IS it a restaurant, or is it a speakeasy? What used to be two separate entities are now, it seems, united as one. The coupling of restaurant and covert lounge concepts isn't new, but the pace at which it's growing is, especially in recent months. Prohibition era-themed restaurant The Black Swan and its mezzanine lounge The Powder Room, and Japanese izakaya Izy and their curtained-off backroom bar Cache set things in motion late last year. The trend continues unabated this year with brand new dual-concept dining spots such as Nuvo, Shinkansen and The Secret Mermaid, The Pecking Order and The Men's Room, and Cedar Grill and The Red Room.

Pointing to restaurants in the United Kingdom such as Sushisamba, Nobu and Aqua Nueva, which all comprise restaurants and lounges with distinct personalities within the same space, Vijay Pillai says its a "globally trending concept" that would inevitably find its way to Singapore.

Mr Pillai is the CEO of the F&B arm of Caerus Holdings, which owns Japanese-Italian restaurant Nuvo in Marina Square. A dark curtain at the back of the restaurant obscures its newly renovated cocktail lounge from the view of its family-friendly dining space.