DOUBLE AGENT
New-gen bars shake things up with seriously lip-smacking food menus to match novel drinks
s our palates become more pampered with a myriad bars and restaurants opening each month, new watering holes need more than just a cocktail menu to entice. Thus, bars are complementing their carefully curated cocktail menus with sizeable food selections that have been given just as much thought. The Powder Room, tucked away on the mezzanine floor of The Black Swan, is one of them. The Gatsby- style cocktail bar’s drinks programme has gone through a full This two-storey watering hole on Jiak Chuan Road specialises in ginbased drinks infused with herbs, teas and spices. Besides a host of bar grub such as char siew sliders and (roasted suckling pig) tacos, its omakase restaurant on the upper floor serves a five- and eight-course menu with dishes including duck ravioli and Kagoshima Wagyu. revamp with the entrance of Julian Serna, The Lo & Behold Group’s new “bar mentor” of Sydney’s Eau-de-vie fame. Together with bar manager Gerardo Callipo, he has weaved in dramatic theatrics and presentations with each drink order, which range from fire play to a banana whisky sorbet cone served with a glass of similar tasting whisky. The bar snacks menu impresses, too, with a variety of oysters, charcuterie, crostini, sliders with brioche buns, and small plate dishes including chargrilled beef tartare, and veal and ricotta meatballs.
WE’RE LOVING THESE JOINTS…
Founder Andrew Lum marries his passions for food, drinks, music and photography into this mixeduse establishment, which is styled as a moody, industrial-designed speakeasy, with a recording studio hidden behind a photography gallery. There is no food or cocktail menu—the former is Japanese done omakase-style, while drinks are concocted according to diners’ preferences. A good complement to The White Rabbit located at Dempsey, this al fresco gin garden bar behind the restaurant gives diners a menu of 15 gin and tonic concoctions. Its tonics are made in-house. Each drink is garnished with herbs picked from the bar’s backyard and can be paired with homemade crepes, made with ingredients imported from crepe homeland, Brittany in France.