A Spiritual Journey

Recently named one of the 50 best bars in the world, Mandarin Oriental Singapore’s MO BAR — with chic new interiors by Blueplate Studios — has launched its final iteration of the Nomadic Foragers programme with a robust cocktail menu inspired by the flavours, textures and ideas unique to different cities around the region

Singapore cemented its reputation as a serious contender in the cocktail scene when a number of the garden city’s home-grown concepts made it onto the World’s 50 Best Bars list in 2019. The latest location for elegant and tasty libations is the Mandarin Oriental’s own MO BAR. Here, the view from the bar is unmistakably Singapore but the curated cocktail menu is more akin to a journey.

The new concept, which was introduced with the launch of a second menu series, was inspired by bar manager Michele Mariotti’s travels around the region. In several cities throughout Asia — including Hong Kong, Hanoi and Chiang Mai — Mariotti and his team partnered with a local mixology expert and together they explored the local markets and met purveyors of herbs and spices unique to the city.

‘Our menu is the final iteration of our Nomadic Foragers programme, during which we travelled to 15 different destinations across Asia Pacific to partner with different producers, bartenders, farmers and markets to forage different ingredients, flavours, textures and ideas and bring them back to Singapore. Our aim is to create a menu that’s fully cooperative and involves different collaborators across this region in order to offer our guests a feel of our experiences while travelling,’ Mariotti explains.

Each cocktail is plotted on a drink ‘map’ that makes it easy to circumnavigate the list as it goes from light to dark, and from long to short; and the knowledgeable bartenders are always on hand to put an itinerary together for you. To accompany your choice of liquid refreshment is a satisfying list of bar snacks, with the katsu sando being a definite highlight.

The cocktail list is not all that’s received a makeover. Chic new interiors were conceptualised by Blueplate Studios, an extension of the internationally renowned architectural interior design firm Wilson Associates. Blueplate is the firm’s exciting new food and beverage design lab that is becoming known for creating extraordinary restaurant concepts around the world. The cinematic space is layered with refined materials, textures and custom furnishings, taking inspiration from the port locations the cocktails hail from. And according to designer Evan Burton, the concept has been designed to appeal to the modern nomad in all of us.

Text / Suzy Annetta
Images / Courtesy of Mandarin Oriental