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Tired of tapas bars and hipster brunch spots? Debbie Yong looks at a journalists' bar, a cat cafe and two eateries specialising in ribs and wings that are offering fresh dining experiences with their esoteric conceptsScoop19 Ann Siang HillTel 6536 2308Hours: 5pm to midnight (Mon-Sat).儲存facebook.com/theinsidescoop.sgOpens Nov 20THE notion of journalists as beery misfits who lurk in questionable drinking establishments while awaiting their next juicy scoop is rather the stuff of Hollywood imaginings and Hunter S Thompson novels than reality in Singapore; but that isn't stopping F&B entrepreneurs Patrick Fok and Kevin Cheng from starting up a journalists' bar here.Scoop, which opens on Wednesday, takes over the Ann Siang Hill shophouse formerly occupied by apparel store Fred Perry and takes a leaf from the "flacks and hacks" bars - slang for public relations people and news scribes respectively - common in Europe and the United States."PR people are always looking to meet journalists, and journalists are always looking for the inside stories to things, and everyone can swap updates on the latest job vacancies in the industry," says Mr Fok, 33. But contrary to its main theme, the bar won't be exclusive to media folk. "You go to any Foreign Correspondents Club in most cities and it's packed with all sorts. Everyone likes to meet with journalists," he laughs.Mr Fok himself holds a day-job as a television news presenter. He and Mr Cheng, 32, also own a cluster of F&B outlets such as Bartini, 1980s-themed eatery The Retrospective, and month-old Mexican bar Hombre Cantina in Boat Quay.While the concept of a journalists' bar isn't entirely new to Singapore - an older generation of newshounds may recall the now-defunct Front Page, Next Page and Newsroom pubs in Mohamed Sultan Road started by BT journalist-turned- nightlife tycoon Peter Wong in the 1990s - both Mr Fok and Mr Cheng are recent Hong Kong transplants who say they are starting on a clean slate.So expect, perhaps, a more sanitised, circa 2013 iteration at Scoop. The 1,600 square foot bar will screen news and sports programmes from its two televisions all day and serve up comfort food and popular dishes from its other outlets such as burgers, pizza and a mac-and-cheese dish flavoured with truffle paste. All food items will cost under $20 and beers will start from $10, and media professionals will get one-for-one deals on Wednesdays.In keeping with the theme, the two men - both printmaking enthusiasts - plan to plug in screen-printing classes when the bar is closed in the afternoons. Attendees can later display and sell their works at Scoop, which will feature distressed concrete interiors accented with newspaper reliefs. A 10m bar counter will span the length of the space.A small lounge area by the bar's entrance can double as a quiet spot for broadcast journalists to conduct video interviews - something Mr Fok himself has found lacking in his own job."Sometimes, we'll have interviewees from abroad or who have unpresentable offices and don't want to be filmed in them," he observes. He has often ended up using other bars and his own establishments as a venue for his interviews. The bar's lamps can double as studio lights, he says.Fancy yourself a bit of a whistleblower? You now know where to hang out and whisper a little too loudly. "It would be nice to get a scandal out of Scoop," quips Mr Fok.Neko no Niwa54A Boat Quay.catcafe.com.sgOpens end NovTHE cat cafe phenomenon that originated in Taiwan and sparked a craze in Japan and the rest of the world will soon be upon our shores for the first time.When it opens on the second floor of a Boat Quay shophouse at the end of this month, Neko no Niwa - which means "cat garden" in Japanese - will be home to 10 cats, which cafe patrons can play with as they sip their java and take in views of the Singapore River.Cafe owner Tan Sue Lynn, 36, is a cat lover who has visited cat cafes in Tokyo, Osaka, Naoshima and Sapporo in Japan. Says the former marketing executive of an asset management company: "It has always puzzled me why there isn't a cat cafe in Singapore even though they have been getting a lot of hype recently."Previously a North Asian preoccupation, cat cafes have sprouted to instant popularity in European cities such as Vienna, Budapest, Madrid, Berlin and London over the last year. Le Cafe des Chats in Paris, for instance, is an entirely crowd-funded project and was fully booked for two months when it first opened in September."Cat cafes are great for people who enjoy interacting with cats and would like to have one at home but can't for whatever reason, whether it's because someone in the family is allergic to cats, or because their parents feel they are too young to be a responsible pet owner," says Ms Tan.But unlike some cat cafes overseas, Neko no Niwa won't be about showcasing rare cat pedigrees. Ms Tan is working with local animal welfare organisations and independent cat fosterers to adopt the 10 abandoned or stray felines that will permanently reside in the cafe."Part of our social message is to discourage unethical breeding, and show that even cats that are not pedigrees can make just as lovely companions," she says. The cats will most likely range from one to four years in age, but will be chosen for their ability to interact with humans and other cats rather than for their age.The cafe will seat about 20 to 25 people in a homely space fitted out with sofas, dining tables and scratching poles for the cats. The cats will be free to roam in the 500 sq ft space and will reside there overnight, while the rest of the cafe's pantry and toilet premises will be cordoned off from the animals.Access to the cafe will be charged at $12 per person per hour - following the business model of overseas cat cafes, says Ms Tan - and patrons will have to remove their footwear and wash their hands before entering. Food orders are optional and no cooking will be done on-site: only coffee, canned drinks and covered desserts sourced from independent local pastry shops will be served, with prices kept under $5.There will also be a small retail corner selling cat accessories, and Ms Tan is working with local designers to introduce cat toy crochet classes in the future."The concept is so new here that there are already some misconceptions about what a cat cafe is about," observes Ms Tan. Unlike existing pet cafes in Singapore, where humans can bring in their pets to dine next to them, you won't be able to bring your own cats to Neko no Niwa, nor will the