Wines, Cocktails And Other Alcohol

Mona Lounge’s latest menu is a derivative mix of comfort Cantonese and Singaporean dishes. The cocktails are sectioned into courses of Drinks, Mains and Desserts, playing to Head Bartender Edwin’s forte in crafting culinary cocktails.
🔸
This drink belongs to the category of Mains, and is an encapsulation of Char Siu Rice, complete with a slice of roasted pork and the staple chili sauce. It tastes a lot like the sauce used poured over your char siew rice, with Remy Martin VSOP, with calamansi juice to cut through its weight. While most flavours of char siew and it's sauce can be recreated in the drink, the fats was deliberately left out, and served separately as the roast pork. It can then can paired with the drink to add that dimension.

Just last night, Tippling Club was awarded the "Restaurant Bar of the Year" at The Bar Awards @thabarawards Singapore 2019. Pictured is a drink from their new cocktail menu inspired by classical French dishes, conceptualised and concocted by chef-owner Ryan Clift and head bartender Andrew Loudon.
🔸🔸
[Tasting]

This isn't tea, nor soup. It's a cocktail, and it's inspired by bak kut teh. It has bak kut teh broth with Bulleit Rye, balanced with Oolong syrup and served with You Tiao. For two different tasting experience, first drink the bak kut teh cocktail on its own, before soaking the you tiao in it.
🔸
This can be found at Mona Lounge, which has started serving cocktails from a menu of "starters", "main courses", and "desserts", and they're all cocktails. They also have a three course cocktail menu, which I'll be sharing about later.
🔸
Mona Lounge is located on the second floor of a preserved shophouse along Boon Tat Street, and it's Sum Yi Tai’s back-room cocktail bar fashioned as a tribute to 80s Hong Kong. Refreshed to elevate senses of nostalgia, the lounge now welcomes a new menu of Cantonese food-inspired tipples and an ambiance amp with classic Cantonese vinyl.
🔸🔸
[Tasting]

Some of my Friday nights are spent at Eliza with their live band featuring Canto pop from my generation. Over cocktails and a full bar menu of spirits, wine and beer, and of course with my favourite tea-marinated quail egg with caviar inspired by our 茶叶蛋.

"At that red teahouse, we finally exchange vows". This intimate space transports you to the glamourous period of 1980s Hong Kong with mahjong tables and cosy leather seats, but it's hidden from public view. Access can be requested at Sum Yi Tai, where you ask to see Mona and be presented with a unique code for a locked door that leads to Mona Lounge; or via reservations at drink@monalounge.com where the passcode will be provided upon confirmation.
🔸
And this cocktail gives you a glimpse into Mona's past. The modernised Asian cocktail menu combines the expertise of Head Bartender Byron Tan and Group Chief Bartender Sam Wong. I started my cocktail journey here with this Mona’s Tea, a cognac-based cocktail made with oolong PX sherry and Fernet Branca, beautifully presented in a teacup. Served with salted egg chocolate made by Singapore’s own craft chocolatier Fossa Chocolate, the sweetness from the cognac is perfectly balanced with the bitterness of the Fernet Branca, elevated with a touch of oolong PX sherry.
🔸
I've also tried 3 other cocktails here, as I had the lovely company of Mona Lounge owners Eu Yen and Sandra who wanted me to try a couple of their favorite drinks. I found that they are sufficiently complex yet very well balanced. This would be one of my favourite places to come for a drink after work. Moreover, the ambience here is perfect to have a drink by yourself, and it's chill enough to hold conversations with a friend.
🔸
What a lovely place. And I wonder if I would see Mona here one day.
🔸
[Tasting]

I had tried 7 different wines from Babich Wines, together with an extensive 6 course menu pairing from Grand Hyatt. One of the meal came with 2 wines to alternate between.
🔸
That was an eye opener, as I found the wines to be refined, yet easy to drink. And during the Wine Fiesta held at One Fullerton last month, Babich also turns out to be one of the wines that I enjoyed the most. And I never knew, that their family actually had more than 100 years of winemaking experience.
🔸
One way to get Babich is through Straits Wine Company, which does wine delivery as well.
🔸
[Hosted]

"My drink in the bitter cold. When there's much heartache and some bitterness" - Mona.
🔸
This is Pi Pa Gao, but it aren't just Pi Pa Gao. This is the creation from the mixologists of Mona Lounge (@life_of_mona), which has Bulleit Rye and Angostura Bitters added to it as well.
🔸
I've also tried 3 other cocktails here, as I had the lovely company of Mona Lounge owners @euyentay and @sandrasim who wanted me to try a couple of their favorite drinks. I found that they are sufficiently complex yet very well balanced. This would be one of my favourite places to come for a drink after work. Moreover, the ambience here is perfect to have a drink by yourself, and it's chill enough to hold conversations with a friend.

