Shiver as you drink

I think this is easily the weirdest thing I heard the whole of yesterday.

SINGAPORE (AP) -
Not only the drinks are ice cold at the Eski Bar, a new nightspot in tropical Singapore. The room temperature is so cold that staff wear heavy coats and ski caps, and patrons get a 10 percent discount if they show up in winter wear.

The bar contains a decorated, industrial strength freezer, with the mercury ranging from minus two degrees Celsius (28 degrees Fahrenheit) to just above zero (32 degrees F). The goal is to attract thirsty clientele who need a break from the round-the-clock, sweltering, Southeast Asian heat.

So far, the gimmick is working. The directors of Eski Bar, which officially opened this month near Singapore's Chinatown, plan to open another, larger outlet next month.

"It's a very clean look. They get a lot of women coming in groups,"said Violet Oon, a public relations consultant to the bar project.

"It's not a traditional idea of a night place. Everything is white and ice blue. If you go inside, it's like an igloo. There's wraparound upholstery. Perhaps it's psychological, they feel cocooned from the world."

Eski Bar features a 'freezer' room with glass mosaic tiles on the bar counter, an alternative to a stainless steel surface that might be sticky and painful for patrons' elbows. There's also a 'chiller' room, where the temperature is a more normal 18 degrees C (64 degrees F), and an outdoor area for those who can't stand the cold.

The decor features ceiling and wall lights shaped like melting ice cubes, as well as a transparent plastic curtain at the entrance to keep out the heat. Beer and white spirits such as vodka are served ice cold, and one cocktail is called Sleeping Polar Bear.

Those involved in the project include Andy Lim, a former building contractor, and Andrea Teo, a television producer.

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Time to take my coats and scarves out of storage? I don't think so.