Convivial Champagne Bar at Boat Quay sparkles with its unerring bubbly-centric focus and an eclectically fun food pairing menu.
It takes plenty of courage for any person to leave a relatively secure job with dependable pay to embark on an entrepreneurial path. It takes an even bigger set when you’re putting all your hopes – and life savings – in one basket. But that’s what the founder of Convivial, Yeo Xi Yang, did when he left his wine director job at Park90 to open a champagne bar in September last year.
By all accounts, Convivial shouldn’t have worked. A wine bar with an almost entirely champagne-centric drinks programme? Preposterous! Champagne is great for starting off a meal or celebrating an occasion but wine lovers want their red wine, especially in this part of the world.
Or so conventional wisdom went.
Yeo – or Yang as most of the wine industry knew him by – was undeterred. Taking over a small unit along North Canal Road, he kitted the space out to look like the famed network of cellars and chalk caves that stretch underground throughout much of Reims and Épernay. Or the many stark, white-walled monasteries found across France.
Which meant the wine bar looked unfussy and minimalist, yet serene and pious. As it should be – this is, after all, a temple dedicated to champagne.
And Yang is its high priest. Not that he’s aloof and serious. No, nothing like that at all. Instead he’s bubbly and full of verve, much like the nectar he pours. If you so choose, the accomplished, award-winning sommelier – he’s served sommelier stints in the likes of three Michelin-starred Les Amis, The Black Swan, and Straits Clan (now Mandala Club) before his time at Park90 – can preach both about Champagne the region, and champagne the drop.
You’ll see it in the beverage list he personally curated for the champagne bar. You’ll find champagnes sectioned by region – Côte de Bar, Vallée de la Marne, or Montagne de Reims, etc. – and then by village. Yang, as expected is able to wax lyrical about those regional differences.
It is also clear his heart is for boutique grower champagnes. You’ll find, for example, biodynamic producer Roger Coulon from Vrigny on his list, as well as Aube-based Pierre Gerbais, which makes mineral-driven wines from less commonly-used Pinot Blanc.
Yang pays homage to the big names, of course. But here he prefers more unusual, rarer, or vintage expressions – the Moët & Chandon Impériale Création No. 1 released to celebrate Moët & Chandon’s 280th anniversary, the rare Louis Roederer 1990 Cristal, or the quirky Billecart-Salmon Sous Bois Brut NV that’s been aged in oak for a point of differentiation, among others.
Despite its name Convivial Champagne Bar does carry non-champagne wines. There are sparkling wines from other parts of France – cremants – and also the rest of the world, but Convivial might also be the wine bar with Singapore’s largest selection of still wines from Champagne, or Coteaux Champenois.
Like the wines, Convivial’s grub range from fun and flirty to serious and complex. They span from the usual charcuterie, cheese, and oysters to heartier fare like grilled chicken and tortellini. But the bar bites are where it’s at: their house-made fish fingers and octopus karaage are absolutely scrumptious, while potato hash sticks – think hash browns but in baton form – make for a surprising pairing with champagne.
Convivial recently celebrated its first anniversary, launching a Champagne Henri Giraud exclusively bottled for the champagne bar. The limited-edition release – featuring a perpetual reserve blend comprising wine from 1990 to 2019 (a nod to Yang’s birth year in 1990) and vintages spanning the 1950s to today – is more than just a way to commemorate a milestone.
“We want to show that we can make a difference in the world of fine bubbles, and it is heartening that top producers like Henri Giraud appreciate our vision and is willing to collaborate with us,” Yang tells us.
Napoleon Bonaparte once famously declared: “In victory, you deserve Champagne. In defeat, you need it.”
Either way, you’ll be able to celebrate or commiserate at Convivial Champagne Bar.
[Photo credits:Convivial]
Convivial Champagne Bar
Address 11 North Canal Rd, #01-01 The Offshore, Singapore 048824 (Google Maps link)
Opening Hours 4pm to 12am Mondays to Saturdays; closed on Sundays
Tel (65) 8076 5674
Web www.convivial.com.sg
Facebook convivial.sg
Instagram @convivial.sg
Reservations book here
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