Pretensions decided to take a visitor to the Haji Lane area of Singapore for dinner and drinks on Monday night. The last time P visited this area was back in mid-2007, and she was much taken by the Boho feel and the interesting boutiques/vintage clothes shops. Unfortunately, Haji Lane seems to have declined in fortunes since then, maybe something to do with the closure of cult cinema place Pitch Black at the beginning of this year? Anyway, the strip of boutiques etc is still there but seems a lot less lively and P couldn't find the interesting boutique that sold ice cream along with it's jewellery.

Still, the perennials like Kebab hole-in-the-wall Al Tazzaq with its cool second floor middle-eastern lounge-dining are still there. And so is Blu Jaz.

Blu Jaz is one of the few live Jazz cafes left in Singapore. P loves its edgy psychedelic decor and christmas-tree bauble lighting, and also the way it's colonised all the adjacent walkways and pavements in its own casual organic way. Drink prices are quite reasonable at about $9 a glass for wine and $6-10 for bottled beer and there's lots of variety to the drinks menu. The place feels continents away from standard Singapore watering holes at Orchard Road, CHIJMES and Clarke Quay. We got there at a quarter to 9 and were told that the live Jazz band Omniform would only start at 9:30pm.

Omniform is a 10 piece live band (saxophones, flute, trombone, drums, trumpet) that jam together on Monday nights at Blu Jaz. According to the notes in the loo, the band plays original compositions and arrangements by Greg Lyons. While we were there, the musicians were obviously improvising the heck out of the music with variable results. Sometimes, P enjoyed the cool laid-back vibe, and then they would swing into some riff that to P's ear didn't really gel. Still there was no cover charge and the drinks were good, so can't complain too much.

The cafe often hosts DJ gigs and visiting live music acts. The highlight in June seems to be the Japanese belly dancer. Mondays are fine, but the place does get pretty full on Fridays and Saturdays (the other live music days), so reservations are recommended. Food is local and generally quite good.

P was late meeting her visitor and Moomoo the cafe's resident cat decided to keep him company. Isn't he cute!