Laut serves up southeast-Asian-inspired cocktails and a S$88 nett tasting menu

It’s been nearly a year since cocktail bar Laut quietly reopened at Fortune Centre, tucked behind a nondescript door on the third floor of the old complex.

The bar, whose name means “sea” in Malay, aims to reinterpret local and regional flavours in the cocktails and dishes it serves. 

Laut first opened along Stanley Street during the Covid-19 pandemic, in April 2020, but closed after 1.5 years.

Its current quaint 10-seater space, which comes decked with elements of the sea such as fishing nets and even sampan oars, is a lot smaller than its maiden CBD outlet. But it somehow works, among the eclectic mix of tenants at Fortune Centre.

For those who’ve never been to the building, Fortune Centre is located right next to two popular temples — Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho and Sri Krishna Temple — so it has always been a popular spot for temple-goers to head to, after their prayers. Given its usual clientele, the old strata mall is home to a number of vegetarian spots. 

In recent years, however, there’s been an interesting rag-tag of merchants popping up,, from izakaya spots such as Nobu-ya and Ume San 100, to the more modern Pasta & Co.

And then you have Laut, which opened in January this year and remains the only specialty cocktail bar there to date, for now.

From Stanley Street to Fortune Centre

Laut’s founders Leon Tan, 37, and Frank Shen, 34, have always been in the F&B industry and have known each other since their secondary school days.

Prior to Laut, Leon was the head bartender at cocktail bar Native, while Frank worked with bars and beer distribution companies, and also owns American Taproom bar. 

Leon says: “We just decided to open after a two-year break. (Opening at) Fortune Centre was just happenstance, but it was a conscious effort to open something a bit smaller and more intimate.”

The duo were travelling on-and-off under the Laut brand for about a year, prior to the reopening, and originally had their sights set on Laut 2.0 at the izakaya-filled Cuppage Plaza in Orchard. 

It aligned with their vision and Leon’s dreams of doing a small pop-up in the bustling Golden Gai area in Shinjuku, Tokyo. 

However, it wasn’t till both of them happened to be dining at Fortune Centre one day that they realised that the decades-old complex had a vibe similar to one of their favourite spots in Tokyo. (“We’re not going to say where — we’re going to safekeep it,” Frank quips.)

And as they say, the rest is history — everything happened quickly after that. 

While its third-floor unit doesn’t see as much footfall vis-a-vis others on Fortune Centre’s first two floors, Franks says: “We’ve never ever really relied on walk-in traffic. Laut is a brand that attracts a slightly different market — people who understand us will definitely always come back to us.”

Laut’s S$88 nett tasting menu

Though it positions itself as a cocktail bar, Laut recently launched a S$88 nett seven-course tasting menu by Laut’s former head chef Lim Hoe Gern, 34.

Before the tasting menu came about in October, the bar had only light snacks alongside its southeast-Asian-inspired cocktails. 

The impetus to pivot to a curated tasting menu, which can be pre-booked up to a day before, was in part because every customer cancellation meant that prepared portions (even for the snacks) would go to waste — especially since Laut is a small outfit.

The tasting menu is seafood-focused and there’s only one seating at 7pm from Wednesday to Saturday.

Being a cocktail bar, drinks are still a necessary part of the meal — customers can opt for a S$38 nett cocktail pairing that comes with two drinks, or order off its regular cocktail menu, which starts from S$23. 

Regardless of your drink(s) of choice, every customer needs to order at least one drink, though non-alcoholic beverages are available upon request. 

If you prefer to take the a la carte route, its supper menu is available from 9pm.

Trying out Laut’s tasting menu

Lest you think a tasting menu sounds fancy, especially for a cocktail bar, Leon is quick to add: “We’re not meant to be fine dining. We really just want a fun space, even for ourselves.”

Hoe Gern jumps in: “The intention is to not use premium ingredients, but to use local ones so that it is more affordable for everyone.”

And this approach shows in its flavours and the manner Laut dishes out.

Though the seven-course menu may seem light, with a few one-bite items in the fray, we were bursting at the seams by the end of the two-hour experience. 

Some of our favourites among the courses include the oysters, rojak, otak, and prawn raja.

First up, the oyster — it is a decently sized plump morsel topped with green mangoes and papaya, done Thai somtum-style. 

Most Thai papaya salads veer toward being too numbingly spicy (or maybe my tastebuds are just weak), but Laut’s has just a touch of heat, with the shrimp marinade coming through more evidently. 

The most memorable dish across the board was undoubtedly the rojak, made with seasonal fruits and blue flower crab meat tossed in. 

Thanks to the addition of pears and pomelo, the fruit-vegetable dish was light, refreshing and savoury with a touch of sweetness. Everything came together so well that I wished there was more to go around — not that the allocated portion wasn’t already substantial to begin with. 

Regulars of Laut might recognise the otak. It’s largely similar to its original version — half a local sea bass with otak rempah slathered on it — albeit a little smaller.

The handmade otak can be tad spicy, but it’s plenty rich and coconuty, and complements the accompanying fresh sea bass, well.

But the meal’s crowning glory is perhaps the prawn raja — a risotto-like dish made with simmered rice, ulam rajah, petai, and century eggs, topped with peeled prawns. 

Having been to the old Laut a few times before it shuttered, the prawn raja dish was the dish you’d order without fail.

Despite having pungent and polarising ingredients in the mix, such as century eggs and petai, the resulting dish is surprisingly benign. There is a slight umami taste owing to the century eggs, and the petai and ulam rajah are barely noticeable.

Having tried the previous version, I wished the peeled prawns came grilled with its shells intact, just as its predecessor did — that would have added a little bit of smokiness and more savouriness to the dish. 

Nonetheless, this version still holds its own, and perhaps works better as part of a tasting menu, considering the dishes it is paired with. 

If you opt for the drinks pairing at S$38, the meal comes with a glass of Vietnamese pineapple and chilli sake and a simple cocktail with starfruit vermouth and pomelo vodka. 

And of course, if you’d like to get more drinks to go along, you’re more than welcome — every drink comes with recognisable local and regional elements that make for easy drinking, even the ones with higher alcohol content.

Popular go-tos include the lengkuas (S$23), a rum-based cocktail with bentong ginger shrub and calamansi granita, or even the mata kucing (S$25), a whisky-based highball with lychee, rambutans and smoked black tea kombucha.

Whether you’re a cocktail bar-goer or not, we’d say that if you’re a fan of local and southeast-Asian flavours, Laut’s tasting menu is worth a trek down to Fortune Centre for. 

It’s more than just a meal — rather, it’s a uniquely Singaporean experience that you probably wouldn’t quite find anywhere else in Singapore, at this price point.

As Frank puts it: “We see this as more of an experience menu, rather than a tasting menu. We want people to experience what’s going through our minds, how it comes together, and how we work with local craftsmen to bring everything together, as one experience.” 

Just remember to make a booking before you head down, whether it is for the tasting menu or a cocktail sesh, or risk being turned away, due to its small and limited space.

This was an invited tasting. 

For more eats around Bugis, check out our guide to Haji Lane cafes, or Daily Chicken, a new local offshoot of the Korean brand Daily Beer, 

Enjoy up to 50% off when you dine with GrabFood Dine Out.  

You can also book a ride to Laut Singapore at Fortune Centre.