White Shades is your one-stop shop for cocktails, food, and gelato. It’s a four-storey shophouse which even storey offers a different and unique experience. On the first floor, there’s a gelato bar and on the second floor, it is a cozy bar area where you can dine and enjoy some modern Asian cuisine along with some cocktails. You can even hold intimate events on the third floor. There’s also a rooftop cocktail bar offering draft beers on the fourth floor.
The beginnings
This bar was started by JiaWei Bai, a co-founder of Stay Gold Flamingo, which is one of Asia’s 50 best bars in 2023. So I guess you can say that they are serious with their drinks? We tried it and the cocktails here are creative, pleasant, and easy to drink.
4 unique spaces to tickle your senses
It’s like a playground but for adults. After work, head to the cocktail bar for some tipples and nibbles then merry along with your friends or colleagues at the rooftop bar. Before you take your leave, end your boozy night on a sweet note with their alcoholic gelato. I personally haven’t tried their gelato but I believe it would be a nice after-meal treat to have.
What’s for dinner?
We had dinner at their cocktail bar on the second floor. It’s a really small but cozy space with a few tables and seats by the bar counter. After settling down, I was taken aback when their staff handled their menu in bubble wrap. Is this a joke? It turns out that they wanted customers to feel like they were ‘unboxing’ or ‘unraveling’ a delivery package as they removed the menu from the bubble wrap. Interesting.
Their menu is kept simple and concise. It makes it so much easier for us to decide what we like to have for dinner. We had oysters to start with along with their warm salad, spiced bebek ragu, and clams. For desserts, we had this MARS bar-like chocolate with a touch of white truffle sauce.
The oysters (SGD 36) are fresh, plump and juicy. We had 3 oysters on our platter. The dressings served went well with the oysters and our oyster cravings were satisfied.
Next came our mains which comprises of a tagliatelle as well as clams. We ordered the spiced bebek ragu (SGD 24) which is a spiced duck pasta with winged bean. The pasta was cooked to al dente so it is generally quite a good pasta. But I am not too sure about the combination of spiced duck with pasta. I felt that the flavours did not quite gel well together so it is going to be a dish where you either love it or you dislike it. For me, the firm texture of the tagliatelle was the saving grace.
The clams (SGD 24), on the other hand, was heavenly. Cooked with miso butter and maitake mushrooms, the unaminess of this dish just hits through the roof. They nailed it with the savoury clam sauce which is a perfect dip for the toasted bread. You could tell that my seafood cravings was satisfied with just this one dish.
We also had a couple of interesting cocktails (e.g to go along the dishes. The bartender herself was rather creative and since I wasn’t in the mood for alcoholic drinks, I requested for mocktails. I let her know what sort of drinks I prefer and she managed to whip up a pleasant mocktails that pairs well with the dishes here.
Overall, the vibe and atmosphere here at Whites Shades were pretty good. I just wish that the bar was a little and spacious. Service was overall quite alright as well. It makes a nice after-work spot to chill out with your colleagues over some quality drinks and bar bites.
White Shades
Address: 25 Boon Tat St, Singapore 069622
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