- WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
'Babsy' Grange (left) chats with Edward Seaga and his wife Carla at a function earlier this year.

Chester Francis-Jackson, Contributor

IT'S THAT time of the year again when the hills around the city of Kingston are in full and glorious splendour as they, not unlike peacocks, show themselves at their very best.

My daahlings, beauty is in the air. In fact, to accompany beauty, love is also in the air, and sweet-things, how!

Former Prime Minister and long-serving JLP leader, The Most Hon. Edward Seaga and his very charming wife, Carla Seaga, celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary on Wednesday of last week with a very special and intimate gathering. It was a toast and a celebration of the couple's love and Mr. Seaga's sterling contribution to national development and the body politic!

And talk about being in!

Well, my daahlings, the Seagas, are definitely 'in', as only days before their wedding anniversary they were guests of honour at a very special warm and intimate dinner-party at the très chic Palm Court Restaurant, located in the upper-lobby of the Hilton Kingston hotel, Knutsford Boulevard. The occasion celebrated the former Prime Minister/Opposition Leader's birthday.

PRIME TIME

Pumpkins, talk about prime time! Well, my dears, it most certainly does not get any better!

Oh, precious angels, a dozen hail Mary's this was as fabulous, as fabulous gets, it was all that and then some!

My dears, if those of you in-the-know, have never afforded yourself the opportunity of going first-class in this city, then it's high time y'all do as there's a fab new and exciting life unfolding in marvellous Kingston. Y'all need to experience, because it is simply beyond compare and really there's no other way to live!

There's a man in the nation's capital who's been re-injecting style, panache and fabulousness in service and the hospitality industry, that makes for a fabulous renaissance my dears. He peels away the pretence and 'nuffness' that has replaced five-star service with the genuine article that has left those who have experienced this return to haute style.

Dearhearts, it probably is that you are one of those who have grown jaded and out-of-sorts with life in Kingston because of the 'trouble' it takes to really enjoy a night's outing.

A common example is the fact that would-be patrons regularly driveup to a place of business, only to find that there's no parking, as the prized parking space are not reserved for paying customers, but for some 'manager' and other staff and thus forcing the patron to spend uncomfortable time motoring around the vicinity of the business trying to find suitable parking.

Alas, my dears, all is not lost, as recognising this rush to embrace social decay, Frank Roshuvel, being the rather affable GM of the Hilton Kingston hotel has decided to buck this trend, and has reinstated not only the art of fine dining, but has crowned it with gracious excellence at the New Palm Court Restaurant.

To begin with, the restaurant offers a fab new package this here scribe will call The VIP Experience! Now, this is based on guests calling ahead and securing reservations as it is suggested. The word is out and there's nothing like haute-style to fuel demand.

Now, I suggest calling ahead for reservations (and days ahead too), as in doing so one might be able to just secure the prized parking in the front of the hotel reserved for just such an occasion, and so begins the VIP experience!

EXCLUSIVE BAR SERVICE

My daahlings, we are talking: exclusive bar service, specially prepared menu with any and/or all special dietary requirements catered to, and butler service to make it all that much more special! Honeys, in a word - flawless!

And then, my daahlings, there was the fare! Oh sweet Mary, what a treat! Dovecakes, we are talking a fare that even the gods would have been justly proud of. The chefs at the Palm Court Restaurant turned it out like nobody's business! Oh, my word, dears, we are talking a gastronomic sensation here, the likes of which, very few palates have ever been privileged to partake, and children, how!

Dovecakes, the experience began with guests being presented with hot-scented white hand towels for perfunctory ablutions. And so began what was a culinary experience! Honeys we are talking a five-course fare here that was oh so fine it climaxed in a symphony of fabulousness!

Oh, my daahlings, to begin there was mint palate cleanser, followed by a fab goose liver pate, with an apple and red wine reduction, served on a whole-wheat crostini. This was followed by cream of broccoli; a pan-fried sea-bass laced with a most delicious lemon sauce and infused with capers that was so fine, it had the taste buds dancing in absolute appreciation. For the transition, there was mango sorbet that made way for a medallion of black angus tenderloin, served in a peppercorn sauce; and ended with a fab tasting calorie-rich French apple tart a la mode, crowning a fabulous gourmet do!

The experience of dining is made all the more pleasurable, by good company! Well, pumpkins, this was the very acme of the political and social élite here, and nothing but, and it made for an absolutely memorable do!

Dears, did we say it was a small and intimate affair! Daahlings, it was and then some. The guest list was headed by Prime Minister The Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller; Foreign Affairs Minister Anthony Hylton; hotelier and international A-crowder, Hon. John Issa, Honorary Consul of the Kingdom of Iceland and advertising expert Robert MacMillan; the affable Christopher Seaga; the lovely Muna Issa; and Chris Nakash and his lovely wife, Zein Issa-Nakash completed the list.