Wedding Breeze

I so love Dempsey Hill. I think it would be great for wedding receptions or wedding photography! My husband took me there for a dinner over the weekend, and the colonial buildings at the former army camp made me feel as if I was overseas. If the weather had been a little cooler, it would really have been great as we strolled around the place!

We wandered into Margarita, a Mexican restaurant. The ambience was fantastic! The strong colours of red and blue were used on the unfinished cemented walls, with lots of colourful tapestry hanging on the walls. There were also a lot of still life paintings. The lighting was dim and romantic, and the vibrant colours simply looked great.

Service was great. We did not have a reservation, so we had to finish our dinner before 8pm, which was alright with us since we were there early. We both ordered margaritas, and I think it pretty knocked me out after dinner for I couldn?t walk in a straight line and simply wanted to sleep.

The nachos as appetisers were a little too huge a serving. It reminded me of the first time I had nachos at a Mexican restaurant somewhere near Las Vegas, and my family did not enjoy it except for me. Mexican food is slightly similar to North Indian food, except that the spices used were different. They liked to have a lot of flour items, mixed with other crops such as corn or wheat, and then wrap the meat using the tortillas for Mexican food, and naan for North Indian food. We had some pork item and chicken items, but I couldn?t remember the names. There were salsa and some other flavourings and the vegetables were fresh. I usually don?t like to eat raw vegetables, but those served here were ok. They were colourful and not spicy, so I think I prefer Mexican food to North Indian food, which tended to have various shades of yellow only. I wanted to have dessert, but I was simply too full from the main course.

Now, getting to the topic of weddings, the huge area inside the restaurant looked great. I could have a more relaxed wedding lunch here if they offer booking of the entire restaurant. People could mingle around and it would be a happy occasion. The only problem is I am not sure how many people eat Mexican food. I know our extended families have very Chinese tastebuds, so I think we can?t run away from Chinese food. However, if this is meant for friends and colleagues, I think it could work. I do need to get a Halal caterer as well.

I think I?m going to try the other restaurants at Dempsey Hill to see whether there are better alternatives available for wedding receptions. Parking wasn?t an issue for us, but there were really many cars. Valet parking is available, and they have free shuttle service from town to Dempsey Hill, which is just opposite Botanical Gardens.

After dinner, we went to check out paintings at a gallery nearby, and the paintings were really great, though some were really expensive. One ink and pencil drawing of the padi field with ducks and farmers by an Indonesian artist who nearly became a taxi driver cost $13500! It was really nice though. I liked a Danish artist who drew cute animals on the ark and cars, and one painting had a penguin crossing instead of a zebra crossing. Maybe these paintings could go into the children?s room. I guess when our house is ready, we can pick up some of the more affordable paintings.

Dempsey Hill is definitely a place we will go again soon.