The Hong Kong-based property tycoon CS Hwang loved New York’s architecture, the 1920s-era especially. It was a bent he indulged to spectacular effect when he opened Atlas bar in Singapore in 2002 in the ground floor of his Parkview Square office tower. It was an instant hit as much for its superb wine collection as for its décor, a dazzling mash-up of art deco and art nouveau influences that echoed the grander set pieces for David Lynch’s Dune.
And now, his granddaughter Vicky Hwang has commissioned a gentle refurbishment of the 15m high eyrie that includes sprucing up the baroque ceiling fresco and the installation of new low-slung leather furniture. The original 12m high wine tower now holds over a thousand bottles of gin, some of which date back to 1910, and beneath that is a rose gold champagne room stocked with over 250 labels of bubbly.
Unfazed by the opulence of the libations, executive chef Daniele Sperindio works an imaginative menu, sending out raw blue prawn tartare, and sea urchins studded with pomegranate pearls.
