This is your 2024 edit to the best bars in Singapore.

This November, The Warehouse Hotel relaunches its lobby bar and subverts classic cocktails with local ingredients such as buah keluak and salted egg. Cat Bite Club continues its march to the top with agave and rice spirits used in delightfully quirky ways. At New Bahru, a former wine bar is reborn as Le Clos, now with 800 labels and a minimum markup.

(Hero and featured images credits: The Warehouse Hotel; Son Pham for Cat Bite Club)

The best bars in Singapore for 2024

November

Cat Bite Club

A year on since its debut, Cat Bite Club continues to rack up accolades for its dedication to rice and agave spirits: the bar most recently placed 56th on The World’s 50 Best Bars 2024’s extended list and was given a special award for its potential to break into the elite ranking in the next few years. Now, the Duxton Road venue has unveiled a new cocktail menu, its biggest revamp to date.

The latest menu continues the format of reinterpreting a classic cocktail with rice and agave spirits, except this time they are playing faster and looser with the templates. “We’re following the general style rather than the flavour profile,” said cofounder Gabriel Lowe. The Espresso Martini, for instance, only lends cold brew coffee to a sweet potato shochu and mango cocktail, which comes in a cheery Merlion mug. Fans of past creations, do not despair. Cat Bite Club has kept several crowd favourites alive in a section called “House Faves.”

What to drink

Thanks to persimmon and a makgeolli float, the Return of the Mak (S$25++) could easily be a fizzy, fruit-flavoured yoghurt drink. Sippin’ Shrooms (S$27++) tastes exactly like how it sounds: savoury from shiitake-infused sherry and accented by sesame oil, umeshu plum liqueur, and a brown sugar shochu. With two kinds of mezcal, bitter liqueur, and vermouth, the Ode to Ada (S$26++) is a sharp, bracing cocktail, which the bar tempered with apricot. “It’s like a little fruit and cheese board,” said Lowe.

Daily, 5pm – midnight

75 Duxton Rd, Singapore 089534

Le Clos

The Bukit Pasoh wine bar formerly known as Clos Pasoh has packed up and moved to New Bahru, where it is now known as Le Clos. The venue has also added a delicatessen selling wine, cold cuts, cheese, and desserts, even glassware for different types of wine so you no longer have to suffer the ignominy of drinking cabernet sauvignon out of a chardonnay glass. The horror.

Le Clos has over 800 labels in the cellar, most of them French and from small, family-owned wineries. There is also a focus on grower champagne, or producers who cultivate their own grapes to make the sparkling wine. Many bottles in the cellar hover around the 100 dollar mark, and the wine bar tags on S$40 if you drink there, a far cry from the industry standard of two to three times the retail price. Enjoy them with homey bistro fare like croque monsieur and steak frites.

What to drink

A herbaceous and bright sauvignon blanc from the Sancerre-based Francois Cotat (S$129++ per bottle) underlined the saline notes of a watermelon, feta, and mint salad (S$20++), while a deceptively light Chateauneuf-du-Pape by Domaine Mayard (S$155++ per bottle) highlighted the richness of a truffle, morel mushroom, and comte risotto (S$32++). For dessert, Le Clos general manager Geoffrey Leotot poured a subtly sweet pear cider from Eric Bordelet (S$13++), whose autumnal flavours paired sumptuously with a hazelnut praline choux (S$13++).

Monday, Wednesday – Sunday, 2pm – midnight
Closed on Tuesday

46 Kim Yam Rd, #01-18 New Bahru, Singapore 239351. Book here.

The Warehouse Lobby Bar

As a tiny fixture in vast, open spaces, a hotel lobby bar can feel glaringly anonymous, and it is no different with The Warehouse Lobby Bar. But the venue makes up for it with Singapore-inspired cocktails that are both cheeky and refined at the same time.

Helmed by food and beverage director Joseph Haywood and assistant bar manager Jaemin Shin, who count Sago House and Barbary Coast in Singapore, and Sydney’s Baxter Inn among their previous stints, the duo tapped on Clarke Quay’s past role in the spice trade to create 16 drinks divided by their flavour profile: Herbaceous, Fruity, Spiced, and Bold. The bar food continues the local theme with snacks like kueh pie tee, a char siu-coffee pork ribs mashup, and gobi 65.

