Great Scot, we're in Havana!

We wish! I finally decided we should um chill-out last Friday, much to HB's delight. It was a toss-up between catching the fireworks at VivoCity's official opening from Mt Faber and checking out the rejuvenated Clarke Quay. We picked the latter - Vivo crowds terrify us.

It was opening night too down by the river for at least 3 outlets - The Highlander (Scottish pub with grub), The Pump Room (Aussie microbrewery and bistro) and Cuba Libre (Latino joint). We decided to go Cuban since we've never tried Cuban food. The food was almost good - the tomato salsa, which seemed to be the sauce of choice here, was too salty. We had grilled eggplant (liberally soused with the salsa) and the Cuban tenderloin (pictured). We chased all that down with regular and starfruit mojitos - if you look closely, you can see the flush of scarlet on my face!

Along the street, we saw people clutching stuffed alligators. HB coveted one. Alas, when we found the source of the gator giveaway, we had no invites to the place - Kandi Bar. It had funky red plastic bar stools set against white interiors. We went on to the central area to catch a bagpipe band which opened for a Scottish percussion group. It sounded promising but after a few songs, we decided the group was a one-note band. We went on to TCC to dilute the mojitos' rum with caffeine. Unfortunately, while digging into the chocolate lava cake, HB's office called.

So much for an evening of drunken revelry. We called it a night at about 11pm. Even then, it took us two days to recover - and we only had a glass each!