Bangkok is not short on great bars, but perhaps it's time for Thailand’s fellow top destination to usurp a couple of spots on the 50 Best. Sure, Phuket has its share of watering holes on sandy stretches, speakeasies in the old town, and of course, the expat-heavy beer haunts.
It’s not exactly the island you equate with intentional dining and nuanced nightlife. Yet, with the renaissance of foreign influx, it makes sense to see the winds shift. Catching this updraft is a bar embedded in InterContinental Phuket Resort; a hotel that we should mention has two Michelin keys and a LEED Gold accreditation.
Sipping Tiger’s narrative features a botanical-focused menu. You’ll observe that from the herbs like Thai basil and a variety of mints cultivated on racks in a daylit nook. The cranny overlooks the extended garden below that’s developed with proper expertise.
By proper, we mean formalising a Memorandum of Understanding with Kasetsart University and Chulalongkorn University, and partnering with local farms and WWF Thailand to steward a long-term ecosystem. So no, not just plucking dill and sprinkling thyme for garnish.
Thankfully, thematic elements are kept fairly elevated. Unless you count the portrait of a tuxedo’d tiger holding a cigar in the private room—aptly named The Den. The grand ceiling subtly resembling rainforest flora, however, is a nice touch.
The 12-seater is hidden behind two disguised doors; the first branches off to an indoor cigar lounge. Design language is consistent throughout, and the best seat in the house is arguably at the counter. It’s the classic front row to the action and grandstand to the collection of Thai spirits.
Shiro can easily fool teetotalers; the crisp highball of chrysanthemum, yuzu sake and lemon honey and Indian borage gin makes for an easy start. Another refresher is Smoke & Summer, which reads more summer than smoke by layering fermented local pineapple agave, grapefruit soda, and pink lime salt as a Mezcal Paloma variant.
From here, if you favour savoury, Leaf & Brine delivers on minerality with a Dirty Martini take of kaffir lime-infused Bianco vermouth, Lustau Oloroso sherry and oyster gin. If you’re sweet on sweet, aperitivo-style Calamansi Riposato shakes cinnamon and peach sherbet, bianco vermouth, and vodka while letting a calamansi and tangerine ice ball change its profile as it melts.
When Night Falls satisfies smoky palates as an Old Fashioned type of bourbon, amaro, orange and chocolate bitters. Complex ones will enjoy Den It Again, which spotlights the bar’s custom Chalong Bay Rum. The Aged Local Agricole Rum is crafted from local sugarcane, then matured in French oak and ex-bourbon barrels; served with five-spice and fortified wine.
Finally, you descend into experimental territory with Take It or Leave it, mainly for its Thai coriander-infused tequila. (Hot tip: request to swap it out for Undeadman Botanical and you have yourself something subliminally spicy thanks to the peppery aroma of its rare northern Thai herb Ma-khwaen).
Bites are just as unique with Egg & Eggs, because who doesn’t want a chawanmushi topped with caviar? Even the truffle fries surprise you by looking like fried cheese sticks (okay, in pomme dauphine silhouette if you’re fancy), and are killer with the dipping béarnaise. Tender, herb-flecked lamb skewers—sorry, Arrosticini—make a heftier accompaniment if you intend to down more than one tipple, which you should.
It feels rare for both sweet and saline to be translated with such clarity. The menu and its execution clearly tells of great expertise, which is perfectly met with Thai hospitality. So, should Sipping Tiger be that ambitious to chart a new course for the island, we can only raise our glasses to it.
Sipping Tiger is located in InterContinental Phuket Resort by IHG.