What to drink

Current Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam used the pineapple as a symbol of his winning bid in 2023, and here it becomes the Pineapple Campaign (S$28++), an effervescent, zesty drink suitable for toasting to any occasion. Based on the Jungle Bird, a classic cocktail, Rita in Red (S$25++) tames the original’s bite with kefir and rose, as White Horse (S$26++) doubles down on the milk punch’s nutty profile with coconut, oloroso sherry, and pandan. The most polarising cocktail on the menu is the Black Martini (S$27++), an Espresso Martini subverted with curry, buah keluak, and salted egg. Yet, it somehow works.

Sunday – Thursday, 11am – midnight
Friday & Saturday, 11am – 1am

320 Havelock Rd, The Warehouse Hotel, Singapore 169628. Book here.

October

East47

The already exclusive Manhattan has added a more clandestine concept to its premises. Concealed behind heavy curtains, East47 is a bar-within-a-bar that displays a strong culinary bent with some help from Andy Warhol – it is named after the street where his Silver Factory studio was located. It’s also very intimate, with two bartenders looking after a maximum of 12 guests.

The menu has seven cocktails that sound like a pop art food exhibit. Whipped gorgonzola cream tops the Pina Colada-style Pie 32. The Space Daiquiri blasts off with Dragonfruit hot sauce. Each drink also has a dish recommended for it, from a French 75 with stingray tacos to an Espresso Martini with duck foie gras. You can go off-course with the pairing or opt for the degustation menu of three cocktails and bites for S$140++.

What to drink

Three kinds of rum and hot sauce made the Space Daiquiri (S$28++) strong and spicy, but tamed by the silkiness of hazelnut liqueur. Head bartender Antonio Donato also handed me a blue cotton candy: “In case you find it too spicy,” he said. SBAAAAAM!! (S28++) was an Old Fashioned with buttery popcorn yoghurt, which complemented the recommended Wagyu hanger steak (S$28++) with bearnaise sauce. My favourite pairing was the Cosmo Marilyn (S$28++) with chawanmushi and Hokkaido uni (S$28++), which tasted a fruity milk tea with enough bite to cut through the food’s richness.

Wednesday & Thursday, 6pm – midnight
Friday & Saturday, 6pm – 1am

1 Cuscaden Road, Level 2, Conrad Singapore Orchard Singapore 249715. Email to book.

Horse’s Mouth

After closing at the start of 2024, the Horse’s Mouth is now open again. Previously hidden inside a ramen restaurant at Forum The Shopping Mall, the bar has ditched both the speakeasy concept and location for a full-frontal space at Millenia Walk. Despite this, it’s rather nondescript: the logo is the only giveaway and the interior is dark and moody.

There are 10 house cocktails based around Asian flavours, represented by ingredients such as wasabi, luohan guo, coconut, and Thai tea. Bar manager Kelvin Yap also excels at making resolutely classic cocktails. A request for an Old Fashioned was met with the question, “bourbon or rye?” I asked for a Dry Martini and he countered with, “Gin or vodka? Shaken or stirred?” When he’s this meticulous, it’s a sign you’re in good hands.

What to drink

The Fuego Serenade (S$24++) was a Margarita that punches with jalapeno, and the Siam Sunset Smash (S$24++) tasted like a quintessential Thai milk tea except spiked with bourbon. Yap’s classic cocktails also have a hint of intrigue: there was a savoury twang throughout his Martini, and his Gin and Tonic was clean and quietly bittersweet. For food, head chef Justin Lim brings an element of Spanish cooking into his dishes, like mussels and prawns in a garlicky prawn broth (S$28++) and crunchy pickled green chillies (14++) that were fried tempura-style and served alongside lemon dipped in togarashi powder.

