The Red Dot Brewhouse

Stairway to Heaven? No it's to the Red Dot Brewhouse!

Ning (in white) Soh Wah and Yew Tien

A dog on "guard". Already I felt a bonding with the owners of The Red Dot who must be dog lovers!

Enjoying yummy dessert and drinks in the lovely concourse of The Red Dot Brewhouse

Mr. Earnest Ng, the pioneer and owner of The Red Dot, kindly explaining to us how he brews his beer in the only Microbrewery on Dempsey Road!

Soh Wah had suggested we adjourned to her friends' restaurant/ bar at the Red Dot Brewhouse which is just next to the Long Beach Restaurant.
What a lovely ambiance! It is a beautifully renovated pre-war Colonial house surrounded by so much greenery! The restaurant was crowded with diners of all races and nationalities. Soh Wah mentioned that it is a favourite with the expatriate crowd. Now Dempsey Road is the "happening" place in Singapore! The Red Dot is often crowded with families out for lunch and dinner and during Happy Hours and in the late evenings, it is crowded by customers who want to chill out.

Most interesting feature of the Red Dot....the pioneer and owner, Mr. Earnest Ng, brews his own beer. He has 7 varieties of beer! The beer can be ordered in mugs, jars or towers. Wow! I saw how 4 ladies at a table could just finish off one tower and ordered another tower. Soh Wah, Yew Tian and myself had trouble finishing even one jug. I was the one who drank the most! A live band was playing and during the break, the management encouraged the guests to play "Bingo" with some $50 vouchers given away as prizes. What a novel idea!

Just as we were about to leave, we met the amiable owners of the restaurant. Soh Wah asked Mr. Earnest Ng if we could have a peep at his brewery and he kindly obliged. What a fascinating place.! Not being a technical person, I could not quite understand the complexities of brewing beer. I just knew that the end products are 7 types of beer and that Mr. Ng pays quite a hefty tax for the beer! The beer is carefully crafted out with the best ingredients purchased from around the world.

I was more interested in Mr. Ng's story about how he came to start the Red Dot. He was in Africa, and saw some natives drinking beer which they brewed themselves. Hence, they explained to Mr Ng the procedures. They simply labelled their beer with blue, green and red dots. Intrigued, Mr. Ng became interested in beer brewing and since Singapore is always known as the little red dot, he decided to call his restaurant The Red Dot.

I asked Mr. Ng why he is quite trim without a beer belly, and he said that he seldom drinks and has to be disciplined as a brewer. I understand from Soh Wah that he and his wife used to own a construction company for almost two decades, and only recently turned to the food and beverage industry. What a versatile and creative couple! Somehow Mr. and Mrs. Ng remind me of the maxim, "When the going gets tough, the tough gets going!" Kudos to you! May your business prosper even more and may more young entrepreneurs be inspired by your glowing creativity and success!