Bar Review: Beats Bites & Cocktails Is The Newest Tippling Den On Bukit Pasoh Road, Singapore
PUBLISHED February 18th, 2021 06:00 am | UPDATED March 3rd, 2021 10:49 am
No prizes for guessing what you’ll find at Beats Bites & Cocktails. Soft-opened since September last year, this 50-seater gastrobar is the newest kid on the buzzy Bukit Pasoh block. Armed with a DJ station, an inventive tipple program, and binchōtan-cooked bites, it’s got all the fixings for a fun – if pricey – night out.
Beats Bites & Cocktails is the first Singapore venture of Caroline Tan and Douglas Williams, who previously helmed cocktail bar Bottle Boot & Cigar in Beijing (you can tell they’ve got a lot of love for BBC acronyms). Together with Music Director Shigeki Ito, they’ve turned the shophouse space into something of a shrine to music, with vinyl decking the walls and an artful sound suppression wall in teals, greens, and greys. The turquoise backbar flows into a DJ station, where DJ Shigeki can spin up soul and R&B grooves – once COVID regulations permit, of course.
The spirits selection here is packed with eclectic, small-batch gems from Copenhagen Sparkling Tea to ocean-fused whisky (not to mention a jaw-dropping collection of 120 bitters on the backbar). These find their way into a cocktail program of classics with a twist, deftly executed by Dee Atan (formerly of IB HQ). The Gold Rush V1.0 (S$25++), for one, elevates the simple bourbon classic with Umiki ‘Ocean Tree’ whisky, made with Pacific Ocean water and finished in Japanese pine barrels. Stirred with fermented local wild honey, it’s a lovely balance of briny and floral.
The name should give you fair warning – the bites here are truly bite-sized, so we don’t recommend coming here hungry. Crafted by Culinary Director Max Levy, the grub menu centres around a Bertha oven fired with binchō-tan wood. While the lineup is currently à la carte, we had the chance to try the Bites Teaser Menu (S$90) – a curated pairing of bites and tipples that the BBC folks are planning to roll out soon. (Editor’s Note: The Bites Tasting Menu has now been reworked as an 11-bite, six-drink lineup priced at S$148++.)
To ease us into things, there’s a welcome flute of Copenhagen Sparkling Tea Vintner (S$95++ per bottle à la carte) to get – a lightly effervescent brew made with chai, earl grey tea, and Riesling. Stone fruit flavours deepen into cinnamon and clove notes, adding up to a winter-cosy brew that’s surprisingly dry.
First up is a trio of bites: mild, fresh Roasted Kuari Gochu Peppers (S$16++ à la carte) drizzled in purple garlic aioli, an umami mouthful of Anchovy Stuffed Baby Capsicum, and a cold slurp of Konjac Noodles and Dashi We veer abruptly into comforting territory with a warm, fluffy Bertha Ash Biscuit (S$15++ à la carte) – a buttermilk biscuit made with leftover oven ash, best slathered in longan-miso foie gras. And to pair, we have a glass of Alessandro Viola Sinfonia di Bianco (S$30++ à la carte) – a barrel-aged orange wine which brings out the savoury best in these wildly divergent – if delicious – bites.
At S$8++ on the à la carte menu, the Japanese Wagyu Beef Cube is exorbitant but exquisite – a perfectly luscious cube blanketed in oven-roasted tomato and pepper sauce. The same might be said of the deliciously springy Tontoro Pork Cheek, amped up with a zingy smear of sesame ponzu and pickled garlic. Rounding out the spicy richness of the meats nicely is the Brooklynite (S$25++ à la carte) – a potent, caramel-forward cocktail featuring rye whiskey, white vermouth, and Maraschino liqueur.
There are a couple of sublime mouthfuls of seafood – the Cloudy Bay Tua Tua Clam Soup (S$12++ à la carte) stars creamy, delicately sweet clams swimming in a lively broth of fino en rama sherry and yuzu ponzu. Another fabulously tender bite, the Hokkaido Jumbo Scallop (S$8++ à la carte) comes bathed in three-year snow-fermented yuzu kosho and ten-year solera-aged Pedro Ximénez sherry vinegar – a heady, nutty mix that deepens the freshness of the scallop in intriguing ways.
Not currently available à la carte, our Claypot Rice with Shitake, Sweet X.O Sausage, Duck Liver Shaoxing Sausage is something of a letdown, arriving cold and crying out for wok hei. Still, the White Negroni V1.0 (S$25++ à la carte) it’s paired with adds plenty of herbaceous, spice-rich flavour with Arvesølvet cask-aged aquavit, Widges gin, and white vermouth.
We finish off with another riff on a local favourite, Ice Kachang. This dessert cocktail is a fruity, icy slush of pineapple rum, green chartreuse, allspice dram, and spiced pineapple syrup, with cranberry tea pearls for a fun chew. You might not leave particularly full or satisfied, but you’ll certainly have had an intriguing ride.
Beats Bites & Cocktails is located at 8 Bukit Pasoh Rd, Singapore 089822, p. +65 6221 3880. Open Tues-Sun 4.30pm–10.30pm. Closed Mon.