Monday – Friday, 12pm – 2.30pm, 6pm – midnight

9 Raffles Boulevard, #02-06 Millenia Walk Singapore 238884. Book here.

Sugarhall

Sugarhall is handing you a boarding pass and draping a garland around your neck with their latest cocktail menu called “Cocktail Getaway.” The rum-focused cocktail pub now has 18 signature drinks that they illustrated like vintage travel posters ranging from tropical escapes to wintry holidays.

The menu’s destinations hint at how the cocktails would taste. Seaside vacations are matched by bright, refreshing serves like the Passion Fruit Daiquiri and the Iced Mojito. The Makgeolli ‘Mai Tai’ is as verdant as Korean rice fields. A Dirty Chocolatini declares it’s the ideal apres-ski drink. Now, if only they could give me some air miles.

What to drink

The Blue Lagoon (S$26++) was a sophisticated take on the oft-derided classic cocktail, citrusy and slightly fizzy with none of the original’s cloying flavour. I have a problem with drinks containing shaved ice – they dilute too fast – but the Iced Mojito (S$26++) solved it by using frozen sugarcane juice. As it melted, it turned the cocktail grassier and sweeter. Shaken until frothy, the Spicy Green Margarita (S$26++) recalled a lighter mango lassi with a togarashi rim. End with the Souffle Espresso Martini (S$26++). It leaned into the coffee’s nutty and warm notes with macadamia and dark rum, topped by a dense, velvety head of foam inspired by covid’s favourite pastime: dalgona coffee.

Monday – Thursday, 5.30pm – midnight
Friday & Saturday, 5.30pm – 2am
Closed on Sunday

19 Cecil Street, Level 2, Singapore 049704. Book here.

September

Brasserie Astoria

Brasserie Astoria‘s bar is the first thing people see when they walk into the gorgeously appointed space, so it’s only fitting that the restaurant decided to give it an identity. Like a major attraction in Brasserie Astoria’s original home in Sweden, the concept is called Aurora Borealis, and the use of aquavit, rhubarb, and birch in certain cocktails lends a Scandinavian feel.

The menu has 20 cocktails, each named after a song that the bar thinks best reflects how they drink. Oye Como Va is a tequila and strawberry cocktail meant to put you in a groovy mood. Take a Chance on Me is an encouragement to try a spicy, vegetal Bloody Mary with a fresh oyster garnish. Haven’t heard of the song? Each cocktail comes with a Spotify code to listen to the track.

What to drink

Boozehounds should head straight for Real Love Baby (S$25++), a Boulevardier riff that is minty and floral with a hint of sweet corn. Oye Como Va (S$25++) drinks like a smoky strawberry milkshake and is a great option for people who are new to mezcal. For those who want to be challenged, order Take a Chance on Me (S$25++). Made up of heirloom tomatoes, sancho pepper, black pepper, celery, salt, and chilli that were fermented for four days, it’s intensely savoury, herbaceous, and goes fantastically well with a fresh, briny oyster. Brasserie Astoria has also introduced new bar food, and the bone marrow with balsamic onion jam and bread (S$18++) is solid.

Thursday – Sunday, 6pm until closing

11 Empress Pl, Singapore 179558. Book here.

Deadfall Cantina

The power trio of Celia Schoonraad, Michael Callahan, and Roman Foltan have transformed the first floor of their California-inspired Barbary Coast into Deadfall Cantina. It’s now an agave bar led by 72 agave spirits, which Callahan said is one of the largest collections in Singapore. Still, don’t expect kitschy Mexican decor like sombreros and paintings of Frida Kahlo. Instead, it’s rustic and riotously colourful, with suggestions of a bygone decadence that characterises Barbary Coast upstairs.

Agave spirits also spill into Deadfall Cantina’s cocktails. About 70 percent of them are made with it, from a section dedicated to margaritas to a bubbly mezcal drink that Schoonraad called, “Mexican champagne.” Likewise, the bar’s food menu is not a pastiche of Mexican cuisine. Instead, Deadfall Cantina encouraged their Singapore chefs to work in their background, resulting in “Mexi-porean” dishes like beef rendang taco and chicken rice burrito.

