Harry's Esplanade, SSO, Moonrise and Aurora - a Friday date night

We had a quick dinner at Harry’s Esplanade Bar and Restaurant before the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) Concert at Esplanade Concert Hall, Theatres by the Bay. The concert by SSO that day was entitled “Moonrise and Aurora”. There were also Red Dot August 2019 festivities in the area – free public musical performances at the Esplanade.

It had been a while since we were at the Esplanade Theatres by the Bay – or more fondly known as the Durians by the Bay. Friday evening traffic seems to be always more congested than other days, especially the stretch of Bras Basah Road leading to Suntec City. We had tickets to the SSO Concert which started at 7.30pm. We were hoping to get there early to have more time to look around. But got there around 6.30pm. We did not have time to look around the shops but could not resist a quick detour into The Analog Vault – an old school record shop. It is one of the neatest vinyl record shop I have seen.

The Analog Vault record shop at Esplanade Singapore

There were more than enough f & b options at the Esplanade. Some interesting ones are The ExciseMan Whisky Bar, Gajalee Indian Seafood Restaurant and Restaurant Labyrinth. We settled on the Harry’s Esplanade Bar & Restaurant as we did not have much time.

Harry’s Esplanade has both indoor and outdoor seating areas. In the coolness of the evening, the outdoor area was almost full. This seems like a popular Friday hang out area.

View of MBS from the Esplanade waterfront

Harry’s Esplanade Bar & Restaurant Menu

Here are pictures of the Harry’s Esplanade Menu. There are many Harry’s outlets in Singapore but my last visit to one must have been ages ago. Perhaps the one that was at Boat Quay. I did remember that the fish and chips were good. So it was easy to place our orders. Harry’s is a pub-like place and so beers seem to be the natural type of drinks to order. It was happy hour and Carlsberg beers were going for $22 for two – which was what we had.

The Food

We only had two food items that day. The first was the otah toasties ($15). We thought that they will go well with beer. We were right! These small pieces of toast topped with otah paste were superb. We will definitely eat these again.

The beer battered fish and chips ($25) looked appetising enough. But they were not as good as I had remembered them to be. The fish that day at the Esplanade was quite dry. I remember them to be moist and succulent. But the batter was good – light and perfectly golden brown.

Harry’s at the Esplanade is certainly a nice place to have a drink in the evening. Service was friendly but I think they were overwhelmed by the number of customers that descended on them all around the same time. It took a while for our orders to be taken, but fortunately the kitchen was quite efficient and we finished our dinner with some time to look around the Esplanade complex.

The SSO Concert

The Esplanade people organise free events all year round. In August it was known as Red Dot August. Performances were taking place simultaneously at different places in the Esplanade. The best one was the one in the outdoor theatre with a nice view of the seafront and MBS as a backdrop.

Time passed very quickly. We headed to the Concert Hall for our concert by the SSO. It was an unusual concert.

Moonrise and Aurora was a combination of film and music to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon-landing. Two films were screened – Moonrise and the Aurora Triptych by astronomer and photographer, José Salgado. The orchestra played the symphony that was composed for the films – sort of like a live soundtrack performance. It was an unique experience. Here are a couple of pictures taken before the start of the performances.