Hong Kong’s dazzling Art Nouveau cocktail bar Dragonfly brings its brand of sybaritic bohemia to the Lion City with an offshoot in Vibe Hotel Singapore Orchard.
Here’s a fancy cocktail bar located in an unfancied part of Orchard Road you may not have heard of. Dragonfly – an offshoot of the popular design-led Hong Kong live music and lounge bar of the same name – is one of the newest cocktail bars in Singapore, cocooned within Vibe Hotel Singapore Orchard up the hill past the massive Mount Elizabeth hospital complex.
Dragonfly Singapore can be a bit hard to get to, especially if you’re not dropped off at the hotel entrance like royalty. But when you do get there, the space is likely to either shock you or blow you away. Dragonfly Singapore looks and feels exactly like its Hong Kong counterpart, complete with the latter’s mysterious, imaginary other-worldy look. Dark and enigmatic, its shimmering gold-accented blue and green interiors – along with an Art Deco-style bar counter – give an ethereal vibe that’s part Nefertiti’s tomb and part alien planet of Pandora from the sci-fi flick franchise Avatar.
And dragonfly motifs and artefacts everywhere. It’s eerie.
Thankfully, the cocktails here are less out-of-this-world. The debut menu at Dragonfly Singapore focuses on classics, but also offers two other twists to each classic that give them an edge.
For example, you can totally opt for a fruity vodka-based French Martini. But there’s a lengthened twist, Bite the Blossoms, that uses a different fruit base and is spiked with sherry. Or High Mountain, which takes it even further with tea-infused vodka, honey, and vermouth.
Negroni lovers can opt for the classic Italian aperitivo, but Rose Stained is a more fun, floral take that leans on sakura-infused vermouth and elderflower liqueur. Prefer your spirit-forward whiskey based tipples? The standard Manhattan is well put together, but Everything Gets Butter, we really like. More of an Old Fashioned, bourbon is fat washed with brown butter before being combined with sugar and bitters for a lovely drop.
It can get weird too. I do love the regular Daiquiri in its rum section, but creamy and dessert-like Murphy’s Law pushes the classic Corn ‘N Oil in a bizarre direction using sweet corn and mala oil. A hard no for me.
Honestly I can’t quite see myself coming too often to Dragonfly Singapore; despite its Orchard Road post code it’s quite the uphill climb to an out-of-the-way hotel surrounded by nothing else noteworthy. But if I do, the classics are where it’s at.
Dragonfly Singapore
Address 24 Mount Elizabeth, #01-05 Vibe Hotel Singapore Orchard, Singapore 228518 (Google Maps link)
Opening Hours 5pm to 1am Sundays to Thursdays; 5pm to 2am Fridays and Saturdays
Tel (65) 8088 6525
Web www.dragonfly.sg
Instagram @thedragonflysg
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