Not a lot of people realize our kitchen is open till closing every day. The other thing that is a must-try is our hotdog. When it comes to our menu, my favourite drink is the Penicillin, which is Sam Ross’s drink from Attaboy. The Penicillin Tell us two must-try drinks or cocktails at Skinny’s Lounge. Ultimately, Skinny’s turned into this hybrid that I call an American KTV. At its core, most of these KTVs fill the after-hours, affordably priced segment where local bartenders go to after work. When thinking about the menu and the concept of the space, the idea was to keep the karaoke. They took on the challenge and delivered exactly what I needed. I was also lucky to have EDG help plan the design of Skinny’s – I even told them I couldn’t pay them very much – and that they would need to design a space that didn’t look designed, all for a budget that would normally only cover buying furniture. It has character, it isn’t perfect or pristine, and it has history. I think that the choice has paid off, because when you walk into Skinny’s, it doesn’t feel two months old. Of course, the takeover fees for these places are crazy, so I made a choice to ditch the idea of renovating a space from square one. When I saw the space at Boat Quay, I knew right away that this was the one. I looked at so many KTVs, as some of the spaces were small and narrow and others were three stories and even had rooms with bunk beds. The more I thought about it, the idea seemed really different to everything else that had opened.
I think a lot of bar owners had thought about taking over a KTV business but no one had tried, yet.
#EYE CANDY LOUNGE FULL#
The first space I tried to get had a full kitchen and had held a late night license previously, but the SPF didn’t grant me a liquor license after midnight (even though it was the same space!), so I had to get back to the drawing board. The market, available real estate and the police department all helped shape what it is is now. Skinny’s Lounge – KTV Room Of all the concepts that you could have realised, why did you go with an American KTV bar?Īctually, the concept of Skinny’s was entirely different at first. Joel and Christian Hartmann from Vasco, were kind enough to keep me on at Vasco as Assistant Manager, so I could still stay in touch with the scene here, while being able to pay rent. I felt it was about time Singapore had something similar, so I started working on the business plan after a few months of travelling around the region and the world. I loved how I could get solid cocktails, or even just a beer, and still feel totally welcome. These bars aren’t posh cocktail joints: Sweetwater shows college sports, and Mother’s and Holiday are both pretty rough around the edges.īut when you do go to Mother’s on a Sunday night, the place was completely packed with local neighbourhood folks, while Holiday is packed at 2:30am with industry, the whole bar singing along to whatever 80s hit they were playing. These include places like Mother’s Ruin, Holiday Cocktail Lounge and Sweetwater Social. As I got more exposed to the industry in Singapore and internationally, I started to miss the type of bars I loved frequenting back in the States. How did the decision to open Skinny’s Lounge come about?įrom the first moment I started work at The Cufflink Club, Joel always knew that my goal was to open my own bar. Nick and the Skinny’s Lounge team You were previously head bartender at Vasco and The Cufflink Club. Thankfully, my work pass was approved the next day, so I resigned and haven’t looked back since.
#EYE CANDY LOUNGE HOW TO#
During this time, I discovered The Cufflink Club on Facebook and thought that it was a good opportunity to not only make good drinks, but also to learn from this young Brit, Joel Fraser, on how to run a successful bar. I missed working in the F&B world and that dream of bartending never went away.Īs a result of having studied Japanese in the past, I was able to get a job that moved me to Singapore with a big American firm. I was like, “Man, these guys are rock stars! And they get paid to be!” I couldn’t wait to be old enough to legally work behind a bar, but by that time, I was in college and volunteering full-time. Not only were they making drinks, they were lighting cigarettes for the ladies seated at the bar (when you could smoke in Philly), clearing shit off the bar, and still managing to have great chemistry together. I was blown away at how smoothly they worked. One night, I was allowed to bar back and I remember watching these two guys and the way they were moving behind the bar and interacting with guests. When I was 15, my first-ever job was as a part-time food runner in a restaurant back home in Philadelphia. Why, and how, did you make the switch to bartending? Interior of Skinny’s Lounge Prior to bartending, you had a career in the banking and finance sector.
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