Exclusive: Four Seasons Haunt to Host World’s Fifth-Ranked Bar for Pop-Up Benefitting Kids with Cancer

Exclusive: Four Seasons Haunt to Host World’s Fifth-Ranked Bar for Pop-Up Benefitting Kids with Cancer

World-famous Jigger & Pony bar of Singapore will be featured in a pop-up at the Four Seasons’ Bandista speakeasy July 20, along with sister bar Cosmo Pony. Its spicy margarita with an agave lollipop will be on the menu.

ONE OF THE most celebrated bars in the world will be featured in a one-night-only pop-up in Houston next month.


Following its super-cool pattern of hosting bartenders from the best bars around the globe, Four Seasons Hotel Houston’s Bandista speakeasy — you enter it through a book shelf in a back room — will present staff from Singapore’s Jigger & Pony and its sister bar Cosmo Pony from Jakarta on July 20.

“Jigger & Pony is currently ranked No. 5 in the World’s 50 Best Bars and No. 3 in Asia’s 50 Best Bars, with a rich history of praise for its classic technique and warm hospitality,” explains a rep for the posh Downtown hotel.

The bars’ group creative director, Uno Jang, and Cosmo Pony GM will Silvio Daniele have already set the cocktail menu. It includes Jigger’s spicy margarita with Herradura Reposado Tequila, Ancho Reyes Chile, lime, Awayuki salt and an agave lollipop; an espresso martini with Jack Daniels and rain forest honey; and the Peanut Alexander with Fords Gin, peanut, fig, cacao liqueur and cream. Must-tries from Cosmo Pony include the Ugly Bananas — think bourbon, extra-ripe nanners, organe juice, jasmine and egg whites — and a unique Tequila Vesper with Herradura Silver Tequila, gin, fortified wine and a smoked olive.

What might be even more delicious is that proceeds from the special evening of tasty tippling benefits Camp H-Town and its efforts to provide normal-kid summer fun for children impacted by cancer. Reservations for 60-minute seatings are required. Cocktails are priced between $30 and $40. Seating are available from 7pm to midnight. Discounted room rates are available for those looking to make night of it.

“It is an honor to bring our friends from Jigger & Pony and Cosmo Pony to H-Town, where guests of Bandista can experience the award-winning cocktails of these two fantastic bars,” says Tom Segesta, general manager of Four Seasons Hotel Houston and devoted champion of Camp H-Town. “It’s going to be a very special evening for those who get a seat.”

The philanthropic pop-up idea is not new to Bandista. The speakeasy has previously hosted popular Employees Only of Manhattan’s West Village, also listed among the world’s best, among others.

Cosmo Pony's Ugly Bananas cocktail

Jigger & Pony and Cosmo Pony Group Director Uno Jang will be mixing his iconic cocktails in Houston.

Jigger & Pony's espresso martini

Cosmo Pony's Tequila Vesper

A peak inside Singapore's Jigger & Pony

Cosmo Pony GM Silvio Daniele will also be behind the Bandista bar.

Cosmo Pony's Nastar Punch

Jacob Hilton a.k.a. Travid Halton

THERE IS A long recorded history of musicians applying their melodic and lyrical gifts to explore the darker corners of human existence and navigate a pathway toward healing and redemption. You have the Blues and Spirituals, of course, which offer transcendence amid tragedy in all of its guises. And then there’s Pink Floyd’s The Wall, Frank Sinatra’s In the Wee Small Hours, and Beyoncé’s Lemonade, three wildly divergent examples of the album as a cathartic, psychological, conceptual work meant to be experienced in a single sitting, much like one sits still to read a short story or a novel.

Keep Reading Show less
Art + Entertainment

Houston’s own Wayne Wilson stars in and helped create Cirque du Soleil’s new ’Songblazers’ show.

WHEN CIRQUE DU Soleil’s newest show, the country-music-inspired Songblazers, hits Houston Aug. 1 — only the second city, after Nashville, to get it — a few folks in the audience will recognize a familiar face on the stage.

Keep Reading Show less
Art + Entertainment