What: Lobby Lounge at The Westin Singapore
Where: Asia Square Tower 2
Opening hours: Monday to Friday, 9am to 12am; Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 12am
Tel: 6922-6888
Singapore’s CBD knows how to take care of its thirst. There are trendy bars waiting to marinate one’s liver in any of the dozen glass facaded office buildings in the centre of the island. So why go to The Westin’s generic lounge bar? Not only are there already wildly popular drinkeries like The Exchange and 63Celsius in the area (not to mention The Westin’s own Cook & Brew), it’s located at the furthest end of Asia Square Towers. Ultimately, a hotel bar is like any other in the world, right?
Well, yes. And that’s their strong suit. Hotel lounge bars are formulaic but they can always be relied on for quality. While the party rages on upstairs at Cook & Brew, you can sip your martini in peace just below in a chair with elbow room instead of elbows and a view that isn’t the back of someone’s head. All while live jazz plays reassuringly in the background.
A new cocktail menu makes this place worth a revisit. The newly launched Crafted at Westin program pulls focus to original recipes, natural ingredients and the craft behind each drink. That is, guests can opt to mix and shake their own cocktails.
The program is global but the cocktails are local; the items on the menu, such as “Green Day” (Hendrick’s Gin, lemon juice, basil, green grapes) and “Faulty Sours” (Monkey Shoulder whisky, basil, strawberries, guava juice, lemon juice) won’t be found at any other Westin hotel. The bar here has always been up to snuff, but the cocktail menu has just upped the ante.
Best bits: A view of the South China Sea without the cacophony.
Check out our previous Bars of the Week: Bar-roque Grill | Smoke & Mirrors | Umi + Vino | Sum Yi Tai | The Flagship