What to drink

On a warm day, which is pretty much every day here, the Frozen Watermelon Margarita (S$23++) will guarantee a brain freeze. The Pasilla Mole Negroni (S$25++) is liquid chocolate with a dash of chilli spice, while a hint of savouriness keeps the zesty Mezcal Tommy’s (S$23++) intriguing. Oaxacan Wine (S$24++) sounds rather tame, but the combination of mezcal, tequila, bitter liqueur, chamomile, and honey results in a bold and floral cocktail. For food, the chicken rice burrito (S$18++) tastes just like the original, and the butter chicken quesadilla (S$16++) is a brilliant mashup of two cultures.

Monday, 9am – 4pm
Tuesday – Thursday, 9am – 4pm, 6pm – 1am
Friday, 9am – 4pm, 6pm – 3am
Saturday, 7pm – 3am
Closed on Sunday

16 N Canal Rd, #01-01, Singapore 048828

Puffy Bois

Many new pizza places have sprouted in Singapore, but Puffy Bois continues to be a reliable option. Since they opened on Bali Lane a year ago, they have fixed their exhaust problem and introduced both new cocktails and pizzas while keeping prices fair in this inflated economy.

Cofounder Sam Ng described the latest pizzas as being “a little grown-up” and having “a little complexity,” like a white pizza with squid and saffron, and a vegetarian pie with salted ricotta. His sentiments can also be extended to the cocktails, such as an Old Fashioned that recalls breakfast cereal. But a bubbly, bittersweet, and low-ABV cocktail shows there’s still plenty of fun to be had: “I can sit and drink this all day,” Ng said.

What to drink

Start with Pillar to Post (S$22++), a light, aperitivo-style cocktail with a tart bite from strawberry gum. OK Go (S$23++) is a clarified milk punch with the silkiness of coconut oil and the overripe flavour of jackfruit. Is it breakfast, or is it the Dawn Chorus (S24++)? This cocktail makes the case for booze in the morning with cornflakes-infused whiskey and butterscotch waffle. To eat, Nduja-Roni (from S$7.50++) soaks up the alcohol with fennel sausage, ‘nduja, and Sichuan peppercorn-infused capers. Calamari Zaff (from S$7.50++) piles ribbons of garlicky squid on top of a saffron and parmesan base, but my favourite was the Primavera: butter-braised peas, pickled yellow zucchini, salted ricotta, and dill slathered with a luscious grape sauce.

Thursday – Monday, 6pm – 2am (closed on Tuesday & Wednesday)

20A Bali Ln, Singapore 189856

August

28 Hongkong Street

Are you even a bartender if you don’t have tattoos? Pioneering Singapore cocktail bar 28 Hongkong Street (28HKS) plays up this stereotype by basing its “Dr-ink!” menu entirely around body art. Led by head bartender Tamaryn Cooper, who is heavily inked and previously trained as an apprentice tattooist, the bar sought four local tattoo artists, gave them three prompts, and asked them to come up with a design for each idea. The result is 12 wildly different images from a snarling otter to batik-means-Bauhaus, and a cocktail springing from each.

What to drink

Based on a swirling cosmic design by Geylang studio Ocean Tattoo, Galactic Booze Cruise (S$26++) is a floral and silky clarified milk punch whose luminous, brittle garnish is painstakingly hand-painted. “We have one person that comes in three times a week just [to make this],” Cooper said. Bali Lane studio Honest Bob Tattoo depicted the Tao Payoh Dragon Playground in his trademark geometric style, and Cooper turned it into the bittersweet and tropical Sip & Slide (S$27++).

About two-thirds of the 28HKS bartending team are female, which Jalan Besar studio Of Gods and Monsters captured as an anime katana-wielding warrior. The bar then fashioned it into the Femme Fatality (S$28++), which recalled chrysanthemum tea with a herbaceous hint. It also lived up to its name: seemingly light and elegant, but dangerously boozy.

