When I travel to a new city I like scoping out where I can get good coffee, bread, and a well-made cocktail.

For cocktails and the odd beer(Stouts, Porters, Belgian-style Ales!) that may have caught my eye, I can't stand loud bars where I can't hear myself think. I much prefer the quietude of these literal Speakeasies where the music is just right, conversations not drowned by loud music or fellow cocktail hounds. And where you're not reminded of the teeming populations on the planet. Elbow-space, anyone?

Miss Wong's located just slightly off Pub Street by New Zealander Radio Journalist Dean Williams was all that and more. Named for a popular post-war portrait by the late Russian-origin South African artist, Vladimir Tretchikoff, Miss Wong finds inspiration in 1920s-30s Shanghai. Think apple-red walls, Chinese lanterns, and dark wood furniture. If you're there, ask for their house infused gins. I stuck to a rose and cloves-infused gin that felt a little like smoking a gudang garam while lying in a Mughal harem's pool. So that’s how it went down: I went to Siem Reap and came back with a mouthful of forevers.