We Taste Test MO Bar Singapore's New Cocktail Menu - Vol. 7 Modern Localism: A Traveller's Journal Across The City Of Art

Source: MO Bar Singapore.

How do you capture experience in a cocktail? We're not talking about simple sight, taste and smell - we're talking about the wanderlust of travel. Different times of the day breathe new life to the same city, same district, same street. When one shop closes, another opens. Where new craft shops with a hype following sit beside establishments with decades of reputation. How the serendipitous joy erupts when discovering an actual hidden gem, one that was stumbled upon and not curated by a slew of online recommendations. 

MO Bar Singapore's newest cocktail menu takes us through the feet and diary of a traveler across Singapore! Recently, MO Bar Singapore unveils "Vol. 7 Modern Localism - A Sensorial Journey Through The City Of Art". The cocktail menu sees 11 collaborations across 15 different cocktails, chosen by the team at MO Bar for their heritage, craft and backstories.

Source: MO Bar Singapore.

“Modern Localism Vol. 7 isn’t about representing categories or disciplines,” said Kim Jung Hoo, Assistant Bar Manager at MO BAR, Singapore. “It reflects how we experience Singapore, starting with morning rituals, moving through the city’s cultural spaces, discovering local artisans, and eventually winding down at MO BAR.

The collaborations includes craft chocolate, perfumery, restaurants, and even the National Gallery of Singapore. "Each collaborator is someone we genuinely admire and have learned from, and every drink comes from observing how they create and live. Together, the menu becomes a collection of these moments, brought together at MO BAR.”

The menu is divided into four sections, depicting the day of our traveler: Rituals of Morning, Art and Design captures morning rituals, such as a perfuming oneself before heading out to explore the art spaces of the city. The afternoon rolls over, Afternoon Tea & Creative Pauses, shaped by cafes, tea shops and creative studios. At After Hours, Together, the traveler returns to MO Bar to unwind for the night. And anchoring the menu are Enduring Signatures, house signatures of MO Bar. 

A photo that, admittedly, was taken in hindsight after me and my partner realised we hadn't taken any that caught the city skyline. 

One warm, cloudy evening, we were invited down to MO Bar. Me and my partner were seated beside the large window facing Marina Bay - the best seats of the bar in my opinion. I remembered vividly how the overcast drizzle clouds filtered the evening sun just right - it was hard to describe how picturesque the cornflower sky against the dimming city landscape contrasted against the dark cyan furniture of the bar. 

Our menu was presented to us exactly like a traveler's kit - a journal, with each page detailing the inspirations of each cocktail, alongside a map that contained the trail our traveler took ending at MO Bar. We asked the team at MO Bar for their picks and recommendations - and to start with, the Velour Kiss and Reclaimed Sling 3.0 were the first picks for the evening.

The Velour Kiss of Rituals of Morning, Art and Design was made with Hendrick's Gin, bee pollen, chamomile, extra virgin olive oil and lemon. Collaborating with La Dermalogique, the cocktail was inspired by the beauty care brand's attention to natural ingredients and care. We were advised to sip the cocktail with the bee pollen garnish. 

Floral, sweet, with a delectable tartness and an almost melon-cantaloupe flavour. We were forewarned that this was a sweet cocktial, but honestly it felt very well balanced - tart, textured, with soft green fruits that coat the tongue. The garnish added a new floral dimension to the cocktail, especially that bee pollen. This is another solid pick to start the session with!

The second cocktail was the Reclaimed Sling 3.0 from the After Hours, Together section of the menu. This cocktail has been a long time favourite of MO Bar - essentially, the Singapore Sling cocktail has been cold distilled! The idea behind cold distilling (with a Rotovap) the cocktail was to capture the vibrant, tropical flavours and aromas of the original, whilst creating a more balanced, refreshing, martini-esque re-imagination.

Shoutout to Tio for letting us go behind the bar and explaining the distilling of the Singapore Sling! 

Afterwards, a Singapore Sling lollipop, reduced from also a Singapore Sling cocktail, garnishes the drink. 

I was afraid that this was too strong of a cocktail to start the night, but I was proven wrong! The cocktail was sweet, sticky, yet super refreshing with still a boozy kick to it - but perhaps more of a massage that kneads you into the night. The fruitiness was bursting with brightness - tart, unmistakably tropical, almost like a fruit punch but without the cloyingness - which, admittedly, was the biggest hurdle I had to surmount with the original Sling. The lollipop is also another sweet treat - this time reading of grenadine. What a fantastic cocktail - and no wonder it was one that endured the passage of menus!

Next was the Jo Hwa, another entry of the After Hours, Together portion of the menu. The Jo Hwa was inspired by Anju, a modern Korean restaurant that believes in the harmony of food and drink. I was told that this cocktail was more on the savoury side; made with matsutake mushroom, Roku Gin, fino sherry, verjuice and pear. We were also served a tart topped with mushrooms and pear to pair with the cocktail. 

