Cigar Retreat

Last Sunday, I met up with a friend whom just came back from NZ for a short trip. He's a cigar aficionado and a purveyor of the finer things in life. Hmmm... sounded just like me but he is on extreme side. Really.

I hope he wouldn't be reading this. Haha... For example, he only has a palate for single malt whisky. I was supposed to bring a bottle of single malt to Cubes @ Jaya 1 but I have forgotten when leaving the house. Lucky I had a friend who has a bottle of JW Green Label there and he was nice enough to call the owner to let me have his bottle. Okay, Green Label was better than I expected but still it was not my glass of whisky. I've got catholic taste. I'll never stop trying new things but whether I will have a second serving of it or not is a totally different question.

On the extreme side of things, he brought me a few aged cigars like a Por Larranaga which I've yet to try and some chocolates from NZ. Wow... that was one sweet gift full of pure sinful indulgence! That night, after dinner, we adjourned to the alfresco dining area for a smoke. He opened up his backpack and behold...

Boxes of cigars came out one by one from his bag. He had the tubos in the tupperware sealed in ziplock bags and a cigar caddy that the withhold the weight of a man. Inside these containers, were all wonderful cigars because he simply couldn't decide what to have! And that night, I had my cherry popped for a Romeo y Julieta Short Churchill which was regarded as the best RJ one could have.

I really like this short guy. Even if its short, the palate is medium body, woody with a tinge of sweetness like fruity notes and the finish is good and pleasant.

Mr.Ang, the owner of Cubes came and join us for a tete-a-tete. He was a very sociable restaurantier and I must say that Cubes serves very good chinese cuisine and perhaps some dishes with a twist. The last time I was here with my wine drinking friends, he served us one of his home-made fermented apple cider and dragon fruit juice. This time he was so happy, he served us 2 glasses each of the dragon fruit which we all happily finished it. And then, there was this sweet Australian Rock Melon dessert for us all on the house!

See, it's nice to make friends with the restaurantiers... which I've been doing recently and has been working very well. Not only it improves the level of service, it also allows you to order off the menu with at least a day of advance notice. The biggest benefit, you'll get the nice companionship of the owner during dinners! But of course, you get free desserts sometimes la just like the free sake and green tea ice cream that I got from a Japanese restaurant whom the owner @ the chef was so kind. He even added me on Facebook on the spot!

I was really glad to meet up with this anonymous cigar aficionado friend of mine who taught me so much about drawing the heavenly Cuban stick. He's like a walking dictionary of Cuban cigars! The dinner was really a full-filling one as I've just gone for a food review that afternoon with KY. Shall blog about it later.