Ernest Hemingway was something of a flâneur, so it seems quite appropriate that the second outpost of a bar conceived in his honour in Hong Kong has shimmied down to Singapore. That the sophomore location is in the former red-light district of Keong Saik Road is also something we imagine Papa would have approved.
Habitués of the Aberdeen Street bar in Hong Kong will find much that is familiar – not least the bijou interior which features the same cloistered clubby vibe of leaf patterned stool covers and high backed banquettes flanked by wall and ceiling panels of tessellated brass, right down to the striking mosaic New Yorker magazine-styled portrait of Hemingway, originally made from leftover building materials, at the far end of the room. Reinforcing the intimacy of the space is an I-shaped communal bar counter which features a brass strip chilled to -35 degrees to keep drinks cool.
The small drinks menu is an amusing conceit that features just nine cocktails created by the triumvirate of founders which includes an ex-bar manager at the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong and an ex-restaurant ops man from The Upper House, and each named after a Hemingway work – think ‘A Farewell to Arms’ which features butterfat-washed gin, sous vide nori and salted Pernod, while ‘Islands in the Stream’ mixes pink grapefruit with salted gin. §