There was much bias on my end when I chose this cocktail - I absolutely love salty, umami forward cocktails, and I do have a strong love for fino sherry on top of it. So, how did the cocktail read? Salty, woodsy, mushroomy - whilst still approachable in sweetness and tartness! The lactic funkiness of the sherry really shines with the mushroom and herbaceous notes, almost raisin like as well. It's not too boozy either, and I feel I could easily crush a few of these.

*After eating the mushroom pear tart, and taking a sip of the cocktail, the cocktail does become brighter for a moment, before more savoury, truffle oil flavours emerge, with a strong umami kick.

The Pine-dustry from the same section was the last cocktail of the night - a cocktail made as a tribute to the countless talented bartenders and industry folk who keep the nightlife of Singapore alive and thriving! This cocktail was built with cold-distilled pineapple, Patrón Silver Tequila, white wine reduction and coconut. 

I suggest leaving the pineapple tart as long as you can (fight the temptation!) The buttery aroma is so intoxicating, together with that tart, sour pineapple - and on the palate, the cocktail is so tart and refreshing, whilst retaining that  dairy fragrance still. The cocktail itself however is really light, one that you can easily crush with little (but not immune to!) repercussion. If you're looking for a lighter drink to start the night, the Pine-dustry is a really solid pick alongside the Velour Kiss.

A jar of kombucha brewing at the baaack bar. 

Did we mention it was the final cocktail? To truly end the night (and also to sober up slightly), I had to give one of the non-alcoholic mocktails a try. I had been informed by the staff of MO Bar that the bar team makes their own kombuchas as well - and the non-alcoholic alter ego to the B.T.B (Bean to Bar) from the Afternoon Tea & Creative Pauses section of the menu was the pick. The B.T.B is a cacao nib kombucha with wolfberry and chocolate, with cacao nibs sourced from bean-to-bar Lemuel Chocolate (which, coincidentally, is also my favourite place to get chocolate from). 

Sour, fruity, but it doesn't get overbearing on the funk - in fact, the fruity, aromatic notes of raspberry and cocoa really surface through! It's refreshing and with enough sweetness to balance the tartness. If I had to describe the flavour, it's like chocolate malt drink meets pear juice meets mangosteen  - it's lively, sophisticated,  and really tasty!

Amongst all the cocktails in my (non-comprehensive) tasting, I found the Reclaimed Sling 3.0 to be the most impressive, and an absolute must try when visiting MO Bar! The Reclaimed Sling is so confectionery, yet radiant with clarity with those vibrant tropical aromas and flavours. My personal favourite amongst the four cocktails would be the Velour Kiss, the dainty floral notes and fluffy texture makes for a cocktail I could easily have multiples of. Both the Jo Hwa and the Pine-dustry were really great picks as well - not too boozy, not too strong, very well balanced across its elements that doesn't get cloying, with Pine-dustry standing out a bit more because of those impressive buttery aromas.

Do give Vol. 7 Modern Localism a try, and tell the staff that 88 Bamboo sent you! 

The full spread, sans the later rounds of cocktails. 

@vernoncelli

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Whilst outside the scope of the new cocktail menu, MO Bar Singapore has also revamped their food menu, which we had the opportunity to try as well.

My top pick for the food menu would easily be the Kurobata Pork Neck. A recommendation from the bar team, the slices of pork neck were very tender and well seasoned, but what really ties the dish together was that addictive Thai green chilli mint sauce served alongside it - it was fresh, cutting through the richness of the pork, whilst being just spicy enough to invigorate and lift the entire dish. I happily cleaned off the plate for this one, and unashamedly, took a teaspoon to finish up any leftover sauce too (and I apologise to anyone who had to bear witness to my bad table manners). 

Another recommendation was the Laksa French Fries - as the name implies, fries seasoned with laksa flavours. I enjoyed this dish as well - the fries were heavy with laksa seasoning, however, the flavours did slant towards a mix of prawn noodle broth and chilli crab for me, where I felt more laksa leaf seasoning and spice could have elevated the dish to the next level. Do take note that the fries, whilst delicious when served warm, do lose its crisp after a while, taking on a more loaded fries texture.

To top up our meal, we also had the Wagyu Beef Sliders, solid sliders, though slightly too classic for my liking. I found myself wishing for more of that sambal oelek as well as perhaps a more seasoned beef patty, though, the beef patties were squirting in juice. 

I have to also mention that, if you already had some bites prior to coming to MO Bar, the Kurobata Pork Neck should be sufficient for a party of two. Me and my partner did not have any food nor dinner prior to our visit, but we did find ourselves quite stuffed with all three dishes above, having to take home the remainder of the Laksa French Fries. Two out of the three here is aplenty for a party of two.