Night Hawk’s Peter Chua on redefining mentorship in the Singapore cocktail bar scene

The moment Night Hawk’s senior bartender, Samuel Pang, decided to leave the world of banking for a shaker and a dream, he made a beeline for the bar of industry veteran Peter Chua.

A respected name in Singapore’s cocktail scene, Chua was part of the pioneering team at 28 HongKong Street, cut his teeth at Proof & Company, and later opened the cult favourite Junior The Pocket Bar, which shuttered in May. 

Pang, 33, who had worked in bars in Melbourne and Singapore, was looking for a challenge. “I wanted to see how these kinds of ‘heavy’ cocktail places operated. I thought that if I don’t feel a little silly or lost, it means I’m not in the right place. You want to be out of your depth,” he explains. “If you’re super comfortable, just slamming drinks, not asking questions, you’re not growing.”

He’d come to the right place. “Peter is not the hand-holding type,” Pang says of the bar owner. “He leads through actions. He goes and goes and goes; he outworks everyone. When he looks to us to do things, he knows the amount of effort it takes, because he’s done it many times before.”

“Mentorship to me is understanding how I work, and seeing my potential, and unrelentingly pushing me there,” he smiles. During Diageo’s World Class bartending competition, widely considered to be one of the world’s most prestigious, Pang was tackling two separate challenges at once, and the preparation proved all-consuming.

“The first challenge was ‘Industry Legends’ with Tanqueray 10, where we had to create a drink inspired by someone we respected,” he recalls. “The second was ‘Sense The Moment’ with Singleton 15, in which we had to incorporate the five senses in the drink. It was really tough.” To maintain an edge against his fellow bartenders, he arrived at work early every day to research and practise. “My usual hours are 4pm to 1am, but I was there around noon every day for 16 to 17 days.”

“Before work, you’re practising. After work, you’re practising — testing out the flavours, making everything make sense. It really made me ask, ‘Shit, am I really ready to put in this amount of effort?’”

But Chua had just the nudge that propelled his protégé into the top three at the recent World Class Singapore finals held in June. “He just asked, ‘You want this, right?’ And that was it.”

For Chua, having the right attitude and drive is paramount. “One of the most important lessons I’ve learned over the years is that you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. As a mentor, it’s important to identify each bartender’s unique path; not everyone wants or needs to follow the same journey you did. That’s the hardest part: balancing your personal interest and values as a business owner with the interests of your team.”

Of course, even the best working relationships are not without challenges. “Peter is super direct and super straightforward. Sometimes it rubs you the wrong way, especially when you’ve had a horrible day,” admits the World Class Singapore 2025 runner-up. 

For his part, Chua, who’s also head of education at Bar Convent Singapore (BCB), acknowledges that mentorship is evolving. “Back then, mentorship used to be like the old kung fu master model. You walk with me, and I’ll teach you 80 per cent of what I know. The last 20 per cent, I’ll keep to myself. That was quite prevalent, but I think the days of gatekeeping are over. Information is shared so rapidly around the world. Today, mentorship is shifting toward a more personal, or even systematic, approach. Take the Jigger & Pony model: you build a system, a kind of school. You join, and you grow through that system. If you fit the mould, great. If not, it doesn’t mean you’re not talented; maybe you’re just meant for something else.”

More than anything, Chua is looking to see his mentee go on to greater things. “Every mentor wants their mentee to stick with them forever, but that’s not realistic. In fact, for me, the biggest success is seeing your mentees go on to succeed even more than you. That, I think, is the true measure of a mentor. If you asked Michael (D. Callahan, formerly from 28 HongKong Street), I think he’d say the same. I’d like to believe he feels proud seeing where I’ve ended up — not just stuck in his shadow, but carving my path.”