Stay Gold Drops The Bartender’s Diary Vol. II, The Mixtape You Never Knew You Needed

Singapore’s posh dive bar is back with a new menu that reads like a bartender’s notebook, sounds like a rock concert, and plays like a greatest hits album. Nothing gold can stay, but these drinks might. 

There is a bar tucked behind a café on Amoy Street that does not feel the need to announce itself. The café is called Flamingo. The bar is Stay Gold. And if you know, you know.

Four years in, Stay Gold has become one of the most quietly confident cocktail bars in Singapore: no gimmicks, no theatre, no seventeen-step concept cocktails that read better on paper than they taste in glass. Just proper drinks, a kitchen that takes the food seriously, a soundtrack that earns its volume, and a team that's been building something worth staying for.

Now, as the bar approaches its fifth year and fresh off their Tatler 20 Best Bars win, Stay Gold introduces The Bartender's Diary Vol. II: The Mixtape—a new cocktail menu that is part love letter, part greatest hits, and part controlled experiment.

The Format

Vol. I was an open book and was intentionally concept-free, a reset after the early years of the bar. In contrast, Vol. II has a structure. The menu is split across three chapters, each borrowed from music: Anthems (the returning crowd-pleasers), B-Sides (the experimental cuts that didn't follow the rules), and Remastered (lesser-known classics, rebuilt with the signature Stay Gold blend of Japanese precision and American swagger).

The inspiration is a bartender's notebook—the kind filled with late-night scribbles, R&D notes from masterclasses, spill stains and half-formed ideas. Exactly the kind of document that captures a craft in motion, not a craft that's arrived. Illustrations by Tiffany Chua of Dirty Hands Only brings the menu design to life with an intentionally raw, marker-drawn aesthetic. Think something a little playful, slightly imperfect, and reminiscent of real bartender notes scribbled in the moment.

The Menu

The menu skews toward approachable ABVs and clean, classic pairings—intentionally so. The Bartender's Diary doubles as a recipe book for a wider audience. Highlights include:

Spicy Mango Margarita (left) and Beautiful Monster (right)

1. Michelada (Remastered)

   Not the brunch staple. This version starts with Espolòn Tequila Blanco, but the real work is in the kitchen comprising a house-made beef fat and beef stock tomato soup, emulsified with egg yolk, then thinned with Asahi lager. The result is umami-forward and richly beefy. A bar cocktail that required cooking techniques to exist. 

   
   

2. Intro To Absinthe (Anthems)

   One of the original Stay Gold cocktails, created by co-founders JiaWei and Jerrold at home during the pandemic, when there was no bar to work in. Earl Grey-infused Hendrick's Gin, La Fée Bohemian Absinthe, and sparkling coconut water. The goal was to kill the reputation of absinthe for being difficult, and to make something so smooth and refreshing it might trick you into loving a spirit you thought you hated. It works.

   
   

3. Spicy Mango Margarita (B-Sides)

   The Spicy Mango Margarita does exactly what it says—Código 1530 Mezcal Artesanal, Alphonso mango purée, Scrappy's Firewater Tincture—tropical, sweet-sour, and lit from the back with real heat.

   
   

4. Beautiful Monster (B-Sides)

   Beautiful Monster is the weirder one: a tropical cocktail in disguise. Discarded Banana Rum, pineapple, ginger, orgeat, grenadine, all the Tiki signatures, but put through milk-washing until the drink comes out minimalist, clear, clean, and impossibly elegant. The name explains itself.

   
   

5. Dirty Bananas (Remastered)

Not quite an Espresso Martini. This one leans into Maker’s Mark Bourbon, Caffè Borghetti, Flamingo Cold Brew, banana purée, and raw honey. The coffee is built in-house, with the cold brew dialled to a lighter roast profile, then rounded out with overripe banana for softness and depth. It sits somewhere between familiar and unexpected. The same idea, just done differently.

All cocktails are at SGD $26.

In the photo: Cold Udon Noodles, Steak & Rice and Fish Tacos

The kitchen has always punched above its category. The new menu, crafted by Head Chef Joanne Sakai, is Pan-Asian in orientation and generous in portion. Designed for groups and built to share. Cold Udon Noodles, Mapo Dog, Som Tam and Sticky Ribs join signatures that have never left: Mala Quail Eggs, Fish Tacos, and Steak & Rice. The Rockstar Platter, intended for four, is available to anyone willing to commit.

The People Behind It

From Left to Right: Jerrold, JiaWei and Amos

Stay Gold is built on a specific tension that somehow resolves itself every night: the measured precision of Japanese bartending culture, and the kinetic, high-energy showmanship of the American school.

Jerrold Khoo, Creative Director and Co-Founder, came through Jigger & Pony and carries a distinctly Japanese bartending ethos: methodical, restrained, obsessive about fundamentals. He sets the direction. What the bar is, and what it refuses to be. Bai JiaWei, Co-Founder, previously from Employees Only, moves at a different pace. American-influenced, high-energy, built for the theatre of the bar. He’s the one who makes sure the place stands and things work as they should, so that the team can deliver. Then there is Amos Kew, Bar Manager. He has been there since day one and now runs the show. The through line between idea and glass. The one making sure every drink lands the way it should, no matter how busy the room gets.

“Vol. II is about knowing where you stand. We brought back the hits because there is no need to fix what is not broken. And we pushed into territory we have yet to explore, namely because this is what year five should feel like,” he shares.

Together, they make the kind of programme that can hold a Beautiful Monster and a Spicy Mango Margarita on the same page without either drink feeling out of place. As the bar celebrates its fifth year anniversary, it harkens to the origins of its name which comes from the popular film, The Outsiders. Stay gold, one character says to another, urging him to stick to his guns. Similarly, four years on, this bar lives up to its namesake and still knows what it is, which is rarer than it sounds. Make a reservation here: https://www.staygoldflamingo.com/ 

*All prices are subject to a 10% service charge and prevailing GST.