SINGAPORE – If you passed through Boon Tat Street in the Central Business District in the last few weeks, you might have noticed a new ice cream shop serving up a range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic flavours.

Venture farther, and you will find that the ice cream parlour is just the entry point for a multi-concept venue called White Shades. On level two is an intimate bar specialising in innovative cocktails and fusion food, while the fourth floor houses a rooftop bar serving beer and cocktails on tap. The third floor is an event space, ready to host anything from brand pop-ups to art exhibitions. 

Founded by Singaporean bartender Bai Jiawei, White Shades is the latest in a slew of innovative alcohol-anchored concepts that have popped up in the last two months.

Others include Spectre, a mental wellness-focused bar, which is a joint venture by singer-songwriter Inch Chua and bartender and Beam Suntory regional brand ambassador Andrew Pang. It had its soft opening in August after a May pop-up stint at food and beverage (F&B) incubation space Ghostwriter.

Drinkers say the focus on experiences at these concept bars helps them stand out in a crowded bar scene. 

“I’m a sucker for both ice cream and cocktails, so White Shades immediately caught my attention with that. I like that I can grab dessert after drinks or vice versa,” says copywriter Valentina Ho, 27. 

“From what I’d heard of the place, I thought it’d just be an Instagrammable location that you’d visit once just for the aesthetics, but I really enjoyed the drinks, which were experimental and innovative. Gimmicks might work to grab customers’ attention, but no one’s going to return if the offerings aren’t up to snuff,” she adds. 

Ms Sonia Jusuf, a 3D artist, agrees that a thoughtful and inventive concept is attractive, but only if there is a meaningful experience to be had.

“I am lukewarm towards obvious commercial gimmicks which deliver only on superficial Instagram moments,” says the 36-year-old.

“I prefer to drink at home these days, because it’s cheaper and more convenient. But I would be willing to step out and spend at a place where I can be taken on a journey of some kind.”

Ghostwriter (lowtide.sg/ghostwriter), located in Club Street, looks to offer entrepreneurs – such as Spectre’s Andrew Pang and Inch Chua – an incubation space to trial their concepts before making the high-stakes investment of opening a full-blown venue in Singapore’s busy F&B scene.

It was opened in January by the same team behind Sago House, Low Tide and Underdog Inn, all successful bar-restaurants which each have different brand identities and offerings.

Sago House, for instance, positions itself as a homey neighbourhood drinking joint, while Low Tide adds a South-east Asian twist to the tropical tiki bar. 

Mr Jay Gray, 33, co-founder and chief executive of the Sago House group of bars, says: “I’m always amazed at the talent and creativity in Singapore, and I thought it would be interesting to give hopeful bar openers the opportunity to dip their toes into ownership in a safe space, without the inherent overheads and pressures of running a business such as long-term leases and investors.”

A unique concept will likely be able to find its own audience among Singapore’s ever-hungry and thirsty populace, but top-notch hospitality is still the most important secret sauce to even the most radical concepts, he adds.

“Ultimately, the common thread we aim to achieve across our venues is a consistent and quality hospitality experience,” he says.

Amid the ongoing economic downturn, Mr Gray says he and his staff are “trying to find ways to add value for our guests and really make sure they feel like their spend is worth it”.

The Straits Times rounds up four innovative new venues pushing unusual concepts while plying delicious tipples.

White Shades

White Shades (@whiteshadessg on Instagram), which opened in July, is the ambitious culmination of everything founder Bai Jiawei learnt from his experiences with Stay Gold Flamingo – a bar he co-founded in 2021, which recently debuted on Asia’s 50 Best Bars list at No. 32 – and Employees Only, where he was a bartender from 2016 to 2020.

Each floor at White Shades serves a specific purpose, says Mr Bai, 30. 

“For the ice cream parlour on the first floor, one strategic point we were thinking about is the fact that there aren’t really any dessert places in this area, except one patisserie down the road. So the first floor is open from noon for the office crowd to grab something sweet after lunch or even after work. It is set up for a quick turnover,” he notes.

Besides gelato offerings such as midori rosemary and absinthe chocolate mint, there are also low alcohol-by-volume (ABV) tea cocktails such as the Kakubin Lapsang (cold-brew lapsang souchong tea with Kakubin whisky); packaged and ready for customers to buy and take with them on the go. 

In contrast, the bar on level two is set up to be a softer, slower and more cosy experience, with more service touchpoints and premium offerings.

These concoctions include the Instagram-worthy Savi Gallop cocktail ($25++) – in an orange hue reminiscent of the luxury brand Hermes – which is delivered in a bell jar and covered in a wispy cloud of smoke. 

The rooftop bar on level four, which is set to open on Tuesday, will return revellers to a more casual experience with cocktails and draught on tap and simple bar bites. 

