Mish Mash: A (butt) cheeky gastrobar with wine-inspired cocktails and shockingly good eats

Located at the corner of South Bridge Road and Upper Cross Street is Mish Mash, a provocative gastrobar built around wine-inspired cocktails and some surprisingly fun eats.

Cheeky, suggestive, and naughty. Few words describe Mish Mash better. The gastrobar, situated in Chinatown at the junction of South Bridge Road and Upper Cross Street on the edge of Singapore’s Central Business District, can seem kitschy and brazen compared to most of its ilk.

And, you’ll quickly find, may not be for the prim or prudish.

Mish Mash – recently opened by Proper Concepts, which also runs Ms. Maria & Mr. Singh Singapore, The Feather Blade, and RAPPU, among other establishments – describes itself as ‘Singapore’s first wine-cocktail gastrobar’. Indeed, while it offers a fun wine and sake list that doesn’t try too hard, the cocktails  – all of which are wine-based or wine-inspired – are where it’s at.

There’s Lusty Lemony, a refreshingly tangy champagne spritz that offers flavours similar to a Sauvignon Blanc or dry Riesling, while Bubble Butt is a savoury champagne and umeshu-based tipple that’s spiced up by jalapeño. If you like your drinks on the fruitier side, there’s gin-based Green Goddess with her green apple and white grape notes. For something more delicate, Carnal Carnage offers chamomile and rhubarb for something resembling a dry Provencal rosé.

For those who like their big, bold reds? Try Cocoa Climax, featuring Cabernet Sauvignon that’s been infused with cacao. Just make sure you run your tongue down the side for some of the strawberry dust to titillate your tastebuds further as you sip.

And if you think the cocktail names are slightly risqué, the, err, shapely glassware some of your drinks come in can leave little to the imagination.

But while Mish Mash may not seem to take itself too seriously in so many ways, when it comes to food the gastrobar punches way above its weight class compared to many of its contemporaries. Sure, there’s Blck Pnk which comes as crunchy charcoal gougeres topped with shocking pink-hued whipped cheese that’s more kitschy than anything, or the more pedestrian Savoury Coppe, a cute mini-‘hotdog’ of French garlic sausage and pickle on sweet Japanese milk bread.

On the other hand you have the absolutely delectable Cherrywood Smoked Engawa, featuring the rare fatty flounder fins lightly grilled and served with ikura atop Japanese pumpkin, a dish even any award-winning contemporary restaurant in town would be proud to serve. Or the Spanish Turbot. Here chunks of the highly-prized flatfish is seared into crispy yet juicy tenderness, and its delicate flavours enhanced by the accompanying pesto risotto.

For carnivores, the beautifully-grilled Kurobuta Pork Chop boast fabulous sweet-savoury-and-smoky notes from its char siew marinade, and came in perfect doneness. The dirty rice it comes with, too, is lovely.

We’ve had some Michelin-starred meals that were nowhere as delicious.

Come late evening, the music and disco lights come on at Mish Mash. The drinking clientele start to loosen up, chat each other up across tables, and – we hear from reliable sources – even start hooking up.

It’s that kind of place.

In the meantime, we’ll leave you to figure out the Mish Mash logo out for yourselves.

Mish Mash

Address 198 South Bridge Rd, Singapore 058747 (Google Maps link)
Opening Hours 6pm to 12am Wednesdays to Fridays; 12pm to 3pm and 6pm to 12am on Saturdays; 12pm to 3pm and 5.30pm to 10.30pm on Sundays; closed on Mondays and Tuesdays
Web www.mishmash.sg
Facebook mishmashwine.sg
Instagram @mishmashwine.sg