If you thought that speakeasy behind nondescript doors was cutting-edge, here's some next-level stuff. Two newly minted concepts, iNCOGNITO and Fu Lin Bar, are turning your favourite daytime spots into chilled-out drinking nooks.
Photo: iNCOGNITO
iNCOGNITO
The deal Hipster café extraordinaire, Chye Seng Huat Hardware, transforms into a candle-lit craft beer garden once the sun sets. Kevin Ngan and his team – they’re behind bars like Ah Sam Cold Drink Stall and Shin Gi Tai – are behind this joint, which occupies a small room on the café grounds.
The drinks Casey Choo, the bar's resident beer-ista, has no aim to dumb down the selection. Still, there'll always be an entry-level pale ale, IPA or cider like the Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA ($14) or Lady Pink Cider ($12), alongside punchy hopped-up beers like Bourbon Barrel-aged Arrogant Bastard Ale ($16) and Anderson Valley Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout ($15), as well as super rare spoils like Deschutes Jubel 2015 ($50) and Abyss 2014 ($60).
Choo is also taking bean appreciation classes to play up the coffee connection in the beer. Try his beer cocktail, LKLJ ('la kopi, lim jiu') – Hokkien for ‘stirring coffee and drinking beer’ – where he French-presses Guatamalan Finca Isnul beans into Heretic's Chocolate Hazelnut Porter before presenting it with cinnamon and liquid chocolate.
The food Ngan talks about having the food play second fiddle to the drinks, but the menu still transcends the usual bar grub. Waffle-ironed potatoes come with a dipping sauce of thick Japanese curry ($12), sesame-tossed smoked duck sits on a crisped tau pok, and frog legs coated in wing sauce and blue cheese is his answer to Buffalo wings ($16).
FU LIN BAR
The deal Fu Lin's Telok Ayer yong tau foo spot has been the lunchtime haunt for the CBD crowd, but its recent industrial-themed revamp adds a bar counter and hip bar grub tapas – bar operations whir into life from 5pm from Monday to Saturday – to give the two-decades-old business its second wind.
The drinks There’s something for everyone. Classic cocktails built on spirits like Snow Leopard vodka, Nikka whisky and Botanist Gin clock in at a pretty reasonable $14 to $20 range, and housepour wines start from $12 a glass and $48 a bottle. Sake ($26-$276) is the menu’s strong suit, with informative descriptions of tasting notes and the type of food each bottle best pairs with.
The food The Asian-style tapas here falls under the care of head chef Warren Poh, who's racked up experience at Mercat de la Boqueria (Barcelona), Migas (Beijing) and Catalunya here in Singapore. He deploys veggies like marinated cauliflower ($7) and sherry vinegar-glazed asparagus ($10) into a wood-fired oven, along with slabs of Iberico steak ($23), grain-fed US beef ($25), and fresh squid ($14).
The tapas occasionally bears whiffs of Asian flavours: like in the crab risotto ($21), which gets its brine from salted duck eggs; live clams with chilli ($12); and sautéed honshimeiji mushrooms with water chestnuts ($10). Fu Lin's famed yong tau foo is also served up here at night ($8/seven pieces).