An Open Invite To The Cool Kids Club

The mood’s fashionably laissez-faire, the kind that can’t be manufactured, at No Sleep Club. Maybe it’s a combination of the small groups of well-dressed 20- to 30-somethings, the long open bar running half the length of the shophouse, and the chill hop music playing through the speakers. It’s a genre-bending establishment that combines a café, bar and restaurant without trying too hard.

- Lu Yawen

When we arrive, Jessica “Hutch” Hutchinson brings us to our table that has our name scrawled on in white marker. It’s mid-week before the Chinese New Year festive season and it seems to be a relatively quiet evening apart from the two groups to our left and one at the bar counter. Our fellow diners are seated less than a metre away, sharing the large L-shaped brown leather banquette. Such close proximity is an intentional design to get strangers to interact with each other, she later explains to us.

It’s a little trick she’s learnt from her tenure as head of hospitality at cocktail bar 28 Hong Kong Street, which the co-founder of No Sleep Club has helped grow into a world-class force to be reckoned with. Armed with multi-tasking skills sharpened in a way only the film and theatre production industry can, she later was roped into opening The Proof Flat as personal spirits advisor and educator. On the second floor of the shophouse, the Flat gave an opportunity for guests to appreciate cocktails in a home setting.

We’d say she’s managed to successfully recreate that environs together with her partner and co-founder, Juan Yi Jun. The open plan space includes both the bar and kitchen with seating areas huddled in corners. Service follows a similarly flexible arrangement; the founders work both the floor and bar, and the kitchen team can work the kitchen, floor and bar as well.