The highlight of the 4 course menu was the A5 Miyazaki Rib Cap, which would blow most steaks out of the competition. Skirt had always been grilling their steaks well, with consistently nice smokey exterior and nice pink medium rare interior. But what could be more perfect than this - their mastery of the grill and the use of a premium cut (rib cap) of the highest grade (A5) Miyazaki.
🔸
The Ao Yun was also surprisingly good wine different from most other wine I've tasted. The aroma was strong but it tasted surpsingly lighter, even though it was definitely a full-bodied wine. It was dense, ripe, had layers of spices with a lingering finish. I think this wine alone is worth the additional $50, just to experience how this wine is unlike other red wines.
🔸
To recap, this is what I had for the wine-pairing dinner:
.
Course 0:
Amuse bouche: Beef tartare (may vary daily)
Welcome drink: Veuve Cliquot Rich with tea and pepper infusion.
.
Course 1:
Foley's Scallops with fondant potato, radish, bacon kombu dashi, crispy leek
Paired with Cloudy Bay Te Koko
.
Course 2:
Maple Leaf Duck Breast with Okinawa sweet potato, asparagus and morello cherry sauce
Paired with Terrazas Single Vineyard
.
Course 3:
A5 Miyazaki Rib Cap with black garlic puree, habanero ginger chutney, braised mushroom, spring onion oil
Paired with Ao Yun, 2014
.
Course 4:
Caramel Popcorn Sundae with cookies and cream ice cream, nuts and caramel sauce
Paired with Cloudy Bay Late Harvest, Riesling.
🔸
This menu is only available from 16 to 25 October, and RSVP is required:
Email: skirt.singapore@whotels.com
Call: +65 6808 7278
🔸
Food-only option available at $138++.
🔸
[Tasting]

Delivery $10, but free delivery for purchases above $150).
🔸
Alcoholicious offers a fine selection of carefully curated wines, made affordable. And from today till end October, there's a special promotion for selected Grant Burge wines. Pictured are (swipe for all photos):
* GRANT BURGE MIAMBA SHIRAZ 2016 (Retail: $56 // Alcoholicious: $45)
* GRANT BURGE SUMMERS CHARDONNAY 2013 (Retail: $56 // Alcoholicious: $45)
* GRANT BURGE CAMERON VALE CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2016 (Retail: $56 // Alcoholicious: $45)
* GRANT BURGE HILLCOT MERLOT 2016 (Retail: $56 // Alcoholicious: $45)
🔸
Check out their website (linked in their profile bio) for other Grant Burge wines on promotion, and other wines that can be purchased online.
🔸
[Media Drop]

SKIRT is raising the steaks even more and they are now serving A5 Miyazaki Rib Cap as the main course in a 4 course wine pairing dinner menu.
🔸
And the wines curated for this dinner are prestigious wines - from Veuve Clicquot, Cloudy Bay, Terrazas, and Ao Yun, and you may notice that they're all from the luxury LVMH group. Branding aside, Sommelier Claire Carrascosa has enhanced our dining experience by selecting the right wine to complement each dishes.
🔸
The five wines served during the dinner are:
* Welcome drink - Veuve Cliquot Rich, with tea and pepper infusion
* Course 1: Cloudy Bay Te Koko
* Course 2: Terrazas Single Vineyard
* Course 3:Ao Yun, 2014
* Course 4: Cloudy Bay Late Harvest, Riesling.
🔸
Wait for my other posts on this place, where I'll share about the four courses of food served as well.
🔸
[Tasting]

I was there at sunset cocktail party when Zafferano Italian Restaurant & Lounge unveiled their newly refurbished outdoor Terrace Lounge.
🔸
It's perfect for taking in the gorgeous view of the Marina from the 43rd storey of Ocean Financial Centre as you watch the sunset. The newly refurbished space is vibrant with a distinctive bar and a contemporary canopies (it soars to skies), but remains welcoming with its lush gardens and greenery.
🔸
Very impressive by my first visit here, I'll be checking out their lunch menu soon since I work around this area.
🔸
[Invited]

This newly opened teahouse looks deceptively traditional, until you realize the playlist in the restaurant was Chinese oldies given a new life through a relaxing jazzy remix.
🔸
And the same goes for the time as well. It looks like tea, served in a traditional teacup. But this isn't just tea. It's a tea cocktail using premium White Jade Monkey Tea lifted with Roku Gin and some kind of potent Chinese wine called "lao jiao" (???). It's deceptively light, but after a few sips, you know there's enough alcohol in it.
🔸
It's really good. I was about to order one more cup of this, before deciding to try a different cocktail instead.
🔸
Is this a teahouse, a bar, or a restaurant? I think it's all of the above.
🔸
[Hosted]