Guest Shift: Thịnh Lê of The Instincts Bar at oMM Mixology

On 1 August 2025, Thịnh Lê – Beverage Director and owner of The Instincts Bar in Saigon – stepped behind the bar at oMM Mixology for a one-night guest shift. Under the theme "When Color Became Flavor", he reimagined the artworks on oMM's walls as three cocktails, translating brushstrokes into liquid form. The night was part of oMM's regular guest shift series, which brings leading bartenders from Vietnam and across Asia to Saigon.

Who is Thịnh Lê?

Thịnh Lê, full name Lê Quốc Thịnh, is the Beverage Director and owner of The Instincts Bar in Saigon. Earlier in his career he headed the bar team at Totem in Hanoi, where his creativity and use of new techniques shaped the menu. Today he brings that experience to The Instincts Bar, and to guest shifts that open a conversation with bar teams across the city.

Awards and recognition

• Top 8, World Class Vietnam 2021 – while heading the bar team at Totem, Hanoi (Drink Magazine Asia)

• Champion, Luxardo cocktail competition 2017

• Winner, Showdown 2025

The night: When Color Became Flavor

For his guest shift, Thịnh looked to the art exhibited within oMM and turned it into a menu. Each cocktail was a chromatic note – a hue of memory, a layer of emotion – so that guests could taste the room around them. The menu was built around Highland Park 10 Year Old, which Thịnh infused with a different botanical for each drink – jasmine, lavender and sage.

Three cocktails inspired by the art at oMM

• Green Orange – jasmine and citrus zest, bright like a morning canvas. Jasmine-infused Highland Park 10 Year Old with a clear citrus base, elderflower–lemongrass cordial and black tea miso syrup.

• Soft Chao – lavender and honey, a quiet dusk in the glass. Lavender-infused Highland Park 10 Year Old with a vino-citrus solution, chamomile honey syrup and lavender bitters.

• It Seems! – amber tones, with a warmth that lingers like the last light of day. Sage-infused Highland Park 10 Year Old with Rooted in Light and nutty bitters.

From palette to palate

oMM Mixology sits inside a contemporary art space, and on Thịnh's night the bar glowed in rhythm with the room – laughter, reflection and the soft percussion of shaking ice. Guests at the open bar watched colour turn into flavour, and for one evening oMM became a living exhibition where light met liquid and a cocktail became a canvas.

Why Thịnh Lê at oMM

Art is one of the pillars of oMM: the bar is a meeting of art gallery and flavour laboratory, where guests sit close to the counter and watch drinks being made among the artworks. Behind the bar, the team goes directly to growers, roasters, fermenters and distillers to understand each ingredient, then uses techniques such as vacuum distillation, centrifugation and infusion to draw out flavour – an approach shaped with creative advisor Shuzo Nagumo. Thịnh's idea of reading the artworks as flavours made him a natural fit for a series built on exchanging ideas across one bar counter.

The night in pictures

Scenes from Thịnh Lê's guest shift at oMM Mixology, 1 August 2025.

More guest shifts at oMM

See all guest shifts and gatherings at oMM Mixology, including Hữu Phú, Mahaniyom from Bangkok and Shuzo Nagumo. Upcoming dates are announced on the Events page, and tables can be booked via TableCheck. You can also revisit the original Thịnh Lê guest shift recap.