Long Bar, Raffles Hotel
Author: Anothertravelguide.com0 COMMENTS
There are a few things that just have to be done and a few drinks that have to be tasted at least once in your lifetime - like the legendary Singapore Sling cocktail, and it has to be tasted right there, at the Raffles Hotel Long Bar where it was first invented. No-one actually knows when it happened but, as likely as not, it must have happened sometime between 1910 and 1915: a local barman just happened to take all the ingredients and make it. The original recipe has not been preserved or rather was lost in the 1930s, and has been handed down from generation to generation of barmen, by word of mouth or in transcripts. You will be presented with the classical souvenir Singapore Sling recipe when you order one: (it's gin, cherry brandy, Benedictine, Cointreau, pineapple and lime juice and grenadine). Beware, though - even legendary hotels have been known to take the easy way out. When you see a pretty waitress pour you a pre-mixed Singapore Sling from a five-litre plastic bottle (worse still - first filling the best half of your glass with ice), do object and point out that you have ordered an authentic cocktail, shaken the way it is supposed to be. Let the young lady go and fetch the barman. The taste will be radically different. By the way, Singapore Sling was originally meant to be a ladies' tipple, hence the reddish-pink colour.
Long Bar, Raffles Hotel
1 Beach Road, Singapore 189673
Phone 6431 6156