Fresh from a spate of hyper-modern, sensory-driven cocktail menus, Tippling Club is taking a step back to explore a bit of history. This one come from new head bartender Andrew Loudon, who has drawn inspiration from Escoffier’s A Guide to Modern Cookery, or in French, Le Guide Culiniare. It’s not all boozy analogues from recipes in the book though, as some of the cocktails are inspired by the not-so-mundane life of the godfather of French cookery. To draw an example: there’s a spirit-forward combination of marsala, scotch, white port, and vermouth that’s named the Titanic as Esocoffier designed the menus for that ill-fated ship. There’s also the Banh Mi Sazerac, so named — perhaps questionably — because Ho Chi Minh allegedly once worked under Escoffier as a pastry chef. The tipple is given an intriguing, savoury lift with shio koji and maple, and foie gras to replicate the pate in a banh mi sandwich.
While the inspiration might be historical, the techniques certainly aren’t. Tippling Club’s vaunted sonic prep makes a reappearance (the crowd favourite sonic negroni is no longer on the menu) in something called the Three Emperors, where it’s used to infuse oak into a concoction of Shiraz, Lillet, vodka, and a house blend of botanicals.
If you’re a fan of highly-perfumed drinks, head for the Bombe Glacee, which is purportedly inspired by a moulded ice cream dessert, but comes closer to a compelling, high-fashion fragrance in highball form with the inclusion of vetiver, fig leaf, bee pollen, vanilla, and citrus all sitting on a base of tequila.
38 Tanjong Pagar Road. Tel: 6475-2217
