Fun Retro Sundaes & A Metre-Long Hotdog At Capitol Milk Bar

Back in the good old days before the ’gram and single-origin cold-brewed coffee, folks like our parents had their own version of café-hopping — they flocked to coffeehouses and diners to park tor and be seen. Capitol Milk Bar at Arcade @ The Capitol Kempinski brings back a little old-fashioned pizazz to our over-saturated hipster cafe scene with their take on retro American diners.

It’s actually an update of the old Magnolia Snack Bar, a popular haunt that used to have branches all over Singapore, including the iconic Capitol Building in the ’60s (where our colleagues’ parents had their first date!). Capitol Milk Bar is the latest addition to the culinary playground at The Capitol Kempinski Hotel Singapore’s adjoining arcade and boasts a menu with some of its predecessor’s signature staples like milkshakes and floats in an all-new insta-ready format. This is not to be confused with the other Magnolia Snack Bar-inspired takeaway ice cream bar Magnolia @ The MiniBAR in The Centrepoint, which sells only Magnolia ice cream desserts.

Photo: Simon Mcdonald

Anchored between two towering palm trees, where a glitzy neon sign beckons, roosts the two-storeyed Milk Bar, which seats 54 pax (24 on the mezzanine and 30 below). While the design aesthetic draws inspiration from the past, it is a wholly original and modern take. Decked out in bright red accents with plush booth seats and chequered flooring, everything, right down to the servers’ uniforms, serviette dispenser and enamel serving plates, is retro inspired.

There’s also a cute dessert bar on the lower floor, where diners can help themselves to free drinks like iced earl grey tea and jasmine, honey and lime-infused water. The assortment of old school candies such as Chupa Chups lollipops, mini jellies and fun-sized chocolate bars are chargeable though, at 50 cents to $2 each. An open kitchen affords diners a full view of the goings-on behind the scenes and vintage tunes play overhead. The only relic of the past missing is a jukebox.

The original Magnolia Milk Bar, which was owned by supermarket chain Cold Storage, served its house brand ice cream, Magnolia, in all forms, as well as sandwiches, hot dogs and hamburgers. While Magnolia ice cream isn’t served here (they use locally-made ice cream ), the fare keeps to its all-American-theme, but with a local twist. And as a tribute to the original Magnolia Snack bar at Capitol Theatre, many of the burgers are named after the famous peeps who’ve coloured its history, like Hollywood siren Ava Gardner, who made an appearance there in 1954 to promote her film, The Barefoot Contessa, and screen legend Douglas Fairbanks, who watched David Copperfield with Lady Sylvia Ashley back in1935.

The distinguishing mark of any diner is its burger, and, thankfully, Capitol doesn’t fall short with their namesake burger. Sandwiched between a freshly baked fluffy, fragrant and buttery sesame wheat bun (you can also choose between a multi-grain bun or charcoal brioche bun) is 150 grams of black angus beef enveloped in a thin omelette wrap and topped with melted cheddar cheese and an unctuous black pepper mushroom sauce. Simple, unpretentious and good. It’s unfortunate that the patty is slightly overcooked, but at least it’s still juicy enough and well seasoned. Comes with salad greens, sweet potato fries or deliciously retro curly fries.

This simple comfort food is so easy to get wrong. But not here. Perfectly al dente oversized macaroni ensures you get a generous mouthful of gooey mozzarella and parmesan with each bite. Crunchy green peas add much needed texture and break up some of the richness. Carbs be damned. We can’t get enough of this hearty bowl of goodness.

Capitol’s take on a local fave, this photogenic milkshake with chocolate “spilling” down the sides of the glass will bring out the kid in you. Rich, thick and chocolaty, the malty goodness of milo is amped up with marshmallow, malt balls and chocolate Pocky sticks. Tampered by the slight bitterness of the cocoa, it is expectedly sweet, but not overly so. Worth the calories.

Another diner staple, hotdogs lend an air of old-school authenticity to the menu. Named in honour of the first-ever movie to screen at Capitol Theatre in 1930, Rio Rita features a spicy Australian beef sausage on a bed of arugula, with a topping of chilli con carne, mozzarella cheese and refreshing tomato salsa. The ratio of bun to hotdog is perfect, but the dog is missing that satisfying snap and is slightly dry. The chilli con carne is delicious and boasts robust, meaty flavours, but there’s just too little of it on an already dry dog.

This sundae is almost a meal on its own. This ode to nostalgia is a delightful marriage of salty, tangy, sweet and bitter flavours. Layered with fairly smooth, thick salted caramel ice cream, fruit compote, maraschino cherry and vibrantly fruity raspberry coulis (dig through all the layers like a trifle), the sundae is topped with a wonderfully singed meringue and is a veritable party in your mouth.

Popular local dessert, chendol, is re-interpreted as a milkshake with rich and creamy chendol ice cream, red beans, slippery housemade pandan jelly, gula melaka and coconut flakes. It’s basically chendol in a glass. But as fragrant as it is, the milkshake is cloyingly sweet and, as a result, almost unpalatable.

It may say pulled pork on the menu, but you can barely taste any pork. The subtle flavour of the apple butter barbecue sauce-marinated protein is completely overwhelmed by the citrusy zing of the yuzu coleslaw slathered between the charcoal brioche. Might as well call it a 'slaw burger.

This Italian pork sausage hotdog with mustard, ketchup, cucumber relish and crispy onions, isn’t much to write home about flavour-wise — it’s just okay. But all that changes when you order the metre-long version of it (all hotdogs come with the option to jumbo size), which can feed up to 10 people.

This is really two super long sausages and buns combined as one (it's the equivalent of roughly eight regular-sized dogs and buns), but it still looks mighty impressive on social media.

While it has its charms, Capitol Milk Bar lacks some much needed rockabilly swagger. It’s like the more sterile cousin of retro-inspired diners like the now-defunct Seah Street Deli at Raffles Hotel or even Billy Bombers. Although the nosh is decent and fairly wallet-friendly, you might be hard pressed to find another reason to visit once you get your insta fix.

Capitol Milk Bar is at 13 Stamford Rd, S178905. Open daily 11am – 9pm. https://www.kempinski.com/en/singapore/the-capitol-singapore/dining/capitol-milk-bar/​​​​​​​

PHOTOS: AIK CHEN