BAR KAP - Great New Places

*this article first appeared on GreatNewPlaces.com: full article here‍

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COCKTAILS SHAPED BY THE ERAS OF THE HOUSE

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Conceptualised in partnership with Studio Ryecroft, the menu explores the House of Tan Yeok Nee’s different eras, from its earliest residence to its current form. Within each era is a range of cocktail styles, including a zero-proof selection crafted with the same precision as its spirited counterparts, alongside Singapore’s foremost clay-ageing programmes, where beverages evolve with the quiet passage of time.

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The menu opens with the Kapitan Era, a tribute to Tan Yeok Nee himself. Inspired by the life of this well-travelled Teochew merchant, who journeyed between Singapore and the wider region, the cocktails of this era are shaped by the goods he traded and the exchanges he encountered along the way.

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‍Pepper Peddler (S$28) celebrates the spice that built the Kapitan’s empire, combining baijiu, gin and makgeolli in a bright, effervescent highball. Lifted with citrus, pepper, and a firewater tincture, a gentle peppercorn heat opens the palate, before softening into softer tropical notes and a subtle, lingering chocolate finish from the baijiu.

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‍Mǎi Bàn(S$26), the Chinese term for a middleman who links traders and producers, is a dessert-style sour made with raspberry, vodka, coconut, and a housemade lollipop garnish.

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Recalling the years after Tan Yeok Nee’s departure, the Station Master Era pays tribute to the house’s next occupant, drawing on ingredients and styles likely favoured by the British station master.

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‍Tank Road (S$28) —referencing the former railway hub down the road—pairs roasted orange and bay syrup, grapefruit, bitters, and scotch in a refreshing whisky sour-style serve, accompanied by a rosemary-infused chocolate. Meanwhile, the spirit-forward

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‍Dynamo (S$28) weaves Irish whiskey, amaro, sherry, and Drambuie, deepened with soy and nuanced with chocolate and cardamom. The drink forms part of BAR KAP’s clay-ageing programme, where cocktails are matured in purple clay vessels to soften texture and refine flavour. BAR KAP will be the first bar in Singapore to revive the 8,000-year-old practice, with plans to develop a growing collection of aged beverages.

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The Order Era draws from the building’s later chapter as St Mary’s Home and School for Eurasian Girls.

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A variation of the martini, Lights Out (S$25) is a tableside serve of gin, secco vermouth, and mandarin, finished with fragrant pandan oil. Inspired by the vessel used to carry burning incense,

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‍Censer (S$26) layers mezcal and Campari with pineapple and lime for a drink that is smoky, bright and effortlessly drinkable. A torched pineapple ring is gently submerged in the cocktail as a finishing touch.

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Bringing guests back to the house in its modern form is the Dynasty Era.

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‍TCM No. 3 (S$18) is a creamy zero-proof cocktail, featuring soy milk, ginger, honeydew, and gula melaka. It is presented in ceramicware and honours the building’s most recent past as a traditional medicine clinic.

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‍Black Lacquer (S$28) blends coconut rum, cherry wine, locally sourced cold-brew kopi, and molasses, finished with shortbread. Rooted in lacquerware’s symbolism of longevity, it speaks to preservation, reinvention and time, much like the enduring spirit of the House of Tan Yeok Nee.

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