At home, day or night, in Stay Gold Flamingo

CAFE by day, rock-and-roll bar by night, Stay Gold Flamingo’s halves are united by a common philosophy: to provide a sense of home. Granted, the particular sort of home depends on when you visit.

In the day, natural light complements the calming pastels and soothing curves of coffee bar Flamingo. Besides lunchtime salads, cakes, and various brews, Flamingo has a day-drinking menu for white-collar types who, in co-owner Bai JiaWei’s words, have a bad afternoon case of “Oh, I really need a drink right now.”

The low-ABV (alcohol by volume) drinks ensure that a return to work, however reluctant, remains possible. These include the “fruity and comforting” Lychee Boy, with rosemary Lillet Blanc, Kwai Feh Lychee liqueur, and oolong tea; and the breezy Aperol Kombu Spritz, which adds strawberry kombucha to the classic.

In the evening, however, one steps behind a double-sided curtain into Stay Gold: dark walls, a ceiling shimmering like beaten metal, and a playlist of solid rock-and-roll. Conceptualised as a “stage”, the long bar splits in the middle, allowing bartenders to stride out from their domain into the wider space.

The idea of a dual day-night concept preceded the pandemic, says co-owner Jerrold Khoo: “The idea resonated a lot with us because humans naturally have two sides... So the space has two different personas as well.”

Duality is also at play in Stay Gold’s menu, split into a pyramid of 10 classics and an inverted pyramid of 10 “classics gone wild”, with each drink having a counterpart on the other side.

At the apex of the former, for instance, is A Perfect Sazerac: the cognac and whiskey classic with aromatic bitters and a spray of absinthe. Its other half is Intro to Absinthe, where the namesake ingredient becomes the focus instead, supported by Earl Grey vodka and sparkling coconut water.

Other pairings include the classic Paloma with the Rosa Paloma, which features wine cask-aged tequila; and the shaken Daiquiri, juxtaposed against the stirred Daitini. An upcoming menu planned for October, just after the bar’s first anniversary, will retain the idea of duality but at a “zoomed in” level, says Khoo.

As complicated as all this may seem, Stay Gold isn’t aiming for pretension; it just wants to be “a casual bar with great cocktails”, says Khoo. This same ideal lies behind the choice of rock-and-roll, he adds: raw, genuine, and free.

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And despite its Instagram-friendly vibe, Stay Gold Flamingo wants to be seen by drinkers as “first a destination, then their neighbourhood” – “a third place” after work and home, says Bai. Or as Khoo sums it up: “We want to be an everyday bar for everyday people.”

A Perfect Sazerac

30ml Michter’s Rye

30ml Remy Martin VSOP Cognac

2 dash Peychaud's Bitters

2 dash Angostura Bitters

5ml white sugar Syrup

Intro to Absinthe

15ml La Fee Bohemian Absinthe

30ml Earl Grey Vodka

1 dash saline water

Topped up with carbonated coconut water