Napoleon Food & Wine Bar

Try a grand cru by the sip and decide later. Trying on clothes before you pay, as the owner puts it.

Napoleon is the wine bar for people who would like to drink something serious without committing to the bottle. Its Enomatic dispensers pour 32 European wines by the glass, half-glass or tasting measure, so you can try a little grand cru and decide later. It suits an after-work drink with a friend or a client who won't finish a bottle; the compromise is that it closes on Sundays and opens only in the evening on Saturdays, so it is a weekday habit more than a weekend one.

The idea has a family behind it. Owner Jean-Christophe Cadoret comes from the family behind Château Gravet-Renaissance, a Saint-Émilion grand cru, and works with his team in France to choose what the bar imports, dealing directly with wineries. He likens tasting before you buy to trying on clothes before you pay, and the whole room is built around that idea.

The list leans to the Old World. The 32 wines are European and rotate weekly, with a Grands Crus selection, and the French bottles include Grands Crus Classés. Reds are filed under plain words like smooth, fruity and spicy rather than appellations, which is the most useful thing about the place: you don't need to know your Pomerol from your Pauillac, only whether you want something smooth or something with a bit of pepper.

The weekly rotation is the reason to become a regular. Come back a month later and the line-up will have moved on, which makes it an informal wine course without a syllabus. If you want the formal version, the bar also runs wine-tasting classes and private events, and anything you fall for can be bought to take home.

The food is French brasserie cooking done at low temperatures, the kind of plates that sit happily next to a red. Singaporean chef Benjamin Yip gives the classics a modern twist, and there is an all-day sharing menu alongside the bar. With 54 seats, it is big enough to find a table after work and small enough to stay a conversation rather than a scrum.

How to do it well: go on a weeknight, order tasting pours from three regions, decide which you liked and commit to a full glass of the winner. Eat from the sharing menu rather than a full dinner unless you came hungry, and check the kitchen hours, which close earlier than the bar. Telok Ayer MRT is a short walk away.

Good to know Closed on Sundays and open in the evening only on Saturdays; the kitchen keeps shorter hours than the bar (see the box above). Telok Ayer MRT is a short walk.

Napoleon Food & Wine Bar | 206 Telok Ayer Street, Singapore 068641 | Nearest MRT: Telok Ayer