Last year had a slew of cocktail bar openings helmed by talented local and international bartenders. If you already sussed out your favorite drinking hole and bartender, you’ll want to follow where they go.
A Match in Another Burrough
The popular and swanky 1920s New York-style bar Manhattan won’t be home to a mustachioed bartender any longer. The weirdly wonderful Ricky Paiva is leaving the expansive bar, famed rickhouse and ingredients room to shake up cocktails at Massive Collective’s restaurant, Match. But just in case you want to catch him, he’ll be at Manhattan until the end of Cocktail Week (Mar 14).
Nick Returns His Library Books
Just in case you make a trip down to password-only speakeasy The Library on Keong Saik Road, you won’t be seeing a huge beard anytime soon. The former head bartender Nicholas Quattroville has moved across the street. You can see him creating more kooky concoctions at Franco-Asian bar L’Aiglon alongside Louis Tan.
Siamese Raj
MBS’s latest celebrity chef import is David Thompson’s Long Chim. Delicious Thai street food aside, you’ll find a familiar face behind the bar. Loga Raj, formerly of Bacchanalia, now leads his own bar with cocktails like Tears of the Black Tiger made with mezcal, sherry and tamarind. The bar program has been developed in joint effort with Proof & Co. the guys behind speakeasy, 28 HongKong Street.
On another Bacchanalia note, we heard that the charismatic former frontman of B Bar, Mark Thomas, will open up his own bar soon. Keep your eyes peeled for more of his food-centric cocktails.
