The Rooftop bars in Ho Chi Minh City are about to get a new addition. Shari is about to be completely rebuilt. Currently the Shri Restaurant and Lounge has one of the more unusual concepts going on at the moment. They are calling the project “Pop up Bars” and the idea is to use a small space near the bar area to create a completely different concept every few months. For the last three months it has been home to a Tikki Bar, and the currently concept is the Shri Whisky Library. This has the look and feel of a old style gentlemen’s club. Rich leather Chesterfield furniture, a roaring “fire” dark woods, book cases and dim lights. The bar is about to undergo huge changes and this has been a clever use of space whilst waiting for that to happen.
Speaking of book cases, it is being the bookcases in the bar that you’ll find the Whisky Library. What looks like just a bookcase slides open to reveal this hidden gem, and it truly is a gem of an idea. The whole concept behind these pop up bars is to keep the public guessing, anticipating and wanting more. It is like having a brand new venue every few months. Miss it, and it will be gone forever. This is a joint promotion with Alchemy Wines and Spirits, Distributor and co sponsor. Christian from Racha Room is an owner of Alchemy. They specialise in high end spirits and mixers.
This idea is clever, by keeping it fresh all the time, they give their regulars something to talk about, that’s for sure.
Shri is changing, rather astonishingly, the tower is being extended. They are adding three new floors. In the Spring of 2016 a new restaurant and bar will be opening on the new 24th 25th and 26th floors. Not given a name yet, I am told that he concept will be Earth based and inspired by all things ecological. Shri is the oldest rooftop bar in the city, quite fittingly it will soon be, once again, the highest outdoor dining space of all the roof top bars in Ho Chi Minh City.
There is another bar next door to Shri in the adjacent tower one floor below. This is a terrifyingly interesting walk across a glass bridge between two skyscrapers. Joining two of the highest Rooftop bars in Ho Chi Minh City it is not for the faint hearted and I’m faint hearted.
The Whisky Library is specialising in smoked cocktails. They use cigar smoke and different utensils to add smoke to three different intensities. Either by passing make over the drink or bubbling through it, they can control the complexity of the smokey flavour.
I really enjoyed the Mac Cam. This was an unsmoked though complex tasting mixture of Macallan 12 year old whisky, orange marmalade, amaretto, lime juice, apple cider angostura bitters. It was quite the treat after a day in the office. Really nice drink, very unusual for me; tangy obviously, tart and just bitter enough for my palate but carrying the sweetness of the marmalade. Customers may choose a sweeter version if they so prefer.
Ritchie Fawcett has been in town for 5 years. He has designed and opened 17 bars. The new three story ‘Bar-Restaurant-Bar’ will be his next. Ritchie is a really interesting character who is also a fine artist. He specialises in pen and ink drawings of the city and has had two exhibitions in the city. He showed me drawings that are incredibly complicated and cover the whole landscape, viewed from the bar.
Ritchie has trained the staff and they are trained to a very high standard indeed. I genuinely cannot wait to see the new Shri, I will be writing about it as soon as I can. I love the Rooftop bars in Ho Chi Minh City, and can’t wait to try this. Watch this space.
