents will be changed.
While some of us may be watching our weight and prefer to be on a liquor diet only, there are savory platters available for those who fare better with food in the stomach before drinking. Again meant to be shared, there’s a meat combi platter and a vegetarian combi platter. Take your pick. The first stab of my fork went straight into a piece of pork belly from the meat platter, followed by a piece of tempura lotus root. Balance, folks, balance.
Vegetarian Platter ($40++):
Marinated chickpea
Pickled ratatouille
Confit cherry tomato & mozzarella skewers
Manchego cheese croquette
Vegetable tempura
Sharing Platter ($60++):
Cured & air-dried meats
Pickles
Sliced smoked salmon and halibut
Mini burgers
Chicken wings
Rosemary chicken skewers
Lamb skewers
Caramelised pork belly
By the end of the evening, I’d downed an apple martini (ok), a blueberry margarita (ok), and two Hoegaarden Rosée beers (best). A couple hours later, I got pretty much hoe’d out even though this rosée brew was super easy to drink and I really enjoyed it. Free flow, right?
I’m liking this Ladies Night at The Exchange a lot. The eye candy wasn’t bad either… *sniggers*. Now if only I have my best gal pals here in SG with me. :( Everything mentioned here applies only during the promotional period of 11 Feb to 27 May. Eye candy depends on available inventory year round. Thank you, Fiji Water, for the kind invitation. Penning on a post-it note and sticking it by my desk: “Get out of cave; eye candy awaits”.
All you ladies leave your man at home
The club Exchange is full of ballas and their pockets full grown
And all you fellas leave your girl with her friends
Cuz it’s 11:30 5PM and the club Exchange is jumpin’ jumpin’
Peace out,
MB
