Much of ancient city of Baia may be underwater these days, but there was a time when the sun-kissed spot on the north-west shore of the Gulf of Naples, Italy, was a fashionable resort and the toast of Rome’s well-heeled holidaymakers. Leave it to the Singapore-based restaurateur Beppe De Vito, no stranger himself to creating sybaritic culinary outposts across the island, to pay homage to Baia by reviving those halcyon days with such stylish pomp at his latest, eponymous bar and lounge.
Inside new Singapore bar Baia: soigné aesthetics and alcoholic genius
As locations go, the 5,000 sq ft Baia in Singapore is literally sitting pretty, De Vito and longtime collaborator, the interior designer David Edwards of Aston Design, making the most of the perch atop the sweeping crescent balcony above the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay.
For starters, the best seats in the house are strung along the deeply set loggia, lined with timber floor planks and broad arches, for bracing views of Marina Bay, glittery skyscrapers, and the triptych towers of the Marina Bay Sands resorts.
Inside sprawls a double-tiered lounge sprinkled with low-slung sofas that are ideal for louche slouching. The ceiling is festooned with a shimmering pool of pendant glass lamps, whilst the far walls are framed by smaller arched recesses lined with sepia-toned pastoral etchings of old Roman ruins and sea nymphs hiding among flowing seaweed and botanicals.
It’s the bacchanalian cocktails that draw in the crowds
But as soigné as Baia’s aesthetics are, it’s the bacchanalian cocktails that draw in the crowds. Conceived by local beverage consultants, Proof & Co – the alcoholic geniuses behind nightcap stalwart, 28 HongKongStreet – the drinks menu is ambitious in its fantastical concoctions that give more than a passing nod to ancient Rome.
Each drink is jocularly named – Sorrento Coast, Strombolian, Odyssey and Sunken City, for instance – and each is an exercise in excess, whether tonic mixed with seven-year-old Matusalem rum and Prosecco coffee, barrel-aged gin, bitters and vermouth aged in clay pots, or even an affogato of Ferrand 1840 Cognac smothered with a thick foam of vanilla and chocolate.
All this is sensibly paired with a gourmand’s spread of nibbles, such as Oscietra, platters of truffled chorizo and pistachio mortadella, pizzas laden with trout and ikura, barbecued Iberico pork jowl straccetti, and grilled Bavette steak.
Baia is located at 8 Raffles Avenue, Level 4, Esplanade Mall, Singapore, www.baia.sg
