Maison Ikkoku reopens as intimate 12-seater bar at Tanjong Pagar, serves cocktails based on your ‘weakest element’
“I’m very good at making things with alcohol,” Ethan Leslie Leong declares with a grin.
Now, if this came from anyone else, we’d give them a side-eye and suspect them of having had too much of that alcohol.
But coming from Mr Leong, the founder of Maison Ikkoku and a bartender with more than three decades of mixology experience, it lands less like a boast and more like an actual job description.
After all, Maison Ikkoku, which first opened in 2011 as a three-storey shophouse on Kandahar Street, built an enthusiastic following — including Crazy Rich Asians star Henry Golding, who held his wedding solemnisation there in 2016 — for its bespoke cocktails and modern Japanese cuisine.
After its original Kandahar Street chapter closed in Dec 2022 and a later “2.0” iteration came and went, Maison Ikkoku is now back in its smallest and possibly quirkiest form yet.
This time, it’s a 12-seater Tanjong Pagar bar where your drink can be crafted according to your birth details and, according to some customers, possibly give your luck at work and in love a little cosmic zhng-ing.
Seriously.
A 12-seater bar where the Chinese five elements decide your cocktail
The new Maison Ikkoku sits in a fairly nondescript ground-floor unit along Tras Link, at the Orchid Hotel.
But step past the glass doors and the space quickly becomes much more theatrical than its modest shopfront suggests.
Image courtesy of Maison Ikkoku
Inside, heavy red velvet curtains can be drawn for maximum cosiness and privacy, giving the 12-seater bar an intimate, almost members-only feel.
The star here is Mr Leong’s Five Elements Philosophy Cocktail.
Inspired by the Chinese philosophy of the five elements, the drink is personalised according to your “weakest element”, identified using your birth date, birth time, and birth location — the same details commonly used in Bazi, a Chinese destiny-reading system that links birth details to the elements believed to shape one’s personality and life path.
MS News recently had the opportunity to try this out at a media tasting.
The process begins with Mr Leong asking guests to key the above details into an AI chatbot of their choice.
While he acknowledges that different programmes may throw up different answers, he recommends DeepSeek, which he feels is better suited to Bazi-related prompts due to its Chinese-language and cultural context.
From there, guests ask the chatbot to identify their weakest element based on the Chinese five-element philosophy.
Once you have your answer — wood, fire, earth, metal, or water — you share it with Mr Leong, then watch as he expertly turns your elemental deficiency into something drinkable.
Singaporeans should have an easier time finding their exact birth time since the details are usually listed on their birth certificate.
But for anyone else without that info, best not to anyhow whack the figures, as Mr Leong cautions that this may affect the reading. You can always try Maison Ikkoku’s other cocktails instead.
Previous customers claim to have experienced good fortune after their cocktails
Some guests have apparently walked away with more than just a good time and a pleasant buzz.
According to Mr Leong, previous customers who tried the Five Elements Philosophy Cocktail later told him they experienced a little uptick in fortune after their drinks, from things supposedly going better at work to improvements in their love lives.
Of course, we’re not saying one S$23 cocktail will grant all your wishes like a magic lamp. But there is something undeniably fun about discovering your “weakest element” and watching a veteran bartender turn that cosmic shortfall into something shaken, stirred, and made just for you.
Even without the promise of better luck, the cocktails are fun to watch being conjured. Each one is presented in a way that mirrors its element.
Our Wood cocktail, for instance, came served in a cute little wooden cube containing a mix of vodka, sake, green herbs, citrus, and cedar.
The Fire cocktail, unsurprisingly, involves Mr Leong deftly putting on a mini pyrotechnics show with a blowtorch over a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon, passionfruit, and spice.
Water, meanwhile, goes full drama queen with mist swirling beneath a glass dome, before revealing a rum, black tea, and blue-orange liqueur concoction underneath.
So yes, whether or not the universe actually takes notes after your cocktail, the experience itself is already entertaining enough.
Maison Ikkoku also serves classic cocktails and bar bites
Of course, if you’d rather not involve your birth chart in your drinking plans, Maison Ikkoku also has plenty of other tipples and nibbles worth trying.
The menu includes classic favourites such as the Espresso Martini, as well as more indulgent creations like the S$88 High Roller Margarita for nights when your wallet is feeling brave.
There are also light bites for those who know it’s wise not to drink on an empty stomach.
Options include Charcoal Bruschetta, Aburi Foie Gras, and a rich, decadent tiramisu made with real mascarpone cheese from Spain, which, honestly, might be one of the best versions we’ve tasted.
Impressively, the new Maison Ikkoku is essentially Mr Leong’s one-man show.
He tells MS News that he makes the cocktails and prepares the bites himself, while also telling stories, working the crowd, and somehow still finding time to flash finger hearts at cameras like he was born to be a K-pop idol.
If you’re keen to see him in action and let your birth chart decide your drink order, here’s how to get there:
Maison Ikkoku
Address: 1 Tras Link, Orchid Hotel #01-08, Singapore 078867
Opening hours: Monday to Saturday, 7pm to 2am (closed on Sundays)
Nearest MRT station: Tanjong Pagar
Walk-ins may try their luck, but reservations are encouraged and can be made via Mr Leong’s website.
Also read: Nine Fresh has new drinkable Taiwanese desserts under S$5, get 3 items for S$11.80 till 30 June
Nine Fresh has new drinkable Taiwanese desserts under S$5, get 3 items for S$11.80 till 30 June
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Featured image by MS News.
