The buzz: Mark Sargeant’s gastrobar is usually packed to the brim, whether for food or drinks with its appealingly unpretentious drinks and locavore sensibilities.
The décor: It’s beautifully dolled up by interior design specialist The Stripe Collective. Think kooky details like old school sewing machine tables and real, plumbing-style taps built into the wall behind the bar.
The drinks: A stripped-down list, thanks to barkeep Luke Whearty (ex-Tippling Club), who wants to make drinking more accessible. To add interest, he works with local spices and botanicals, and collaborated with local brewer Jungle Beer to create their house beer, the Oxhorn Lager ($12). Other highlights are the drinks on tap—house G&T and sangria ($12 each), prosecco ($12) and Sapporo ($10)—though there are also bottled English ales ($15), wines by the glass (from $12) and a small, interesting spirits list (from $12) to keep hard boozehounds happy.
The food: The team’s still tweaking the menu, but we did enjoy complimentary snacks like mussel popcorn (yep, just like popcorn chicken) and baby radishes with anchovy mayo.
The music: Smooth indie-dance and hip hop. Like the drinks list, the playlist doesn’t alienate.
The crowd: Don’t expect too many hip young things here. It’s a pretty laidback, undemanding crowd, though they tend to spill out the back and get more raucous as the night progresses.
Why you’ll be back: It’s affordable, fun and refreshingly non-elitist. Plus, you can’t get G&Ts quite like this (complete with a nutmeg leaf fresh from one of the trees around Ann Siang Hill) anywhere else.
