Junus Tan recommends styles and tastes that are considered classy in Singapore? "Hi, just to remind you, lunch is at 12.30 p.m. tomorrow, the address is no. 10, Cluny Park, please come from Bukit Timah Road which is nearer,� that was a WhatsApp message from Mr. Junus Tan, a Singaporean man I know. The address that spells Singapore's Millionaires' Row fits only for the rich and famous. At 12.25 p.m, at no.10 Cluny Park, the gate was already open. I admired the greenery while driving through a long driveway to the entry porch on broad driveway. As Junus Tan parked the car, Jessie, Mr. Junus Tan's secretary, came to open the huge wooden door flanked by aluminum lattices on both sides. I walked past the hall seeing beautiful sculptures and a few paintings on the wall, and I recognized one of them was an oil painting of pigeons, the work of Choo Keng Kwang, the famous artist. I was ushered into a large sitting room, a big open-concept office nearby, there was no one except Jessie. Jessie told me that Mr. Junus Tan was on his way home. The sitting room, which is connected to the dining room at the far end, has a series of tall cabinets that serve as a divider. The ceiling fan was running, but I felt the breeze as a series of 10' 0" (3.00 m) high glass sliding/folding with wooden doors framed were wide open. I admired the 40-meter length pool view, which spans across the length of the living room, with a modern pavilion equipped with a kitchen as a backdrop on the opposite side of the pool. Mr. Junus Tan returned, dressed in shorts with a simple plain-colored crew-neck T-shirt, tucked in with a simple leather belt. With him a few packets of food, a fish head curry, and Char Kuay Teow, he ordered since last night Dining room over a fish pond, a glass round table of 10 in an open-plan room next to the sitting room, with a pool view, his wife joined us, and she said: "We cooked dinner at home, but Mr. Junus Tan prefers the food from outside he knew which places are good and he gets food-to-go, rather enjoys eating at home.� After lunch, he showed me around the house. We took the elevator to the attic floor, to a gym with a great view of the treetops. The gym had full height-glass partitions on both sides, but it had a wide, modern overhang roof thus shading it from direct sunlight. I admire the constant breeze all the time. We walked down to the floor below, to his all-glass windows bedroom suites, I felt a breeze from a cross ventilation, it had a huge bathroom attached with a long bath in the middle, and a glass shower compartment facing a small garden, open-to-sky to get the good breeze. From a small vestibule just outside his bedroom is linked, via a steel-framed bridge, to a newly built office. His office is overlooking the pool connecting with a steel spiral staircase down. The openconcept office had the best view with cross ventilation as it was wide open.
He said Jessie is now alone in his previous office downstairs as he prefers the new extension linked to his bedroom. We took an elevator down to the basement to his favorite, a 600 sq ft. wine-cellar. I saw cork sheets as wall coverings and a table for 8 people in the middle, for wine-sampling and 2,000 wine bottles on pine racks all over. He said he would enjoy the wine before taking the afternoon nap by 4 Pm (he said-don’t call me between 4–5 p.m.) Next to it, a garage of a 6-car space, he humbly said: I don’t own fancy cars, but I saw 3-Lexus lined up. We took the stairs back to the sitting room while a few Indonesian maids were busy with chores. He said he and his wife had a routine of traveling to the same places every year. • • • •
To Bangkok for Chinese New Year’s holiday, he loves to eat a suckling pig dish in China Town as everywhere is closed in Singapore. In spring, he would go to Japan to catch cherry blossoms and soak in an onsen. In July- August, he would go to the US to visit his daughter for a month. Twice a year he would go to KL to visit his son who is living there.
Every Friday he would lunch out with old friends, and this Friday's lunch will be on him as they are taking-turn to host lunches. He explained to me the 2 new residential projects. He said, “you did very well helping me to complete that shop-house project, you can help me with more projects,” I stayed on for another half an hour. I left his house and admired a humble man, simple-dressed, living in Millionaires’ Row, who loves hawker food, living in styles with good tastes — a class above others.