Equis to Host Bartenders From Singapore’s Award-Winning Manhattan Bar, Jun 26

More and more Beijing cocktail joints seem to be getting in on the guest bartender game, luring several high profile mixologists to the capital each month. Not only has this become a more frequent occurrence, but the quality and renown of those guest bartenders has also been on the up and up, as big guns from New York’s Caffe Dante, Tokyo’s Benfiddich, and Beirut’s Central Station Boutique Bar all shaking up their world renowned concoctions for eager Beijing barflies. Now, on Jun 26 from 8pm onward, the best-ranked Asian entry on 2016's World’s 50 Best Bars list, Singapore’s Manhattan lounge, is dispatching two of their bartenders to Beijing for a night of sophisticated sipping at the ritzy Equis lounge in Liangmaqiao’s Four Seasons Hotel.

Situated at Singapore’s elegant Regent Hotel, Manhattan has been turning heads throughout Asia with its fetching decor, on-point service and, of course, the alluring quality of its cocktails. Everyone from Conde Nast Traveler to Drink Magazine have all sung the speakeasy’s praises, with the former declaring Manhattan to be “hotel drinking at its finest” thanks in no small part to the barrel-aged cocktails straight from the bar’s very own rickhouse (or warehouse), giving each cocktail more nuance and depth. Drink, meanwhile, declared Manhattan head bartender Cedric Mendoza the “man of the hour” who professed his love of rum, scuba diving, and fear of sharks to the magazine in a charming Q&A last year.

Mendoza will be accompanied in Beijing by his right-hand man, bartender Frank Hu. He tells the Beijinger that Manhattan “is our grand hotel bar inspired by the 19th century’s Golden Age of cocktails and fine drinking.” As such, Hu says Beijingers who try their wares at Equis should expect the Manhattan bartenders to “pay homage to classic and forgotten cocktails that leap from the pages of history.”

The five-cocktail menu is priced at RMB 120 per glass and features favorites like American Pie (made with Michter’s straight rye, house cherry liqueur, Angostura bitters, among other ingredients) and the Kerman (made with Tequila Blanco, house pistachio orgeat syrup, and lime). Hu says their guest shift menu is comprised of “our signatures and top-selling drinks. As such, they will be most representative of Manhattan and a great showcase of what we do every day here in Singapore – classics with a twist, incorporating our very own housemade ingredients while at it.”

So Beijing cocktail fans thirsting for a taste of what upscale Singapore has to offer shouldn’t miss out on this guest shift.

Manhattan’s bartenders will be at Equis on Jun 26 from 8pm-late. For more information, click here.

Photos: The Place Manilla, courtesy of Equis