In a city bursting with cocktail contenders, Cygnet Bar at QT Singapore surprises with literary storytelling, Southeast Asian twists, and drinks as rich in narrative as they are in nuance.
Cocktail watering holes are dime a dozen in the heart of Singapore’s Central Business District, but among the latest to pop up in these parts is worth the visit if you love a good cocktail story — Cygnet Bar, the bar component of steakhouse Cygnet in QT Singapore.
Tucked in one corner on the first floor of the stunning award-winning luxury designer hotel, Cygnet Bar looks like any lobby bar, albeit a classy one hidden behind lush velvet drapes. Within is a cosy Manhattan-style Art Deco-inspired speakeasy setup with enough touches — such as rattan accents and palm-patterned tiles — to remind you that you’re in the tropics. And in Singapore, specifically.
Still it’s easy to dismiss, especially in a city packed with world-class bars. But sometimes an outlier does pop up and surprise you; this is one of those.
Because Cygnet Bar has ideas, you see. Big ones. Literary ones. Its debut 16-signature cocktail menu is a little high-concept, and even comes in two parts.
The first — ‘The Lion’s Library’ — fancies itself as some bibliophilic catalogue devoted to New York’s literary canon.
There’s Here is New York, a bourbon and apple brandy concoction that tastes like apple pie in a glass, inspired by E.B White’s ode to the city. Otherwise you have The Devil Wears Prada, Lauren Weisburger’s novel reimagined as a lipstick red-hued, fruit-forward gin sour resplendent with notes of passionfruit and pomegranate.
As for Just Kids? This is a playful Ramos Gin Fizz tribute to the Patti Smith memoirs of the same name, spiked with a touch of peach liqueur and amontillado sherry for depth and complexity.
You’ll need to have an open mind with the menu’s second section, ‘The City That Never Sleeps’. Here it takes apart eight familiar American classic cocktails with irreverential purpose, and then rebuilds them with Southeast Asian flair.
Your Hemingway Daiquiri here is lashed with coconut liqueur for a tropical twist, probably inspired by the literary giant and globe-trotting bon vivant’s jaunts through the Caribbean. You also have the Kingston Negroni; here it gets a glow up using spiced rum and orange bitters for a hint.
Cygnet’s idea of a Vesper? Usually a bracing study in cool detachment, this arrives soft around the edges, having had its usual floral Lillet swapped for citrusy pomelo and its sting soothed with some accompanying cremant.
And then there’s the view. It’s no rooftop bar, but from your perch inside you can watch the world pass by — suited bankers, flushed tourists, and the eternal bustle of Lau Pa Sat across the road.
So yes, Cygnet is a hotel bar. But it’s also a pretty good one. A bar that that spins stories, pours them into a glass, and somehow convinces you to pick up a good book or two so you know what the fuss is all about.
Cygnet Bar
Address 35 Robinson Rd, QT Singapore, Singapore 068876 (Google Maps link)
Opening Hours 4pm to 12am Mondays to Saturdays; closed on Sundays
Web www.cygnetsingapore.com/cygnet-bar
Instagram @cygnetsingapore
Facebook CygnetSingapore
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