In the long run, Mr Bai hopes White Shades will become a go-to space for whole-venue takeovers during special events.

“We’re planning something big for the week of Oct 17, which is when the World’s 50 Best Bars ceremony will take place in Singapore. The best bartenders from around the world will be in town, so we’re looking forward to using that time to showcase the full potential of what we have to offer here,” he says. 

Spectre 

Alcohol might be known as “happy juice”, but given its links with addiction, excess and vice, it is not the first thing that pops to mind when one thinks of mental wellness.

But the free therapy element has always been built into the act of going to a bar, notes Spectre (@spectre.sg on Instagram) co-founder Andrew Pang, 38, who oversees the establishment’s drink offerings.

“There’s that classic image of a movie bartender polishing a glass while inviting a patron to share his or her problems. We’re just looking to take that concept a bit further and actively incorporate the ideas of community, wellness and nourishment into our food and drinks.”

Accordingly, he has come up with concoctions such as the Bonseki, a “snake soup and mezcal cocktail that is served warm on a micro Japanese sand raking box”, says Mr Pang.

“It’s tactile, it’s relaxing and it’s also a talking point,” he continues, adding that he consulted a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine when developing his cocktail menu. 

In TCM, snake soup is considered to be a “warming” food which boosts energy and improves blood circulation.  

Another drink is the Endolphin – which comes with half a banana decorated to resemble a dolphin – featuring rum infused with chocolate, blueberry, almond, orange and banana.

All these ingredients supposedly promote the natural release of endorphins and dopamine, two “happiness chemicals” within the body. 

The food menu by Inch Chua, 34, includes its own liquid offerings in the form of a soup series called Clarity.

She says: “Some are more medicinal than others, but the idea is that people can have something to line their stomach before drinking, or even as a palate cleanser after a whole night of drinking.

“In fact, we will be sending guests home with a bowl of soup, just to fully embody that idea of both physical and emotional nourishment.”

A respected indie musician who straddles multiple genres including electronica and folk rock, Chua also hopes to bring her years of experience in musical and event production to create unique experiences at Spectre.

“We intend to create more fun artistic productions like dinners here in the future – not so much dinner theatre, but using sound and music to add to the storytelling that we do with our food and drink,” she says.

Anthology 

Anthology (@anthology.singapore on Instagram), located in bustling Circular Road, is the brand house of local distillery Compendium Spirits, which specialises in South-east Asian ingredients. Its Singapore-made offerings include Thai Hom Mali rice whisky and chendol gin.

The first floor features a bar serving a full menu of food and drinks, while the second is occupied by a private lounge reserved for chartered members, as well as for workshops and other events. On the third and top floor is a cellar storing barrels of spirits owned and customised by chartered members. 

Under the Charted By Compendium Spirits programme, members choose one of four base spirits, such as rum made from Malaysian molasses, which they can barrel-age from three months to a year. The resulting spirits can be bottled for home consumption.

Members can also drop in to consume their bespoke spirit any way they want, direct from the barrel. Prices begin at $1,288 for a four-litre barrel. 

It is all part and parcel of offering something new, different and home-grown to customers, says Mr Dannon Har, beverage director of Compendium Spirits.

“Younger people, in particular, are increasingly eager to understand what exactly they are drinking, where it came from and how it was made,” he says.

As such, he adds, the bar menu at Anthology is not just a laundry list of cocktails.

“We also offer four-drink tasting flights, such as our Rice flight ($42), which consists of rice wine, new-make spirit (whisky before it is aged), and the final whisky at two different ageing and blending points. It takes guests on a drinking journey of our processes and our ingredients, instead of just hearing us talk about it.”

High Bar Society 

The newest kid on the block, High Bar Society (@highbar.society on Instagram), marries the concept of the upscale cocktail bar with a fancy ice-cream joint.

Officially opened by chef Sharon Tay on Wednesday, the late-night dessert bar serves alcoholic gelato and cocktails, as well as tapas and desserts.

Tay, 43 – who is also behind the Momolato gelato brand and cafe – says the venue targets the younger demographic of drinkers who are looking for new ways to enjoy alcohol.

“Customers are demanding a different yet familiar experience. I have noticed at cocktail bars that drinking and cocktail culture has evolved. Although classics are always generally well accepted, people love a dash of fun and innovation with their drinks.”

The flagship product of High Bar Society is the alcoholic gelato with its 6 per cent alcohol by volume, which might well be among the highest in Asia. Each cocktail is served with a side of gelato.

The concoctions include one called Barbie’s Pink ‘Fro ($23), which Tay describes as “a highball float that comes with cotton candy, whisky, soda and cotton candy gelato”. 

If you would rather eat your alcohol, the Singapore Sling gelato ($20), infused with four different spirits, promises to be a patriotic and particularly boozy cold treat.