Dharma's and the Treasures of the Vatican

On Friday night we went down to the waterfront and had drinks and dinner at Dharma's Kebabs, musing about the blue patch in a sky full of grey. I've got a love-hate relationship with Dharma's. Their kebabs and breads are wonderful. The curry sauce is a little on the mild side, but still great. The chicken and beef are unbeatably tender. But this Friday, the whole dish was just served cold.

How could it be? They'd just started serving grilled items (at 6 o'clock, when we ordered), and nobody else was having kebabs. I guess they were too busy filling beer glasses to bring over our plate. Oh well. The calamari appetizers weren't bad, though.

Throughout dinner we gazed at the Asian Civilisations Museum across the Singapore river. Posters all over town have been announcing the arrival at ACM of pieces from the Vatican Collections, in an exhibit entitled "Journey of Faith".

Entrance to the museum is half-price ($4 from the usual $8) on Fridays from 7 to 9 pm. We breezed through the Southeast Asia gallery, tinkered with the interactive kiosks, searched the China gallery for Tang dynasty porcelain (in remembrance of Mr. Croup), and finally stood in awe at the foot of paintings by Raphael and Veronese.

It was interesting seeing carved pieces of early Christian catacombs up close. We felt like we were walking around a Dan Brown novel, or an Indiana Jones movie. The exhibit displays narrate the necessary Biblical and historical context, for those who aren't familiar with Peter's stewardship or Paul's life (and the great difficult they had in seeing eye to eye).

Closing time overtook us before we could explore the South Asian gallery.

Capped the night with a drink and Rosanna & her jazz players at Bar Opiume. Nothing like a plush sofa after walking all evening...

Update: While writing this up I discovered that Dharma's Kebabs is owned and managed by McCraic Holdings (who also owns Father Flanagan's). No wonder it felt like an Irish pub.

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