In skyscraper-dense Singapore, rooftop bars are no rarity. But when it’s perched on the Old Supreme Court Building, as Park Hotel Group’s Smoke & Mirrors at the National Gallery is, make a reservation quick.
By all accounts though, these Hong Kong hoteliers haven't earned themselves much serious bar cred around these parts. It's a good thing, then, that it has built a bar team around local head bartender, Yugnes Susela. This is the long-time, former Tippling Club bartender's big break, and the cocktail chemistry of his training shows up on the menu, in Asian-flavoured classics, drinks inspired by canvasses in the gallery, and his own riffs on the classics.
Milo Haze ($24) arrives at the table with a show, but it needs more work to deliver Yugnes' vision of a successful sniff-and-sip drink. Dry ice in a tiny saucer wet with a Milo tincture wafts up memories of supper, but it soon dies and renders a little thin the accompanying mix of Plantation Barbados 5 Year Old rum, Italian vermouth and sherry.
Black and White c. 1970-1980 ($24), inspired by Anthony Poon's acrylic on canvas in the Gallery, is a richer, more complex drink that sips of dark chocolate, cream and rum, curaçao orange, and a long finish of liquorice from absinthe. A simple tiki mix of Trinidad dark rum, herby Campari, and lime and pineapple juice in the Jungle Bird ($20) is as potent as it is pretty, with an orchid blossom for garnish. Besides cocktails, there’s Archipelago Brewery's Bohemian Lager ($16) and revived Samui Ale ($16) on tap, wines by the glass ($16-$24) and half bottle ($68-$88), and mocktails built on housemade ginger, passionfruit, salted plum and hibiscus cordials ($12).
Bar bites ($8-$28) are reasonable for the premium location. Options like Cantonese-style roasted pork belly ($16), crab claws in chilli ($18), and hoisin-glazed beef rib cubes ($16) are cooked up by the wok-wielders downstairs at Yan.
With neighbours like Odette and Aura, the offerings in the National Gallery are shaping up to drive a very atas kind of vibe at an unapproachable price point. That isn't quite the case with Smoke & Mirrors, though, and we're grateful.
