Bitters and Love wants to be a bar for would-be sweethearts

WHEN the sun sets, busy brunch spot Free The Robot takes on its alter ego as a cosy drinking den. Its door, while inconspicuous, is hard to miss: a line of office-wear-clad drinkers marks the location of Bitters and Love.

The Telok Ayer Street stalwart is best known for its signature Kaya Toast cocktail, which has stayed on the menu since its creation in 2012.

But that’s not to say that the menu has stayed static. The newest of its eight cocktail menu themes, launched in January, aims to evoke distant lands, in the post-Covid era of travel recovery.

“Every time we refresh the menu, we will put in ideas inspired by where we’ve been and what has influenced us,” says Beverly Yeoh, one of the three co-founders of Bitters and Love.

Co-founder Fiona Fernandez adds that the new cocktails aim to spark memories for drinkers too – after all, people love to swap travel stories over drinks.

“It is bringing a little piece of the place back to Singapore, but also ensuring the drink is relatable to the customers,” she says.

The seven region-specific drinks include a reinterpreted Singapore Sling and We’re Going to Ibiza!, a gin-based tipple with a Mediterranean vibe.

One provocative fun drink is I Like Big Bahts – making a statement not just with its unique glassware, but its bold tom yum-inspired savours. Its gin base is infused with makrut lime leaf and lemongrass, shaken with chilli padi-infused aperol. Ginger, citrus and pepper bitters add further spice layers.

Bitters play a crucial part in the menu, as the bar’s name suggests. While “an acquired taste”, bitters are often underrated in bringing out different flavours of a cocktail, said Yeoh. “It is like salt and pepper for cocktails.”

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Bitters get their own section, too, with five negroni variations. The most classic of them is the Bitters and Love Negroni 55, with a 55 per cent ABV (alcohol by volume) gin as its base.

Beyond that, the bar’s fascination with these herb-infused alcohols extends to making its own bitters and tinctures.

One bitter, available on request, offers a local twist beyond typical flavours such as pandan: bak kut teh. This may be added to any suitable off-menu drinks, with a rotating weekly selection.

“The off-menu is more like a play on our local ingredients,” says Fernandez. The off-menu selection may also feature new drinks being trialled, or crowd favourites making a reappearance.

The off-menu chalkboard is also home to playful names, from Only Fans – a bitters-featuring variation of the Porn Star Martini – and the enigmatic Soup of the Day, which turns out to just be the shot of the day.

“We want customers to get confused and ask us,” says Fernandez, adding that conversations across both sides of the bar allow for personal connections to be built.

Chatting and laughing over the funny drink names could also be a great icebreaker for couples on awkward first dates, she quips.

Unsurprisingly, given the name, Bitters and Love positions itself as a date-night spot – and on the ‘spice’ section of the menu is a particularly apt order, Hot Date. This bourbon-based cocktail includes a housemade tincture of the world’s hottest peppers: Carolina reaper, Trinidad scorpion and ghost pepper. The menu even includes a warning message to chill down those eager to show off their spice tolerance.

There is also a section with four signature cocktails – including the Kaya Toast – that the bar wants its regulars to “brag about” when they bring their dates over. “It is like a history page for all of us, and people who have been with us on the journey as well,” says Fernandez.

One of these, Yuzuhoni, is made from gin, yuzu, citrus and lemon bitters, shaken with mint leaves with a dollop of yuzu sorbet. Billed as the crowd pleaser on the menu, it could even be a pick-up line if pronounced with some imagination.

I Like Big Bahts

45 kaffir and lemongrass infused gin 20 lime juice 15 ginger syrup 10 chill padi infused aperol 3 dashes bak kut teh bitters