Tag: wine
Casual wine bars are a confounding enigma to the masses. Primed by a deep-rooted perception of wine culture, it’s hard for the layperson to fathom wine as an ordinary indulgence. Most struggle to perceive wine as an unsolemn niche within the greater gourmet sphere — at least until being introduced to the Duxton gem, Praelum Wine Bistro.
Despite being less familiar with my wines than spirits and cocktails, I couldn’t pass up on an invitation to appreciate this collection of Gems of Tuscany curated by Angra Wine & Spirit, one of Singapore’s eminent wine importers. Alcohol is alcohol, after all — my eternal best friend.
Continue reading “Gems of Tuscany by Angra Wine & Spirit Singapore”
It’s 2023 and Singapore’s wine bars have almost completely divorced themselves from the deep-rooted public perception — one of punctilious, snobbish inaccessibility. However, the new Kumi Den at Duxton might signify yet another paradigm shift for the casual wine bars of Singapore.
There’s an image that has been attributed to wine bars over the decades. It’s one that’s stuffy, it’s inaccessible, and it’s opulent. But there’s currently a renewed struggle to escape from that culture as more and more new concepts like Vin Geek are joining in to fight the good fight.
The general perception of French cuisine is one of opulence and class, and one of Haute Cuisine. The French culinary canon transcends these misattributed confines — homely food is just as integral to the French as they are to the Italians. Amongst a wave of casual French dining restaurants popping up all over Singapore, LouLou is perhaps one of the most underrated.
You feel like you’re at a house party. The vivid tint of technicolour lights, the communal table where strangers strike up rapports across invisible dividers between their seats, the small, cosy balcony lushly populated with greens and rattan — JUICE is a wine bar that feels wonderfully homely. Continue reading “JUICE”
[Update: Kinou has closed.] An utterance of “Basque food” to the average Singaporean would probably elicit a response of “oh, creamy molten burnt cheesecake right?” And then get showered in quizzical stares as you go on about the culture-rich Basque regions of Spain and perhaps even more eyebrows raised when you dive into its Southern France territory, and that’s Kinou’s prime directive — a conduit to the magnificent flavours of the region.
Singapore has been graced by an inundation of wine bars, as countless groovy, cutting-edge concepts streamed in. Eventually, even Michelin-Starred chefs joined the fray — like fusion maestro Rishi Naleendran’s Fool Wine Bar and Andrew Walsh‘s Club Street Wine Room.
After establishing itself as one of the best bars for craft beer-fuelled shindigs, the iconic Good Luck Beer House at Haji Lane was met with the unfortunate challenge of shedding the emblematic fixtures and beer-focused concept for a facelift last year.
Wine. Neon lights. Disco balls. Possibly sounds like a logically incoherent jumble of fixtures, that is until a visit to RVLT’s buzzing Carpenter Street hideout assuages any doubts.
