An experience of a lifetime!
My son Turo once told me, “Pa, watch F1 on Netflix. Exciting!” So I started doing just that. I watched a few shows then somehow got distracted and forgot about it.
Fast forward to two weeks ago. I was having dinner with friends when one mentioned F1 in Singapore. He had a ticket for me like he told me before. I totally forgot about it and couldn’t make it. I was going to have a taping in Ilocos Sur.
Sayang! My ticket was given to someone else. That Monday, at another dinner with one of my friends, I got a text, our taping in Sur was cancelled. I mentioned this to my friend who then texted our host. Perfect was the answer: One guest couldn’t make it. Boom!
I remembered my son Turo, who is now based in New York City, and his tip for me. He would have loved to join us. So I started watching F1 again. There are five series and I started watching where I left off. I understood the race a bit but then realized that the drivers I was beginning to like were no longer contenders. Mali!
I took a Jetstar flight to Singapore (pretty good airline and punctual). I left Manila at 10:30 a.m. and landed in Singapore around 1:30 p.m. I was so hungry and dreaming about my lunch. I dropped my luggage at the hotel and took a Grab to a hawker place called Sin Ming Roti. I had a simple lunch of coin roti with a curry dipping sauce and an Indian crispy fried chicken. That hit the spot!
F1 started on a Friday for practice and fans could look at cars, garages of the different teams, the practice of changing of tires etc. Saturday was for qualifying where drivers would know the sequence of their cars in the actual race and Sunday was the actual race. That whole weekend consisted of three days of festivities, with concerts on the compound, booths of various products, such as team products like shirts, hats, etc.
The moment you heard the engines of those race cars, you would definitely get goosebumps. It was fascinating to see the cars come out of their garages and speed up to hundreds of kilometers. But they were so fast you hardly saw them when they passed. So, it was TV time.
Our second floor room for the weekend was just above the garage of Mercedes. Outside, it was extremely hot while we were in cool rooms with unlimited champagne, red and white wine of superior quality, and food until you surrendered.
In the building where we were, there were six food outlets—all Michelin-rated! You could enter any of these and just pig out. To be honest, I got rattled when I entered one of the restaurants. Everyone knows Nobu. He had an outlet and he was serving the most outstanding Japanese cuisine in tiny plates. No trays so you could get two plates at a time. There was melt-in-your-mouth A5 Wagyu, superior otoro, gindara, oysters, yakitori, fruits from Japan, sake, and anything delicious in Japan. Chef Nobu himself was there. Unbelievable food!
Most of the time, my friends and I would just hang out in our comfortable room and talk about anything. We were forever stuffed from all the eating. Our room had superior prime roast beef and pasta.
On Saturday afternoon, we decided to explore the other food outlets. Using our passes, we entered a place called Como Lounge. OMG! Even if we were all stuffed, we all ate. It was the most delicious selection of food I have ever come across in my entire life. The one that floored me was a platter of various superior cheeses with dried fruits and Melba sheets. That ended up on one hand. Then I grabbed a mini Wagyu burger (delicious!) and went back a second time for this. There was foie gras, as well as steak with fresh shaved truffles, melt-in-your-mouth pork cuapao, lobster rolls, Japanese noodles with fresh uni, ocean trout sashimi, prawn tempura, uni sushi, spare ribs, single slices of rack of lamb, grilled octopus, roti prata over curry sauce, and so much more. The food was flowing.
That evening at the hotel, we were already thinking of just hanging out at the Como Lounge. I think most of the people heard about the food because there was a huge line waiting to come in. Outstanding food!
The F1 experience was a whole package of racing and unbelievable food. This is something I will never forget. Turo would have been so happy!