The Other Room
Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel
320 Orchard Road, #01-05
Singapore 238865
📷: @theotherroomsg
Monday to Thursday, 6pm to 2am
Friday and Saturday, 6pm to 3am
Our rating: 7.5/10 🛈
The idea of a speakeasy in Singapore has always been funny to us. Realistically, which F&B establishment here would willingly hide itself? The fear of falling behind on rent should be enough reason to put a flashy neon sign above the door.
Of course, there are those that have less to worry about, and maybe The Other Room at Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel counts itself among them.
After all, there’s at least a little heft behind the decade-old name, having placed among Asia’s 50 Best Bars a few years ago. Its founder, Dario Knox, is a known figure in the scene, though he’s no longer attached to the business; he’s also behind The Backdrop in voco Orchard down the road.
Accessible only through a nondescript door in the hotel’s lobby, one might mistake The Other Room’s entrance for the way towards some private staff quarters. There’s even a little electrical tape and a few loose wires framing the door, something we’d assume the hotel would be itching to hide from public view.
We’re told to buzz the doorbell, and we do. The door opens, a head pops out and asks if we have a reservation. We respond accordingly. The head disappears without a word, the door shuts unceremoniously in our faces, and we’re left twiddling our thumbs outside for about 15 seconds.
Then the door reopens; we’re shuffled to a table on which our names have been scrawled in chalk. We’re packed shoulder to shoulder with the next group, but that’s unsurprising, given the tiny space.
So we put in our order and hope for the best. As we mull over the menu we’re handed a few miniature vials of so-so espresso martinis and the requisite bowl of crackers. It’s always fun to get a few freebies before you start the night, even if they’re nothing to write home about.
The Other Room’s menu is fairly detailed, with recipes laid out on each page. What you see on the page is pretty much what you get, down to the illustrations.
Rosaleda (S$28), for instance, comes with a pretty lemon rose on top. Unfortunately, it’s all just frozen peel, so you get not a whiff of anything from the inedible lump.
The drink itself, otherwise, is a decent mezcal negroni with notes of cherry and spice.
Another spin on a classic comes in Habanera (S$28), a smoky, savoury paloma that swaps out tequila for mezcal.
It’s light, easy and refreshing like the original, but the play of sweet and salty – it comes with a little tajin on the rim – makes it feel a little more grown-up and complex.
Bloody Sunday (S$28) is, again, not far off from what you’d expect. (Sensing a pattern?)
A zhuzhed-up bloody Mary, topped with two chunky green olives and a stick of celery, is just a tiny upgrade from the usual brunch tipple.
What sets this apart a little more is the oyster served on the side; think a bloody Mary oyster shooter in long form. With all of this comes a dropper; using the drink as a cocktail sauce over the bivalve is unsurprisingly delicious.
For the aunties among us, The G&T (S$28) is a not-so-sweet, lightly spiced gin and tonic.
Cardamom bitters, Thai bitters and sage smoke give the drink a little extra something special while still keeping things light and balanced.
We’re not sure what the teabag of herbs really adds to the drink (other than the slightly unappealing visual, almost like a used tissue), but it doesn’t imbue anything nasty, at least.
The most interesting drink we have at The Other Room is Peranakan Daiquiri (S$28).
It’s essentially satay sauce in a cocktail: Clarified peanut butter rum (itself an amazing creation) is paired with white wine vinegar for something that’s equal parts sweet, salty, creamy, tart and savoury. The chicken satay on the side feels appropriate, but is sadly quite bland.
As with many hotel bars, we can’t help but feel a self-importance in The Other Room. From the fussy entrance ritual to the list of house rules (which reads uncomfortably like a secondary school teacher trying to be cool), the experience is a little too contrived to take seriously.
What we will say is that the people behind the bar and on the floor don’t seem to actually care too much for keeping up the fussiness. Once you’re settled in your seat they get straight to drinks, with the occasional “how you doin’?” and little else. Great, for folks who dsn’t want their evening drinks to feel like a stuffy event.
Much more importantly, the drinks are good. The menu doesn’t take too many liberties with the classics; in fact it’s where the flashiness creeps in that the drinks start to falter.
For the most part, though, The Other Room’s offerings are not the kind of stuff that will rock your world and change how you see cocktails. Still, it’s all perfectly well-constructed. That’s all we need and ask for, really.
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