An exotic exhibition of luxury is being played out in Singapore devoted to one of the most mythical trains in the world, The Orient Express. The celebrated train exhibition is making its first stop outside of France in Singapore’s West Lawn Gardens by the Bay where a replica of the legendary Gare du Nord in Paris has been built to house it. The show is a testimonial to another age of travel when luxury, exclusivity and slow were the by words of the day, a far cry from the mass tourism the world has been experiencing over the past decade. The show, Once Upon a Time on the Orient Express, brings a jubilant gourmet and cultural journey to the public. A high-end restaurant and a less formal café, both conceived by the leading French chef Yannick Alléno, are all on the agenda. But since traveling isn’t, The Gourmet Gazette brings the show and the Orient Express to you.

It is an opulent experience, a historical one, too, for the Orient Express served as one of the main bridges between East and West starting in the second half of the 19th century when it linked Paris with Constantinople. For the very fist time two of the original train carriages, a locomotive and 300 artifacts and objects have left France enabling the public to experience, for a short while, the golden age and a golden way of traveling. The mythical carriages on display include the baggage car and a Pullman car built in 1929 decorated by René Prou with superb marquetry inlaid with pewter floral motifs.

The train itself is a masterpiece with Cordoba embossed leather ceilings, Lalique crystal bas-reliefs, Gobelin tapestries, velvet curtains from Genoa, silverware, precious tablecloths and fine crystal glasses. For three quarters of a century, from 1883 to 1956, the Orient Express was an observer and a player in history, traveling across Europe to the edge of the Orient. Meanwhile visitors can dine on board the replica of the Anatolia dining car with a menu conceived by Michelin starred chef Yannick Alléno. The Orient Express Road Café will enable visitors the chance to journey through the coffee blends that were discovered and made famous on the Orient Express route, from Paris to Venice, Trieste, Vienna and Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) along with the local coffee, the Kopi O, a strong black coffee served with condensed milk and sugar.

The Orient Express was a luxury train service created in 1883 by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. The show is being held in cooperation with the Orient Express company, part of the Accor hospitality group, created in 2015 which offers top-of-the-line luxury travel experiences and the Arab World Institute in Paris which initially held the show in 2014. The show is running through to June 13th, 2021.
©The Gourmet Gazette
https://www.orient-express.com/ and https://www.orientexpressexhibition.com/

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