Sunday – Wednesday, 6pm – 1am
Thursday – Saturday, 6pm – 2am

28 Hongkong St, Singapore 059667. Book here.

Punch Room

If the Blue Man Group needed somewhere to drink cocktails, Punch Room would be the place. The Singapore Edition bar is entirely blue. The bottles on the shelves are filled with blue liquid. The cocktail menu is a blue book. It’s titled, “Little Blue Dot.” Thankfully, it does not make you feel blue. Led by head bartender Logaraj ‘Loga’ I M, the menu delves into the history and legends of Singapore through 12 punches, which can be made in individual portions or as large punch bowls. Want a bowl all to yourself? Look for the cocktails priced at S$33++, which are served in buckets just like Khao San Road, but much more refined.

What to drink

Tempest Punch (from S$33++) reimagines the tale of Prince Sang Nila Utama casting his crown into the sea as a floral and saline cocktail with the cool notes of cucumber. Kusu Island Punch (from S$33++) acknowledges how special turtles are in Japanese culture that they made a sake and yuzu drink, which was creamy and zesty.

Bukit Merah Punch (from S$27++) was a smoky, savoury milk punch with ripe bananas, a nod to how the plant was used to stop swordfish in the legend of Redhill. No one really knows how punch came about, and for a drink with similarly shady origins, the herbaceous Daeng’s Punch (from S$27++) is based on Temmengong Daeng Ibrahim, ruler of Johor and a successful pirate hunter.

Tuesday – Thursday, 6pm – midnight
Friday & Saturday, 1pm – 1am

38 Cuscaden Rd, The Singapore Edition, Singapore 249731. Book here.

Republic

The 1960s continue to trudge on at Republic, whose latest Volume Three cocktail menu pays homage to the generation once again. The previous menus explored the era’s milestones through topics such as fashion, music, movies, and art. This one is no different, just rebranded into icons, media, aesthetics, and innovation, which showcase 16 new creations by Republic’s new head bartender, Kelvin Saquilayan. Eventually, the bar would have to think more abstractly about the 60s or move on from the decade but for now, psychedelia and space travel still have legs.

What to drink

Thanks to the bullet train, you can zip between Tokyo and Osaka in under three hours. You can also drink a floral and dry matcha and sake cocktail of the same name (S$26++). Visions of Stella (S$26++) echoed artist Frank Stella’s vibrant style with a sticky, multicoloured meringue garnish and a bittersweet gin and cold brew cocktail. Unconsciously or not, we were most drawn to Headliner (S$26++) in the media category. A warm, Irish coffee twist with cream cheese foam, it’s the most fun we had with a title.

Sunday – Thursday, 8am – midnight
Friday & Saturday, 8am – 1am

7 Raffles Ave., The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore, Singapore 039799. Book here.

July

Big Wine Freaks

When wine bars open in Singapore, they trend towards two wildly different ends of a spectrum: either a shophouse nook or a sprawling hotel lobby. Not for Big Wine Freaks. Taking over the Bukit Pasoh space that previously held Barcelona, the venue is one-part cosy wine spot, one-part dance floor, and entirely dripping with decadence.

The wine list is big – over 500 labels and 2,000 bottles, with a focus on producers that will excite a particular kind of wine drinker: younger, well-heeled, and cultish about the next big thing, as long as it’s natural. To that, Big Wine Freaks is heavy on champagne and burgundies from a new generation of winemakers, as well as smaller regions like Jura in France, Austria, Italy, and Japan, all served in impossibly thin Zalto wine glasses. For food, it touches on seafood from the Mediterranean to sashimi, and the dinnerware is equally opulent: Ginori 1735, the same plates used at the one-Michelin-starred Summer Pavilion.

What to drink

With so many wines, it’s easier to let the sommeliers do the heavy lifting, but some offbeat wines we tried during the opening in June included a sparkling wine from Nagano prefecture and an earthy orange wine from eastern Austria. Wines by the glass start from around S$18++ to S$50++, and the lineup changes frequently.

