Watering Holes

By Lauren Raps

Raise a glass at singapore's best lounges and bars

The Colorful Cocktails of Singapore

The cocktail culture in Singapore is top notch, with 12 of the top 50 Best Bars in Asia (https://www. worlds50bestbars.com/asia/list/1-50) right here, there is no shortage of talented bartenders and gorgeous lounges to sample.

But when summer beckons, we want color -- and here are two boozy libations that fit the bill.

Kiss & Cry

Manhattan Bar, Regent Singapore

Do your best to get a seat at the Regent Singapore’s Manhattan cocktail lounge to take advantage of their new menu, New York Personified, in which they pay tribute to six iconic Manhattanites, alluding to trials and tribulations throughout the course of their careers.

Kiss and Cry

From Anthony Bourdain to Ella Fitzgerald, these New Yorkers’ stories informed the cocktails created in honor of each of them. The Vera Wang Kiss & Cry concoction is pretty pink, and represents her story of when, before she became a renowned designer, she was an aspiring Olympic figure skater. Evoking Wang’s reaction when her Olympic dream came to an end, the cocktail of Arc Gin, Campari, Mandarin Napoleon, Grapefruit, Lemon, Egg White and Pol Roger Champagne represents the bittersweet emotions of life’s ebbs and flows.

I.D. Please

Origins Bar, Shangri-La Orchard

As Senior Bartender Adonis Reyes explains, I.D. Please’s name is an abbreviation for Interracial Daiquiri, which earned its name for its multicultural ingredients. This bright white cocktail served in a coupe daiquiri glass with a bright green accent consists of Chalong Bay Rum from Phuket, Lemongrass Cacao, (which they make in-house), Yuzu liqueur, and fresh lemon juice. The ingredients, which require a sous vide cooker for the fresh lemon grass and creme de cacao concoction, prove that the team at Origins take their cocktails very seriously.

Origins Bar stocks 340 bottles of rum with origins spanning forty countries. Among those are rare, limited-edition bottles that Shangri La’s Bar and Beverage Director, Adam Bursik, has personally selected. Origins Bar certainly pours the best of the brown liquid but also creates the most lavishly individual cocktails.

How to make Manhattan’s popular cocktail at home:

KISS & CRY

45 ml Gin

10 ml Campari

15 ml Mandarin Napoleon

20 ml Grapefruit Juice

10 ml Lemon Juice

10 ml Simple Syrup (1:1 ratio water and sugar)

15 ml Egg White

40 ml Champagne

Pour all ingredients except champagne inside the shaker and shake first without ice, to make the mixture more fluffy and foamy. Add the ice (remember to put only a half-full shaker of ice, to keep the space for cocktail and egg white to mix properly and keep the consistent froth) and shake again. Pour into the coupe/cocktail glass and top up with champagne.

Lauren Raps is AWA's Bar Night Chair. She moved to Singapore in January 2021 with her husband and three boys. She is the President and Founder of Travel Prospect, a full service leisure travel planning company.

Lauren Raps