A Place Where...
...traditions intersect with current trends, APW, a retired printing factory turned creative campus, hasn't forgotten its roots. Its newest bar is even a paean to paper and print.
“Notice the martini glass sandwiched between two book ends?” asks Ee Soon Wei, pointing at Folio's logo and prompting us to take a better look. "Folio alludes to organisation. Any good bartender should own a notebook for his or her records," explains APW's CEO.
Not just any 'good bartender,' CK Kho, owner of Coley and Pahit, is Folio's bar consultant. Never one to do things half arsed, CK conducted rigorous research on the printing industry, which explains some of the more technical sounding cocktails. Not every drink is christened after printing jargon, however, as Soon Wei insisted on including some casual expressions. Lucky, a green tea cocktail with a rum and sherry base, is named for a stray dog that wandered into APW one day, serendipitously becoming APW's resident pet.
Fun Fact: A Frankenstein kind of space, Folio was pieced together using old bits of machinery. For all its resemble to green organ keys, part of the bar's countertop was, in fact, salvaged from a Yellow Pages binder.