Monday – Saturday, 6pm – 11pm (closed on Sunday)

44 Bukit Pasoh Rd, Singapore 089857. Book here.

Dragonfly

With its luminous emerald surfaces and humanoid sculpture that wouldn’t be out of place in “Zelda,” Dragonfly promises cocktails in cuckoo land. Based in Vibe Hotel, the fantasy comes from designer Ashley Sutton’s mind, who is also responsible for equally otherworldly bars such as Iron Fairies in Bangkok and J. Boroski in Hong Kong. While Sutton also designed the Dragonfly bar in the Chinese territory, the two venues only share the same name and decor.

Amazingly, the drinks aren’t as outlandish as the interior, and it’s a good thing. Helmed by Morgan Raelin Barron of Jigger & Pony and 28 Hong Kong Street, her creations are based on the cause-and-effect principle seen through the lens of classic cocktails and molecular gastronomy. “We change them in terms of flavour, ingredients, or how they’re prepared,” she said. For instance, the Negroni influences a more luscious rendition with tomato and watermelon, and the Daiquiri ends up as a dark rum and sweet corn ice cream doused with mala oil.

What to drink

The High Mountain (S$25++) deconstructs milk tea into sweetened milk foam chip garnish and a clear cocktail with floral and tannic notes. Rosa Noche (S$25++) is a tequila-based drink creamy with stout reduction, and Veil of Fondness (S$25++) recalled watermelon soju thanks to a starchy, rye-based genever. With green banana pisco and lime, Watershed Moment (S$25++) was just like Thai mango salad.

Sunday – Thursday, 5pm – 1am
Friday & Saturday, 5pm – 2am

24 Mount Elizabeth, #01-05 Vibe Hotel, Singapore 228518. Book here.

Japan Rail Cafe

Drinking in a glass box is not the most appealing of places, but Japan Rail Cafe hope to change your mind. They teamed up with Japanese spirits retailer Isego Honten to bring in over 300 labels of sake from 50 breweries directly, which keeps prices down and allows the establishment to sell them exclusively. If you need to try before you buy, Japan Rail Cafe sells tasting tickets (S$10+ for 6 tickets) that allow you to sample various styles. Prices start around the low S$50 for sake bottles and GST is already included. If you decide to drink a bottle there, Japan Rail Cafe will only tack on a service charge.

What to drink

Unless you know exactly what you want, certified sake sommelier Jonathan Lim or one of Isego Honten’s staff are always stationed there to offer recommendations. Lim also knows how to pair sakes with food from Japan Rail Cafe, such as a bone-dry junmai ginjo from Ibaraki prefecture with rich tuna tartar.

Monday – Thursday, 11am – 9pm
Friday & Saturday, 11am – 9.30pm
Sunday, 11am – 8pm

5 Wallich St, #01 – 20 Guoco Tower, Singapore 078883. Book here.

Idle Hands

After three years of opening bars that immediately shot to stardom and scooping multiple awards, Jay Gray has had enough. People cut off their hair, buy a sports car, trade in their spouse for a younger partner when they’re going through an upheaval. For Gray, he quit his job as CEO of Sago House Group and opened a 14-seater bar called Idle Hands.

Located above Low Tide in the former Ghostwriter space, the venue reflects Gray’s mentality of stepping back. Cocktails are based on the salient philosophy of, “Keep it simple, stupid” and take no more than three to four ingredients to make. They’re divided according to sections – Sours & Highballs, Strong & Stirred, and low- or no-alcohol drinks, and Gray is happy to walk guests through them, “We’ll ask you how you feel and guide you through the menu,” he said. If you think you know better, he is also happy to accommodate. On the walls are cocktail recipes that patrons have come up with, and yours might go up there under Gray’s one condition, “That they are delicious!”

What to drink

Under Sours & Highballs, Juicy (S$21++) is a bourbon, calvados, and green apple cocktail tart enough to grab the tongue. Friedland (S$21++) turned the Czech herbal liqueur Becherovka, pisco, and mint into a bright, herbaceous drink with an enticing creamy texture. From Strong & Stirred, Thiccboi (S$23++) was a Martini with a nutty coconut aroma. Capri Sun O.F (S$23++) layered caramelised brown sugar over the green, spicy fruit. Finish with the Chocolate Orange (S$21++), which tasted exactly like its name.

