New year, new menus to check out. If wetting your whistle remains important even as Dry January takes over most people’s consciousness this first month of 2022, not to worry, we got you covered.
At these following bars, brand spanking new menus are now available to whet your appetite. From drinks made using housemade ‘whisky’, to ones created in recognition of local hawker culture, these old favourites are truly pushing the envelope when it comes to giving guests something new and different.
Fat Prince
The ever popular modern Middle Eastern restaurant and bar is the place to be if you’re looking to feast and drink with mates who are actually attempting to stay dry this January. With new bar manager Agnes Kuan at the helm, and slick bartender Scarlet shaking up a storm, it’s a wholly new experience having a tipple at Fat Prince.
The cocktail menu now offers three main drink types: full proof, half proof, and no proof. As the names suggest, full proof drinks are your spirit-forward cocktails, giving guests all the buzz they desire with alcohol content hovering around the 40% ABV mark. The half proof ones provide around 20% ABV, and are catered to those who still want a cocktail while lowering their booze intake. The no proof drinks meanwhile give teetotalers, as well as those who are abstaining, equally adult options to savour.
The Stories of Scarlet in a Souq (S$22) is the cocktail to go for if you’re looking for a twist on a classic. A Korean take on the Martini, find olive brine fat washed vodka, umami vermouth, makgeolli, and plum liqueur coalesce into one potent, briney sipper. The Sun in the Black Sea (S$18) is an interesting one. This half proof drink resembles an Old Fashioned, but with added herbal and chocolate undertones, and remains low in alcohol thanks to use of a housemade non-alcoholic ‘whisky’ as its base. You gotta try it to believe it.
MO Bar
One of the world’s top bars, the Mandarin Oriental Singapore haunt has only gotten better and stronger with each menu iteration since its opening only a few years ago. For its much-anticipated Volume Four menu, expect to go on yet another nomadic voyage through its cocktails, but this time, via a completely new design approach.
Expect the redesigned journey at MO Bar to take you to nations across the Pacific Ocean. For starters, try the Lakeside. Inspired by Sri Lanka, the kombucha-based beverage boasts of lemongrass and spice tones, and can be served non-alcoholic (S$14) or be spiked with rum (S$24), giving drinkers the flexibility of choice: a rational very much in line with the current landscape of the drinks scene.
Fans of local and smoky flavours can get the Satay by the Bay (S$25), which pays homage to its namesake by offering a drink with notes of gin and bitters, coupled with the smokiness you usually get with barbequed sticks of satay. Everybody will want a taste of the eye-catching Full Moon (S$26), of course. Adorned in vivid colours, this Korea-inspired cocktail not only looks amazing, but tastes equally stunning with hints of wheatgrass and sweet Asian pear effusing through each sip. See what other drinks our friends over at Spirited recommends!
Nutmeg & Clove
Imagine a person who carries a diary along while travelling around Singapore, penning down random thoughts and observations in handwritten memory. Now you have an idea of what Nutmeg & Clove’s new menu – Flavours & Memories Volume 6: The Cocktail Diaries – is like: full of quips, fun facts, and commentary.
Ten new cocktails (all S$24) grace the menu. Start with the GMT Martini, a play on words musing about how Singapore has changed time zones six times since 1905, depending when it was a British, Japanese, or independent colony. The resulting Martini (with olive-washed Monkey 47 Dry Gin as its base) is thus a complex one, showcasing the cocktail cultures of London, Tokyo, and Singapore across time.
The Garden City is one drink that won’t disappoint. An obvious acknowledgement of Singapore’s oft-used nickname, you’ll get an instant herbaceous hit on first sniff of this Hendrick’s Gin based drink. Infused with musk melon, shiso, lime, and honey, plus a dash of Empirical Spirit Ayuuk, it’s a garden of flavours in a glass. For us, it’s the Michael Jackson’s Punch that truly impresses. A concoction of Roku Gin, Fernet Branca, Braulio Amaro, and clarified soy milk, this tribute to the eponymous black-and-white coffee shop drink is capable of converting any Fernet hater into a lover. And you’ll be wanting seconds in no time.
[Read more: Pair tea-inspired cocktails with Sichuan and Cantonese bar bites at Chuan by Nutmeg]
About the Author
Dannon Har is the Managing Editor of Spill. Discovering his innate gift for drinking only at a ripe age, he spares no time trying to find more delicious drops to imbibe during his time on Earth. When he’s not minding every detail at Spill, he spends his time concocting luscious libations and sharing them with folks that visit his home bar.