cafe's迷你倉cats be up for sale or for adoption.Alluding to the cafe as an educational platform, she elaborates: "If you are not sure about cat ownership, you can spend more time at the cafe before deciding to take the plunge into cat ownership. And when you do, we can link you up with organisations such as the Cat Welfare Society for guidance on taking care of your cat."Ribbery and Wine Co#01-04, Sixth Avenue Centre,805 Bukit Timah RoadTel 6463 2830SO what if the nose-to-tail dining concept is winning over adventurous eaters and environmentalists worldwide? There are some among us who already know which part of an animal we love best, and don't want to spend five minutes winnowing through a menu to get to it.Enter the Ribbery and Wine Co, a ribs specialist opened by a ribs lover for ribs lovers. Affectionately referred to as RAWC, the two-storey 80-seater eatery in Bukit Timah offers beef, lamb and pork ribs in 12 exciting variants, from lamb ribs braised in Italian Marsala wine, to beef ribs barbecued with Texan barbecue sauce and pork ribs glazed in Marmite.Uninspired name aside - the restaurant has no links to Bayern Munich midfielder Franck Ribery either - the ribs here are actually very good. The five-spiced lamb ribs ($30) are first rubbed with a house blend of five spices before being roasted, resulting in fall-off-the-bone tender meat with a heady, herbal aroma that renders the accompanying dish of mint sauce quite unnecessary. If you don't want to dirty your fingers, order the beef short ribs braised in Shiraz ($32); the slightest prod of a fork is all it needs to separate the meat.Not one to discriminate against non-ribs lovers who get towed in reluctantly by rib-obsessed friends and family, there's also a small selection of ribs-free mains such as baked chicken or barramundi and sirloin steaks, along with a fairly large section of starters such as calamari, chicken nuggets and cheese and sausage platters.Food aside, the eatery also doubles as a bottle shop for the neighbourhood's residents, as Malaysian founder, Wong Yin How, also runs the Vintry group of wine shops in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, as well as eight-year-old rib joint, Ribs, also in the latter city. Prices for the mix of Old and New World wines start at an affordable $28 per bottle and go up to $3,000 for the higher-end labels that can be transferred over on request from the Vintry outlet in Clarke Quay.Like a truly competitive Singaporean, the group's local executive chef Wayne Chan adds that the aim of his game is to have the largest selection of ribs in Singapore."Tony Roma's has about eight or nine types of ribs, and we have 12, so we have a buffer. If they come up with more, at least, we will still be ahead," he jokes.Still, he acknowledges that it will be hard to carve a niche for themselves with such a specialised concept. "Tony Roma's is already a household name that everyone knows but we have to slowly build a name for ourselves.""It can go both ways, if you go too niche then nobody wants to come, but if you offer something too generic that can be found everywhere, then no one will bother either," says Mr Chan. Though no further Singapore expansion is in the works, the group is planning a new concept in Malaysia next year.Wings World214 East Coast Road Tel 6247 7477Hours: 11am-11pm dailyYOU know the old wisdom when it comes to picking hawker stalls? The one that says the stall that specialises in Hokkien mee will serve a far better version than the one that sells Hokkien mee, carrot cake and char kway teow all at once?The same reasoning lies behind the founding of Wings World, a casual eatery along restaurant-mobbed East Coast Road that serves only, well, wings.Inspired by the ferocious hunger for chicken wings in the United States - more than 1.23 billion chicken wings are consumed in the US during Super Bowl weekend alone - the casual 40-seater is Taiwan-born, US-raised Jimmy Hsiao's homage to them in Singapore.Citing the popularity of other chicken-centric American fast-food chains such as 4Fingers and Kentucky Fried Chicken here, he adds: "Once considered just a snack, chicken wings are gradually being treated as a meal. You're starting to see wings everywhere in Singapore, even in places that they aren't traditionally in, like Japanese restaurants and even Ikea."Priced somewhere between a fast food joint and a proper restaurant, Wings World serves up wings that can be customised according to your preference. You order them in servings of six ($5.75) or 10 ($8.95) - or in party platters of 50 and 100 - and you can opt for either just winglets, drumlets, or a mix of both. Top them off with your choice from over 13 different dry seasonings and sauces, including barbecue sauces spiced with imported American chillies such as chipotle and jalapeno.Their signature buffalo sauce comes with four levels of heat, while the mango habanero is a familiar tangy, tropical flavour with just the right amount of chilli kick. Not a fan of smothering your wings in sauce? The citrus pepper and Italian herb dry-rubs keep things fragrant and super-crispy. The wings are cooked by the double-fry method, that is, they are first fried at low temperature and again at a high temperature to cause a "blistering effect" that creates shatteringly crisp chicken skin, Mr Hsiao explains. Sides such as vegetable sticks with blue cheese dip and fries, coleslaw and potato salad provide a carbohydrate boost, and should you tire of wings, there's also a range of wraps made with chicken breast meat tinged with the same array of sauces.Wings World - named after Mr Hsiao's favourite American comedy, Wayne's World - is also the the F&B veteran's return to the restaurant industry in Singapore. The 46-year-old previously ran a trio of eateries under the California brand and Bobby Rubino's restaurant at Chijmes, which he sold when he left for the US in 2006. He returned to Singapore four years later as an F&B consultant and was drawn back into the front end of things again this year. He hopes to open a second outlet by the middle of next year, and sees regional expansion on the cards."Too many restaurants are being bogged down by high rent and labour costs, and also high food costs from trying to offer too much variety," says Mr Hsiao. "It's all about streamlining to keep your service and operations consistent. We're not a chef-centric restaurant and we'll only expand our food menu if it doesn't take away from our main product, so all these savings can be eventually passed on to the consumer."debyong@sph.com.sgself storage