Birthday Lunch

For as long as I can remember, my parents have always made sure that we celebrate each others’ birthdays. This has always been a ritual and it was always a family only affair.

I remember simple birthdays when I was young at our one room rental flat in Queenstown. It was a small flat and I still can recall that address, although that flat no longer exists. It was Block 3, 34-C Margaret Close, Singapore 3.

Later we used to celebrate our birthdays with a dinner and almost always it would be at a North Indian restaurant. The ones we then frequented were the restaurants at Imperial Hotel, one at Colombo Court and one at Boulevard Hotel. None of these buildings or these restaurants exist anymore.

Now it’s just me and my mother here and we celebrate birthdays at lunch rather than dinner, since it is easier for digestion purposes and also because it is more convenient traveling in the day time for my mother. And so for our past few birthdays we have ended up having lunch at Straits Kitchen at Hyatt, which has a decent buffet with a North Indian section. We did try the one at Ritz Carlton for a while but the quality and offerings of the Indian food dropped so we stopped going there.

As It was my birthday yesterday, we again did lunch at Hyatt. Am now 63 and my mother turns 86 in January. Time has flown by but am still glad that we have kept our tradition going.