TUX Bar Singapore review: Happy Hour Asia can think of few waterholes better placed than this particular hotel bar lounge when it comes to being both well-placed (in terms of meeting point) and stylish, downtown in the city centre! Just steps away from City Hall MRT station and shopping mall this hotel bar services guests for later afternoon and evening sessions (open from 4.00 pm on weekdays), while it opens already at 1.00 pm on weekends – when also the ‘Idyllic Afternoon Tea’ is served. be it for an afternoon tipple or a night session. On weekdays Tux Bar & Lounge is an ideal choice where to wind down or continue conversations that follows any day of conducting business and meetings.
As for the afternoon tea, expect plenty of sweets, savouries and of course scones, along with a comprehensive tea or coffee selection. One can also opt for a cocktail each per set for two guests.
Gin Ken Chilli Sour, Tux Bar cocktail
And take note: Tux is a destination bar: The days are gone when a hotel bar was just something part of the standard hotel facilities – especially in a, these days, cocktail bar-focused place like Singapore! In this case the transformation of the long-established ground floor bar at Carlton Hotel Singapore has turned it into a stylish -indoor and outdoor waterhole.
It is tucked away from the marble-clad bright lobby of the property: a discreet entrance hides the bar but it’s marked by a large illuminated sign. Inside, during daytime, daylight enters the intimate venue at its far end through floor-to-ceiling street windows.
And there the bar focal point reveals itself along one side facing guests seated at the bar stools or at the other spread-out seating options. The interior design comes in a modern vintage style, featuring over all brown-beige earth tones, including a wall-to-wall abstract, curvy carpet, and framed wall panel sections with notably curved corners.
Those bar chairs come in fashionable cappuccino leather, placed along a black bar counter with a metal patchwork front.
There are also brown, slightly orange, leather sofas (with round leather pillows or striped décor pillows in various multi colours), coupled with dark-brown designer armchairs and round wooden tables with vintage style brass table lamps.
As contrast Tux also offer an outdoor terrace seating 35, in much brighter light-blue padded sofas, beige rattan vintage armchairs and oversized pots with giant tropical plants.
Indoors, once daylight vanishes the bar turns much more dimly lit.
TUX Bar Singapore review: bold and innovative line-up
Bar food, Tux Bar & Lounge
Inside a leather menu cover, Tux Bar & Lounge reveals the food and drinks choices – with tabs for each menu page and category.
Upon this visit Tux presents a signature cocktail menu that offers both a “bold and innovative line-up showcasing the art of mixology with a local twist for the civic district in Singapore.”
Testing some of the finely crafted cocktails begins with the milk punch ‘Bandung Unplugged’ (Bandung is a city southwest of Jakarta, Indonesia and a reference in the name because the syrup used is from there), made with vodka, rose syrup and milk): a milk punch cocktail, and where coffee filters are reused for the garnish. Being a milk punch, the drink – served in a martini glass – is completely clarified and offers a delicate rose flavour profile, and a “silky-smooth finishing” mouthfeel.
Moving on to the Old Fashioned Nyonya (the latter word of course a nod to the Straits area’s unique cuisine) is made with whisky, pandan, Gula melaka (palm sugar) and bitters and has an orange colour and a large single ice cube in the glass. The bartender uses Sous Vide pressure cooking method as part of the processing for this cocktail inspired by a local dessert – Nonya Kueh – and turns out to be gentle, easy to drink and with perfect balance of the ingredients flavour combinations – presented as an “aromatic nostalgic twist.”
Next comes B.T.C (“Boba tea concoction”?) made with rum, black tea, homemade Boba (tapioca pearls) and soda water – a very Asian drink given the Boba tea component. This drink that blends the earthy notes of the black tea with the aromatic caramel and vanilla notes from the rum, is garnished with three slices of cucumber and has a top layer resembling beer foam, and includes some chewy house-made pearls hidden within.
B.T.C cocktail
TUX Bar Singapore review: bar food temptations
Meanwhile, some elegantly presented dishes also arrives from the bar food menu: Murotsu Bay oyster with salmon roe, caviar, goma dressing and hot sauce; and sumptuous Prawn & squid cake with green chilli dip.
Other temptations are: Meatballs (beef, pomodoro sauce), Sausage platter (bratwurst sausage, cheese, spicy, grain mustard sauce), Carlton club sandwich, Focaccia Baton bread and more.
The food can also come with wine pairings; including Pol Rémy Excellence sparkling wine or house pours: Inviniti Pinot Noir (New Zealand), Inviniti Sauvignon Blanc, Pierre Jean Colombard Chardonnay (France) and Pierre Jean Merlot.
And continuing with a few more of the signature cocktails Gin-Ken (‘chicken’) Chilli Sour comes served in champagne glass and is made, as you can suspect, with gin and then the daring ingredients garlic as well as Chilli Padi (a tiny but extremely fiery chili pepper commonly used in Southeast Asian cuisines) and also ginger, fresh lime juice and egg white. Inspired by the chicken rice the drink is a tangy creation and has a strong punch from its flavour-intense components. It has a beer-like colour and some foam on the top, and feels like a suitable late-night cocktail.
Tux Bar & Lounge interior
Finally a modified classic is on offer as the Laksa Margarita, made with tequila and a nod to the local well-known Peranakan/Nyonya dish, also with lemongrass and fresh lime juice. As a result the cocktail, served in couple glass resembles a green sauce and comes out as actually very gentle and slightly fruit in its flavour, while have a slightly spicy and alcohol taste.
All in all, these cocktails constitute a very well thought-out and fine-tuned selection inspired by and using local flavours that also adds some complexity and uniqueness to each drink, including those based on established cocktail classics. In particular, it signals creativity and courage to come up with reimagined versions of such well-known favourites, and they bar team does it well here!
It will be interesting to follow what other signatures may be introduced by Tux Bar & Lounge going forward, and where the creative and quality-driven bartending, paired with a stylish setting, bodes well for exactly that.
