How Kayla Saito and Yao Wong developed popup menus abroad a la minute
Guest shifts done differently.
We might be at peak guest shift, but this is a unique take on the genre.
Have you ever thought about getting on a plane and doing a guest shift in a far flung land? That’s exactly what bartending freinds Kayla Saito and Yao Wong did earlier in the year, popping up in Singapore, Bangkok, and Ho Chi Minh City with Monkey Shoulder for their Friends Abroad tour.
At each stop, they visited the local markets, sourcing uniqiue and often unfamiliar ingredients, that they would then incorpoate into cocktails the next night at their guest shift. A new menu, every stop — a one night only affair.
And they’re sharing what they learned through the tour next week at the Better Bars Summit during Bartenders’ Weekender — there is a handful of tickets left, by the way, so get yours now at the link.
Kayla and Yao are also my guests on this episode of Drinks At Work. I met them at Yao’s Melbourne bar, The Elysian Whisky Bar, a few weeks ago, and we talked about the way they structured their creative process for this project to succeed, about how they conceived of each menu, and the differences in the bar scenes throughout Southeast Asia and how they compare with the bars here at home. It’s a good chat with some smart bartenders, and I think you’ll like it.
This episode, by the way, is sponsored by Monkey Shoulder, and Monkey Shoulder is taking Yao and Kayla and popping them up in a bar near you soon — the first one, however, is happening at Bartenders’ Weekender next week on Monday 16 June at The Gresham at 10.30pm; we’ll see you there.
Bartenders’ Weekender starts this weekend! The three day festival of all things bars and drinks — it’s a long weekend for bartenders and drink nerds — is happening from June 15 to June 17 in Brisbane. There’s loads in store — tickets to the Better Bars Summit are available here, and nearly sold out — so do check the timetable, get your RSVPs in, and we’ll see you there.