This round’s on The Apartment’s Laurence Lewelyn-Bowen

SINGAPORE — If you need some tips for designing your home, who better to ask than Laurence Lewelyn-Bowen, the head judge for the biggest interior design competition on TV this year, The Apartment: Design Your Destiny.

In the reality TV series, teams from across Asia compete using their interior designing skills to win the ultimate grand prize, a two-storey luxury home in Malaysia.

But Lewelyn-Bowen not only knows the tips and tricks to designing the perfect room, he also has tips to designing a bar in a flat in Singapore, which is, not having a bar at all.

“In Britain, we don’t have bars, we have trolleys or trays so ... first, invest in unusual and varied decanters. Second, always align mixers and cans or bottles like soldiers at the trooping of the colour. Third, pop a few tea light candles behind some of the darker bottles to create a warm boozy glow. Fourth, invest in a decently lidded ice bucket. Lastly, hire a butler to pour for you,” said Bowen.

Q: You seem to have a flair for fashion, but what is the most fashionable poison you’ve ever had?

A: It sounds boring to say I drink them all, but I’ve certainly made inroads into a lot of the world’s most fashionable cocktails. However, I’ve never confused fashion with fad, so I’ll always find myself returning to a gin Martini — preferably served in a medium-sized galvanised steel bucket! Yum!

Q: What’s your favourite alcohol to pair with your favourite SEA dish?

A: I have a real fondness for the mee mamak. Since wine is not a speciality of the region, as it were, it’s nice to go a little off road with booze/food combinations; and with mee mamak, I’ll often take a very long, very icy gin and tonic infused with Earl Grey tea. It’s very much the best of both worlds.

Q: What drink would you recommend that best complements a room’s shade of red, blue and yellow?

A: If you’re in a red room always try and drink Brut Champagne (always from a Champagne bowl never a flute). Blue rooms suit dark British beers very well and yellow spaces always need a robust red wine to stop them feeling jaundiced. In fact, yellow rooms are rarely a good thing and if you must, (make sure the colour is) as close to egg yolk orange as possible.

Q: What’s your favourite borrowed drink philosophy and why?

A: “Sine cerere et baccho friget venus”, a quote in Latin from the Ancient Roman poet Terenz, which means “without wine and food, love grows cold”.

Q: Fill in the blanks:

A:I drink gin Martini when life is good, gin Martini to forget the bad times and gin Martini in a bigger glass when working on a new project. KIMBERLY FONG

What: The Apartment

When: Every Sunday, 9.40pm, on Starworld (SingTel mio TV Ch 301/StarHub TV Ch 501)