Singapore — Longtime opposition leader and newly-minted restauranteur Chee Soon Juan showed people what he’s up to this weekend, inviting them to the Halloween special at Orange & Teal, the Rochester Mall café he opened with his wife Huang Chih-Mei on June 25.
Dr Chee, the secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) and arguably one of the best known Singapore’s political dissidents, fulfilled a lifelong dream this year by opening the café.
He posted a short video on his Facebook account on Friday morning (Oct 29), showing the Halloween-themed decor at the café, including Zachary the Zombie, a skeletal figure complete with lights and sounds.
“We just want to make sure you get into the mood of Halloween,” said Dr Chee, ”with all the bats and creepy crawlies.”
Orange & Teal even has its own version of the “Men in White,” only theirs is a “Ghost in White.”
The menu for this weekend is also Halloween themed, including a drink called the Witches’ Brew.
“Chill out with a bottle of cool beer, wine or our specially created Frankenstein’s Brew vodka cocktail. (Mocktails for the sombres.) Mom and Dads, bring your kids down for a trick or treating. We have popcorn, cotton candy and special menus for the young ones,” his post read.
It also encouraged diners to come in their Halloween costumes, with the top three winners receiving a free membership worth $50 each.
In a Facebook post on June 21, when he announced that he and his wife were launching Orange & Teal, he wrote that they had long wanted “to have a place where Singaporeans come together to not just have a great meal or have that heart warming cuppa… a place where we get together with our loved ones and friends and get to know each other all over again.
A place where intelligent discussion, even impassioned debate, takes place. A place where the conversation’s even better.”
But opening a café has been challenging amid the Covid-19 pandemic, and Dr Chee, like everyone else in the Food and Beverage Industry, has struggled with making ends meet as regulations for dining at restaurants have changed several times.
He wrote in a June 29 Facebook post that he has a “newfound respect for F&B operators,” calling working in the industry “a gruelling endeavour with little margin for error.”
Since its opening, Orange & Teal has had some mixed reviews from diners, perhaps as part of the teething process any new business goes through.
Dr Chee, however, has gained much praise for inviting everyone, from “millionaires to cardboard collectors” to Education Minister Chan Chun Sing, to the café.
An outspoken critic of the People’s Action Party, Dr Chee has a long history of getting arrested and jailed for his political acts. He was also sued by former Prime Ministers Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong, and was declared bankrupt in 2006 after failing to pay damages to Messrs Lee and Goh. /TISG
Chee Soon Juan: From millionaires to cardboard collectors, everyone welcome at Orange & Teal