Tuesday – Sunday, 6pm – midnight (closed on Monday)

3 Ann Siang Hill, 2nd floor, Singapore 069785. Book here.

June

Gibson

Honey, would you run down to the store and pick up some bananas, nutmeg, coconut, and tequila? Gibson is making your average grocery run much more interesting with its latest menu, “Cocktail Supermarket.” Laid out in the style of a shopping catalogue, the menu has 15 cocktails the bar said are made with everyday produce, if your usual Sheng Shiong carries finger limes and cascade beer hops. Netflix viewers might also find the drink’s three descriptors familiar, which are modelled after how the streaming service presents its programmes.

What to drink

Remember the watermelon and feta dish that every restaurant had to have years ago? Gibson brings it back with the Watermelon Spritz (S$28++). Tasting both like the fruit and the cheese’s grassy funk, it has a strawberry undertone – a nod to its Aperol Spritz origins – and a feta brittle garnish. The Very Blue Bananas (S$28++), a cocktail as azure as its name. The tiki riff is sweet but not cloying, with warm coconut-vanilla foam giving way to a cold sip of overripe bananas. Finish with the Swanky Panky (S$28++). It drinks like you’re picking strawberries in a verdant field, with a whisper of nuttiness, a waxy texture, and a bittersweet finish.

Sunday – Tuesday, 6pm – midnight
Wednesday & Thursday, 6pm – 1am
Friday & Saturday, 6pm – 2am

20 Bukit Pasoh Rd, 2nd Floor, Singapore 089834. Book here.

Junior The Pocket Bar

Junior The Pocket Bar leaps through time and space once again for its latest menu, “The Bund.” From the 14th-century Joseon period in Korea, it travels to post-World War 1 Shanghai when the metropolis was known as “The Paris of the East.” During the period, the city was awash with both Chinese and Western influences, which the bar recreates with various elements from the decor to the music. Cocktail ingredients are not spared either, ranging from soy sauce, tea, and shiitake mushroom to borscht, absinthe, and Tabasco.

What to drink

The Jade Harbour is a gin highball turned grassy and floral with lychee, kombu, and matcha. The Martini-style Silk Route starts off bright and orangey before turning spicy turn thanks to mixed peppercorns, with a braised shiitake mushroom for garnish. For a nightcap, opt for the Paris of the East. With genever, Galliano vanilla liqueur, brown butter, maple syrup, and clarified milk and cream, it drinks like a liquified eclair. The food is also period-appropriate, but instead of the ubiquitous xiao long bao, the bar serves East-meets-West renditions of Shanghainese dishes like a beef noodle soup with tubes of dumplings and a slick, captivatingly umami broth.

Tuesday – Friday, 5pm – midnight
Saturday, 6pm – midnight
Closed on Sunday & Monday

6 Ann Siang Hill, Singapore 069787. Book here.

Stay Gold Flamingo

The uniforms that the bartenders don at Stay Gold Flamingo have been commented on so many times that the bar decided to make it central to their new menu. “That’s a Nice Jacket” takes the colours they splash on their attire – they symbolise the bartender’s rank – and turns it into 20 cocktails ranging from low ABV to the bar’s signatures. The “White” section showcases easy-drinking highballs, and “Blue” cocktails are finished table-side. Boozy creations fall under “Purple,” and “Pink” drinks incorporate coffee, tea, and wine. If you miss the bar’s previous cocktails, look for them under “Red.”

What to drink

Minions is a fizzy gin and banana cocktail that smells very ripe initially but has a surprisingly clean finish. With a base of tequila and mezcal accentuated by three types of vermouths, Rosa-ta was earthy, dry, and bracing with smoke. Harmony was equally intense, with bourbon and lapsang souchong tea combining into a toasty Manhattan. For something more approachable, get the Flamingo New Yorker. Shaken with whisky and peach oolong tea, the red wine foam made it seem like a spiked cherry smoothie.

