T-shirts, shorts and flip-flops are just perfect for the first brunch of the New Year. Another unremarkable day of anything-goes island life

By Gordon Goh

I was up bright and early, and, quite frankly, a little drowsy. Blame it on the Yanjing (燕京) beers I had all night, trying to drown the misery of watching Let’s Celebrate 2024 on TV. It was terribly foolish of me to think that I might be able to derive some festive cheer from watching Mediacorp’s annual countdown show. From the minute the two presenters appeared—Ebi Shankara trying to look cool and, worse, Germaine Tan, trying to appear sexy—I knew that this was not going to be a night to close the year with what for those at The Promontory might be considered a bang. There was hardly anything felicific about what was to follow. This was just a more expensively-produced getai (歌台), and the show, by all means, had to be dutifully mediocre. I was not planning to review local television’s low points of the past year, but there before me was the summary of what I already knew would unfold: the deeply dull. If not for the Yanjing, I would have sat in front of my television set in a torpid state.

When morning came, I was hungry. I wanted a big breakfast, a substantial meal to start the year. I called a friend (she was still in bed), and she agreed to meet. We opted for brunch, and decided on Five Oars along Upper East Coast Road. The café was not as busy as I had feared. And thankfully so, as I was afraid to be asked: “Do you have a reservation?” (I can never quite understand that requirement at many coffee establishments on our island, even for a cup of cappuccino!). There was also no cap to how long we could spend our time there (bless Five Oars!). A ladder greeted us—servicing work above the false ceiling was obviously and audibly underway. The place was, despite the distraction requiring technicians and their attention at the start of the business hour, rather quiet and had a pleasant feel of yuandan (元旦 or New Year’s day) morning about it. The breakfast and the coffee were pleasurably agreeable. And then, while waiting for our order to arrive, I realised that we could have been dressed too spiffily for this significant meal.

And then, while waiting for our order to arrive, I realised that we could have been dressed too spiffily for this significant meal

All around me, those breakfasting (or, perhaps, more accurately, brunching) were very casually dressed. All of us were not in a kopitiam (coffee shop), but there was perceivably a standard neighbourhood dress here: T-shirt, shorts, and slippers (or slides). I can understand that the cafe is nestled in a residential area, but giving some thought to how one is togged on this cool morning of the first day of the New Year should not mean any level of difficulty. This was not a quick kaya-toast-half-boiled-eggs-kopi-kosong breakfast; this was the fancier brunch, time to take pleasure in a meal, in a perceivably nice-looking café. Those at the table next to us were enjoying croque madame and crab scramble, but they could have been tucking into a meal at the ultra-easygoing Siglap 936 Food House next door. When I looked around the spacious café, I very soon saw that all customers were indeed dressed identically. Then, I thought I’d see what was beneath the tables under the pretext of taking a scenic route to the lavatory. Yep, a convention of flip-flops.

Yesterday coincided with the rise of the GST. So there was, I presume, no reason to dress nicely to welcome what was generally considered unwelcome. The meal would be dearer than usual. There was no need to mark the dreaded occasion by looking extra spiffy. When I mentioned what I noticed to my makan kaki, she said, sounding totally resigned to an unchangeable reality, “to them, it’s only brunch, mah.” I always am of the impression that brunch is not your standard meal. Brunch is hardly an everyday affair. And you tend to brunch at a relatively nice place, among especially enjoyable company. It could be a special occasion. Frankly, it was hard to feel special even if you were planning to make the first meal of a new year less ordinary, less regular when those around you treat it as just another day, another meal. I guess I was expecting too much, as I bid hello to 2024.

Photo: Gordon Goh