If you remember Ponti as the club where everyone goes to get walwal in the good old days, then you’d be surprised to know that they’re singing a different tune nowadays.
From the deafening beats and energetic vibes of yore, they’ve traded these in for mellower music, warmer lights, and gastronomic selections to delight your inner foodie.
But it seems like they’ve moved the party to Rye Tasting Room, their former smoking lounge, and now in-house whiskey bar, that offers a wide range of liquor to cater to both the connoisseur and the beginner.
Rye Tasting Room offers a primer of sorts as a way of introducing their array of whiskey and liquor, to provide you a better sense of what they have to offer, depending on your mood. There’s the YOLO scale ranging from Prudent to Irresponsible, depending on how you want to feel at the end of the night! On the far left of the scale, you have something called the Banana Highball, which sounds as tame as it tastes, and on the other end of the scale is the aptly-named Spicy Bastard— which of course, didn’t escape us at the end of the night!
It’s a good mix of sophistication and casual interiors– perfect for that post-work drinks with the buddies just to unwind and enjoy good conversations over great food and drinks.
Here are some of the amazing offerings we tried:
Rotolo Originale. These are Italian pizza rolls, a creamy and delicate symphony of mortadella, ricotta, tomato cream sauce with pesto on top.
Ale-Battered Skillet Fries, loaded with Chili Meat and Cheese. I liked how these felt like bar chow given a more gourmet touch, like elevated comfort food. The ale batter made the fries crispier, and you can never go wrong with a generous heap of chili meat and cheese together.
Panino Porchetta. Ponti takes pride in their porchetta alla romana, which is slow-roasted for 6 hours. Their sandwich version is made up of generous porchett slices, with caramelized onion compote, roasted garlic aioli and salsa verde, served on pane cubano loaf and their lip-smackingly good ale-battered french fries.
Everything looks so good, but we’re just getting started! On to the main course at the next page.
