Hup San Social Club is a love letter to Singapore’s early Chinese immigrants

[SINGAPORE] A century ago, Club Street was a hotbed of Chinese social clubs, where immigrants caroused. Today, a new speakeasy wants to recreate that convivial spirit.

Located at the crossroads of Club Street and Ann Siang Hill, Hup San Social Club is a cosy and clandestine hideout tucked away in the basement of a shophouse.

Occupying the ground floor is sister restaurant Club Street Laundry – cafe by day and modern Australian eatery-cum-wine bar by night.

The names of both concepts pay tribute to the building’s previous occupant in the early 1990s: a laundromat called Hup San Laundry.

Co-owner and beverage director June Baek hopes for Hup San Social Club to be a “friendly neighbourhood bar” that brings people together – just as Club Street’s social clubs did in the old days.

“We want to make this a new gathering spot for second-generation immigrants such as ourselves,” says Baek, who hails from South Korea. Her three co-owners – an Australian, British and a Eurasian-Singaporean – similarly have roots elsewhere.

To reach Hup San Social Club, one must first enter Club Street Laundry, and go through a nondescript grey door behind a dining counter top.

Patrons head down a narrow flight of stairs and push past a beaded curtain to enter a dimly-lit, cellar-like space, decked out in wooden furnishings amid soft hues of red and green.

Black baroque-style tiles line the ceiling and a large antique mirror hangs on one wall. The other walls are plastered with framed vintage prints.

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Lamps draped with silk and lace, as well as the recurring motif of a red begonia, add a feminine touch to the interior – which some customers have otherwise dubbed a “man cave”, quips Baek.

The space is kept small and intimate to facilitate conversations between patrons and bartenders, she says. It sits 12 comfortably – at the bar, a small table and at wooden ledges along the wall – with a nook near the entrance recently gaining green velvet seats and a table for bigger groups of four to five.

A confluence of Asian flavours

At Hup San Social Club, each drink seeks to evoke an experience or feeling.

These range from the literal and playful – “a refreshing midday escape” or “a much-needed smoke break” – to the abstract, such as “the beauty of ageing” for a vinegary tequila-based concoction, or “and your life will always be” for a whiskey-cognac brew with a hint of rose.

The menu’s 14 cocktails are a collection of Baek’s “all-time favourites” across nine years of bartending in South Korea, Vietnam, the US and Singapore.

Asian spirits, such as baijiu and soju, feature as the base in a few drinks. While some cocktails reflect Baek’s South Korean roots, the menu also features South-east Asian and Japanese flavours.

One of the bar’s bestsellers is Achar, a sweet-sour concoction with a kick of spice that was designed to “tickle all the taste buds.”

Named for the spicy pickled vegetables common in Peranakan cuisine, the gin-based cocktail features an achar cordial made from vinegar, cumin seeds, coriander seeds and fenugreek.

“Every Korean bartender has their own cocktail recipe with a kimchi flavour profile. To me, achar resembled a Singapore-type of kimchi,” she says.

The menu includes a warm cocktail, Pumpkin Ma Heart, described as “a warm embrace”. It is texturally similar to a traditional Irish coffee, says Baek – but without caffeine or whiskey.

The star ingredient is a housemade pumpkin yam mix – which gives the drink a thick, porridge-like texture – that is pre-prepared and kept in a sous vide machine at 68 deg C.

When the order arrives, the mix is added to a base of Sailor Jerry Spiced rum and topped with cold cinnamon-infused coconut cream for contrast.

In addition to the core menu, Hup San serves 18 classic cocktails and a range of spirits, including baijiu and soju, with Baek planning to bring in Japanese shochu too.

While patrons can order mains from Club Street Laundry to be sent down – and those upstairs can similarly order cocktails – the bar is also getting its own menu of small bites this quarter.

Achar

• 45ml of Hendrick’s gin
• 15ml of achar cordial
• 30ml of pineapple juice
• 15ml of lime juice
• 3 dashes of Tabasco
• Garnished with a slice of cucumber