Keeping good company at The Kongsee

TAKING its name from both the Hokkien word for “company” and the Malay word for “sharing”, The Kongsee at Gemmill Lane is all about community and belonging – not least with its menu of sharing-friendly small plates by Mod-Sin veteran Willin Low.

The breezy, open facade of the ground-floor shophouse is a further invitation into a buzzy space that pairs concrete walls and neon tubes with wooden flooring and Peranakan tile-topped tables. Mismatched cutlery, flocks of red paper planes and an upbeat playlist add to the playful vibe.

“The journey of The Kongsee started with the idea of sharing, and the coming together to celebrate and form meaningful connections – the kampung spirit,” said beverage director Leon Tan. “The Covid-19 pandemic has reinforced our need to feel and belong, and to continuously renew and rebuild.”

Given the drinking-hour curbs that curtailed post-dinner bar-hopping and were only lifted this March, did the pandemic also prompt an industry shift towards restaurants with serious cocktail programmes or bars with serious food menus?

The Kongsee does not necessarily see itself as either, Tan replied. Instead, it is about the “passion and desire of sharing Singapore’s finest through our culinary small plates and innovative beverages”. Not content with being a mere restaurant-bar, The Kongsee bills itself as “part Mod-Sin Izakaya, part underground lounge”.

Chef-partner Low brings Mod-Sin star power to the menu with dishes such as his Mini Roxy Crab Laksa, previously available only at his noodle bar Roketto Niseko in Japan; Krapow Prata Pizza, with Thai basil minced chicken on Indian roti, baked with cheese; and a churro waffle with kaya ice-cream.

Accompanying these modern fusions is a cocktail programme heavy on local flavours. The namesake signature, The Kongsee, is a refreshing sweet-and-sour concoction with Tanglin Gin as a base and a splash of local craft lager. It is finished with passionfruit sorbet that “gently melts into the drink, creating a slight tropical note, while keeping the cocktail chilled”, as Tan puts it.

Tan recommends pairing this with a signature from the food menu: barramundi ceviche, served with papadums and a scoop of savoury pomelo ice-cream.

Some cocktails are twists on classics. The Ol’ Fashioned TCM is a traditional Chinese medicine take on the whiskey-based staple, with homemade red date palm sugar and bitters from mandarin peels and roots. Another reinterpretation is the Kampong Sour: a whisky sour that uses pandan whisky shaken with local calamansi.

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Others draw inspiration from food, such as the Sour Plum Fizz – based on the popular snack of guavas and sour plum powder – and the rum-based Golden Mile, inspired by the flavours of Thai mango salad: fresh mangoes, limes and hints of chilli.

Besides cocktails, wines and spirits, The Kongsee offers a range of local craft beers on tap, from Able Brewing Co’s Pink Mist – a grapefruit Indian Pale Ale with notes of caramel and biscuit – to Niang Brewery Co’s session sour ale Old Flame.

Tan recommends pairing a refreshing beer with another signature dish, Kongsee Fried Chicken: a take on prawn paste chicken or har cheong gai that features a French poulet drumstick coated with the house rendition of fermented shrimp paste.

The Kongsee

• 40ml Tanglin Gin
• 30ml house mixed berries honey
• 15ml lime
• 15ml lager
• 1 scoop passionfruit sorbet