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May 31 – mark your calendars and put on your dancing shoes. It’s been a while since Singapore welcomed a new nightlife spot, save for Capital’s reopening last month. But in a few weeks, our nightlife scene will gain a shiny addition with the launch of Milli. This latest dining and entertainment destination claims the top floors of the National Gallery, taking over the units once occupied by Smoke & Mirrors and Yan Cantonese Restaurant, as part of the museum’s recent F&B refresh.
Milli spans across two distinct spaces. Level six will house Milli Sky Dining & Bar, a calmer rooftop setting with alfresco seating options and a stunning city view, enjoyed alongside refined dishes and elegant cocktails.
Meanwhile, at Milli Lounge, the high-energy club one level down, thumping beats go on till as late as 4am, an open-concept space will allow for socialising and mingling, and no cover charge will be imposed, to keep things accessible and open for visitors. One unique feature in the enclosed lounge is the 20-metre-long HD screen, which doubles up as a false window, projecting a view of the Singapore skyline which moves to the beat of the music.
Milli gets its name from the word “millennium”, and the venue aims to be an all-in-one haven representing the best of Singapore through the years. That is, the city’s excellent food, cocktails, views (in this case, the museum’s rooftop view of the Padang) and music – think nostalgic hits that Singaporeans loved jamming out to across the decades.
Leading the charge are some of the biggest names in our F&B scene. Partygoers and night owls will be familiar with Bae’s Cocktail Club, one of the city’s buzziest clubs at the moment, which has hosted the likes of Blackpink’s Lisa, G-Dragon, Sean Paul, Jay Park and more. Bae’s managing partners, Sheen Jet Leong and Dharma Wang, are joined by Chef LG Han of Michelin-starred modern Singaporean restaurant Labyrinth and award-winning bartender Vijay Mudaliar, who runs the cocktail bar Native along Amoy Street.
“What we’re trying to achieve is to bring a Singaporean identity to a world-class entertainment space. All of us in this team are Singaporean, so we want to showcase our heritage through the food, flavours, drinks, and even the music that we’ve grown to love from the 1990s to today,” says Wang.
With that in mind, the music programming at Milli will also be much wider than Bae’s R&B and hip-hop repertoire, including genres like pop, disco, funk and house. Bae’s has a track record of working with both popular acts like DCR Milda and DJ Lex, and Wang and Leong say guests can continue to expect even more up-and-coming artists, guest DJs and international names at Milli Lounge.
This spirit of collaboration expands to the food and drinks – both Chef Han and Vijay already have in mind a line-up of rotating guest chefs and bartenders on their invite list. For Chef Han especially, these are individuals he will finally get to work with outside the fine-dining constraints at Labyrinth. And it is not the only thing he will be doing differently.
“While Labyrinth is known for its elevated takes on Singaporean cuisine with finesse and refinement, Milli is about flavours, sharing plates, going back to communal dining, and dishes that people immediately understand when they see them. I’ve been in fine dining for 12 and a half years. This is a good chance for me to venture out with the best talents in Singapore, to work with them and grow with them as well. ” Chef Han says.
Highlights on the menu at Milli Sky Dining & Bar include oyster omelette, done soufflé-style with Japanese eggs and premium French oysters; lobster laksa cheong fun; roasted spring chicken rice paella featuring glutinous and koshihikari rice; and steamed king crab with white pepper or salted egg yolk sauce. Chef Han’s famous chilli crab ice cream will also be making an appearance on the menu. Prices start from a reasonable $38 per person for a two-course set lunch, with a sunset high tea to be introduced after July this year.
As the night deepens and when the party is in full swing down at Milli Lounge, the kitchen will whip up easy yet creative finger foods like prata pizza, goreng pisang skewers and ice cream pandan waffles. But a must-order is the ice kachang-gori, a shaved ice dessert that’s somewhere between ice kachang and Japanese kakigori. There will even be boozy options available, such as a bandung version which uses rose liqueur.
Speaking of booze, there are, naturally, high hopes for the drinks at Milli. Vijay is behind the cocktail curation at Bae’s after all, which is a tier above the sloshy, thoughtless drinks served at plenty of clubs. Expect the drinks at Milli to be fun and crowd-pleasing – unlike the experimental pours at Native, nor the cocktails at the former Smoke & Mirrors, which were heavily influenced by the artworks in the Gallery.
The star of the show on the menu is the namesake Milli, inspired by the Million Dollar, a forgotten invention by the same man behind the iconic Singapore Sling. It’s a twist on the classic, with gin, sherry wine, pineapple and a house-made mandarin grenadine. There’s also The Singaporean Breakfast, which is an espresso martini with a kaya toast and kopi-infused base, as well as several spritz-style drinks for a refreshing alternative, such as the floral-forward Peranakan Spritz.
Wang sums up what Milli is all about: “If you were to bring an expat friend or a friend from overseas around Singapore, you might visit a hawker centre, go to Jumbo or Long Beach for chilli crab, or maybe Restaurant Labyrinth. But we wanted to create a space where they can experience Singaporean flavours, while having a good time by partying to good music that Singaporeans love.”
Milli will officially open on May 31 at 1 St Andrew’s Road, National Gallery Singapore, Level 5 and 6, Singapore 178957. Opening hours are Sunday to Tuesday 11am to 1am, Wednesday to Friday 11am to 3pm, and Satuday 11am to 4am.
Bookings will open on May 2. Make a reservation here.
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