It’s perfect for our celebrity-obsessed society. Who wouldn’t want to know what Robert Downey Jr or Ruth Bader Ginsburg tastes like? In cocktail interpretation, we mean. For Manhattan’s expanded New York Personified menu, six more iconic Manhattanites across film, fashion, music, culinary and even politics join the bill.
Tribute to the late lawyer and jurist comes in physical representations like Notorious RBG (SGD32), where the black coupe glass crowned with white frill takes visual inspiration from her associate justice collared robe. It also goes beyond the obvious to a window into her personal life like Marty’s Souffle (SGD26), named after her husband Martin Ginsburg.
Quite the cook, he worked his way through The Escoffier Cookbook, which the pair received as a wedding gift. Here, it’s a liquid dessert of Roku gin, vanilla curd, crème, lime and yuzu bitters that reads as sweet as their story. It’s actually the subtle garnishes and not-so-subtle presentations that make the menu fun.
Even with the bias for booze of choice that we often have, it was hard not to continuously browse through the line-up of intriguing blends before landing on a decision. Yoko Ono’s Pea Piece movement comes as a slightly savoury and equally refreshing tipple, Peas and Love (SGD28)—a concoction of Tatsumi Gin with cucumber cordial, basil and the star player, green peas.
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton (SGD28) layers its bittersweet nuances with sherry, chocolate liqueur and three leathery liquors, but its illumination when served on a Hollywood star that lights up cheekily captures the Broadway spirit. For the less fun among us, the dedicated zero-proof edition pays equal attention to its craft elements so you won’t feel too left out.
You don’t expect anything less from one of the pillar bars in Singapore, and one that is an ode to the 19th century’s Golden Age of cocktails and fine drinking. Settle into the velvety interiors and private nooks, but don’t be intimidated to drop by the ingredient room where each uniquely labelled jar and bottle culminate in a tiny cocktail exhibit of their own.
Or the world’s first in-hotel rickhouse where custom-made oak barrels age special creations by guest bartenders. Both flank the main entrance. To complete the run, you may try Andy Warhol, Whoopi Goldberg, Irving Berlin or, if you’ve missed the previous iteration, the best of Anthony Bourdain, Ella Fitzgerald, Eleanor Roosevelt, the Ramones and Vera Wang.
Manhattan is at Regent Singapore, 1 Cuscaden Road, Level 2, Singapore 249715.
