Vinflow: New self-pour wine bar at Keong Saik with two-hour free-flow at S$59

Vino lovers, there’s a new wine bar and bistro you’ll want to pay attention to.

Newly opened along Keong Saik Road, Vinflow is one of the first wine bars here to offer a self-pouring, free-flow concept, with a rotating selection of 32 wines on tap. 

How it works: You’ll first be given a RFID wrist tag. Then, look for a wine you’d like to try, tap your wrist tag against the machine, press a button and voila, wine in your glass!

If 32 types of wine seems a bit too overwhelming, you can opt for a tasting portion of 40ml first, before committing to a full 80ml pour. 

The wines are divided mainly into white and rose (facing the main dining area), and reds on the other side of the shelves. 

A two-hour session goes for S$59, with the option to add an hour on at a pro-rated price, if you decide to go for more drinks. 

Everything wine-related here is self-serve as long as your RFID tags stay valid — you grab your own glass, fill your own wine, and so on. Your RFID tag starts from the time it is issued to you, not when you make the first tap on the machine, so you’ll want to be quick on your feet!

On its selection: When we visited Vinflow in early-June, the team said they had wines from 10 different countries (you can expect the usuals of France, Spain, US, Italy, and Australia), but there was also a decent selection of China wines. 

Vinflow’s co-founder Nikki Lin adds that every wine is on its shelves for a reason, and its selection has been curated to “surprise, delight and educate”, while staying fun and pressure-free. 

As we found out, you don’t really need to know your wines to have a good time there — the wines are labelled simply by their country of origin, and their tasting notes. 

No issues if you don’t know the difference between a gewurztraminer and sauvignon blanc, or a rioja and a tempranillo. Just go with flavours you might like, get a taste, and then get the full pour if it appeals to you. 

Vinflow is also built with ample space for you to socialise, with a good mix of high and low tables, and a little customisable lamp on your table that allows you to switch up the lighting depending on whether your dining party would like to chat with other tables or not — fun, indeed.

Trying Vinflow’s menu 

And if you’re feeling peckish, it’s got a relatively decent menu consisting of bites, starters, mains, and desserts to keep your tummy filled while you drink. 

Items that stood out to us included its grilled cauliflower (S$15) with a soy garlic glaze, and the crispy pork belly (S$30), which had a delicious hoisin balsamic and mashed potato.

For those who love your wine with cheese, there’s also a cheese platter (S$26), which comes with the cheese of the day, jam, grapes, dried fruits, nuts, and crackers. You can opt to add parma ham on for an extra S$10.

But we have to say, as yummy as everything on the platter was (especially the fig jam), the portion sizes of the cheese did not justify the price tag, and we’d be hard-pressed to re-order it if we did end up heading back.

Thankfully the salted cheese tutu kueh (S$15) dessert made up for it. We cut into it expecting a soft tutu kueh consistency, but were pleasantly surprised that the “kueh” ended up being made of salted cheese, filled with a sweet nut filling you’d typically find in tutu kueh.

To this we’d say, grab something to eat elsewhere with your pals, come to Vinflow for the wines and spend the 2 hours maximising your exploration of its variety (and grab a snack or two from its bites menu, if you must), and then head out for supper after. 

Afterall, you ought to save that precious time ticking down on your RFID wrist tag for what really matters — the wines. 

This was a hosted tasting. 

For more ideas on what to eat, check out our latest round-up of places to dine in Phu Quoc, Vietnam, or grab a drink at the new Hup San Social Club.