Whether it be your first stop upon checking in, a cocktail before dinner, or a night cap, a trip to the hotel bar is imperative on any holiday. The hotel bars of Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts across the globe are a place where mixologists aren’t afraid to get creative, showcasing local flavours and putting a spin on age-old favourites.
Shangri-La Yanuca Island, Fiji
There is no better place to enjoy a tropical cocktail than on an island holiday. Shangri-La Yanuca Island’s Black Marlin Tropical Bar has created a unique spin on the traditional Fijian ceremony of Kava. The ‘Kava Margarita’ is made with house tequila, curacao blanco, fresh lime juice, and the resort’s in-house kava cordial. Kava, a beverage made from the ground roots of the piper methysticum plant, is enjoyed throughout Fiji for formal and social occasions. The Black Marlin Tropical Bar is also home to over 100 different varieties of rum, including two of its very own rums created exclusively for the resort. Guests can enjoy these small batch rums in cocktails such as the House Colada, made with Yanuca Island spiced rum, cognac, peach brandy, pineapple and coconut.
Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore
Guests of Shangri-La Singapore’s Origin Bar are invited on a journey through time with 18 curated cocktails, each focusing on a specific invention or dream of a certain era. To create the cocktail menu, Bar Manager Adam Bursik took inspiration from local produce, enjoying the abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables in Singapore’s tropical climate. Travellers can begin at the dawn of time with the complex and intense ‘Dark Matter’ made with altos reposado tequila, amaro lucano, sherry, cherry, chocolate, and smoke. Or they may consider travelling to the 1900’s when cornflakes where invented with the sweet and soothing ‘Fancy like a Sunday Morning’ made with Darjeeling tea, milk wash, amaretto disaronno and sailor jerry rum, and served with a side of cornflakes.
To complement Shangri-La’s “Find your Shangri-La” campaign, Origin Bar is now serving the newly created Daydreamer cocktail. A magical mix of purple hues, the cocktail features gin infused with butterfly pea flowers and a measured mix of fragrant fresh limes plucked from the lush gardens of Shangri-La Singapore.
Shangri-La Rasa Ria, Kota Kinabalu
Those looking to experience true Malaysian flavours need look no further than Shangri-La Rasa Ria’s Lobby Lounge. Set to a backdrop of the South China Sea, guests can sample the tastes of the region with specialty cocktails made with Malaysian flair. Enjoy a local take on a timeless favourite, the ‘Rasa Ria Sling’, made with beefeater gin, triple sec, cherry brandy, Angostura bitter, pineapple, orange and lime juice, grenadine, and soda water. Those after something a little more adventurous can order a ‘Laksa Sour’, a bold cocktail made with Campari, Cointreau, pineapple and lime juice, maple syrup and curry leaves.
JEN Singapore Orchard Gateway by Shangri-La
Enjoy the best views of the sun setting over Singapore’s city centre at Baywatch@Jen, the hotel’s rooftop bar complete with an award-winning infinity pool. Mimicking a sunset with its peachy hues, the bar’s signature cocktail, the ‘Jen 1509’, is the perfect way to beat the heat. Created in 2014 for the opening of the hotel, the vodka-based cocktail features tropical flavours of banana and orange topped off with a splash of soda water.
Shangri-La Rasa Sayang, Penang
A trip to a local organic farm by resident mixologists, Emirul Kassim and Mogan Kumar, has inspired the creation of two new “rooted in nature” cocktails. In a quest for sustainable locally sourced ingredients, Emirul and Mogan discovered that the organic calamansi, beetroots and mulberries they picked were bright and full of flavour, and the perfect foils for gin and vodka. The earthy vodka-based ‘Terra’, named after the Latin word for Earth, is made with calamansi juice, beetroot, sugar syrup and ginger beer while the fruity gin-based ‘Pomona’, named after the Roman goddess of fruit trees, features calamansi juice, mulberries, Monin peach syrup, orange bitters and soda. The two highball concoctions are now available at Feringgi Grill.
Shangri-La Bangkok
Guests of Shangri-La Bangkok’s Lobby Lounge will enjoy magnificent views of the Chao Phraya River as they indulge with signature cocktails made with Thailand’s first locally produced spirit. Found in both the ‘Tom Yam Spicy’ and ‘Passion of Siam’, Mekhong Thai Spirit, created in 1941, is traditionally distilled from molasses and glutinous rice, then artfully blended with a secret recipe of natural Thai herbs and spices. Based on Thailand’s widely loved soup, the ‘Tom Yam Spicy’ is made with lime, syrup, and Tom Yum ingredients while the refreshing ‘Passion of Siam’, features passionfruit, fresh lime, peppermint leaves and brown sugar.