Monday – Saturday, 5pm – midnight (closed on Sunday)

69 Amoy St, Singapore 069888. Book here.

May

The Bar at 15 Stamford

Like listening to Nirvana’s seminal album, “MTV Unplugged in New York” or hearing Coldplay’s dreamy piano melodies for the first time, The Bar at 15 Stamford aims to excite with its latest cocktail menu titled, “Chord.” Split into four distinct musical eras – Soul, Rock ‘N’ Roll, the Millennium, and “Classics – the bar hopes its new offerings will evoke nostalgia while striking a chord among drinkers through innovation.

Under Soul, the cocktails pay tribute to sultry nights through creations that are dark and boozy, while Rock ‘N’ Roll evokes the era’s rebellious and timeless spirit. From Millennium, bright and cheery drinks capture the optimism of the turn of the century, and Classics is a jukebox full of the bar’s past cocktails that have proven to be crowd favourites.

What to drink

The philosophy behind “Chord” is most evident in Smoke on the Water. Based on the Deep Purple hit, it combines mezcal, dry sherry, white vermouth, ginger, and galangal into a bold and smoky sipper. Another is the American Pie. The rum and apple pie syrup concoction enlivens Madonna’s cover even more thanks to a mildly spicy finish from Sichuan peppercorns.

Daily, 4pm – midnight

15 Stamford Rd, The Capitol Kempinski Hotel, Singapore 178906. Book here.

Jigger & Pony

To stand out in Singapore’s saturated cocktail bar scene, venues are increasingly turning to more esoteric concepts and wilder flavours. Not Jigger & Pony. Instead, the best bar in Singapore peels back the layers in its new menu called “Smash.” Across 20 drinks, the menu explores different interpretations of its title while recalling the simpler nights before craft cocktails took over. “With Smash, there’s no need to overthink what you’re drinking, if you don’t want to,” said creative director Uno Jang. “We just want everyone to have fun!”

If the word means ‘crushable’ to you, the Lycheetini is designed to do just that with its floral and easygoing nature. The menu also gives customers a sense of control, which is why the Spicy Margarita can be customised with different levels of heat depending on how much spiced beer foam is spooned onto the drink. As always, Jigger & Pony displays its chops for refining the classics by working on small yet essential details, such as creating its version of a herbal liqueur crucial to the Nuclear Daiquiri and using lychee cordial to give the Lycheetini a cloudy appearance.

What to drink

Fans of champagne, and those who are not, would be pleased with the Champagne Ramos Fizz. Bearing four distinct layers and five textures, it tastes eerily like the real thing: green apple, red berries, and a bright acidity with a brioche-like butteriness. “It’s troublesome to make, but it puts a smile on the customer’s face,” Kantono said.

Sunday – Tuesday, 6pm – midnight
Wednesday & Thursday, 6pm – 1am
Friday & Saturday, 6pm – 2am

165 Tanjong Pagar Rd, Amara Hotel, Singapore 088539. Book here.

Las Palmas

The glamour of the 1960s burns brightly at Las Palmas, which looked to the storied decade for inspiration on 12 new cocktails. The creations are divided into four categories – Modernist, Vinyl, Hollywood, and Getaway – and reference icons from celebrities to pop culture.

The Modernist section evokes the radicalism of the 60s with cocktails like Go Nude, a gin and strawberry highball that is as pink as certain intimate body parts. Vinyl pays homage to the warm sounds of the record through a coffee, spiced apple honey, and banana Old Fashioned called Sultan of Swing, and Hollywood channels Dean Martin’s “Volare” as a dry sherry Martini. As travel became more accessible during the 1960s, Getaway brought back the historic Racquet Club – a celebrity haunt of the time – as a Negroni variant with raspberry gin and roselle tea vermouth.

What to drink

Named after the godfather of tiki culture, the Donn Beach blends white rum, Calpis, and hazelnut for a creamy, nutty twist on the Mai Tai, and the ideal cocktail to sip on while lazing next to Las Palmas’s rooftop pool.

Tuesday – Thursday, 5pm – midnight
Friday, 5pm – 1am
Saturday, 3pm – 1am
Sunday, 3pm – midnight

99 Irrawaddy Rd, Level 33 Courtyard Marriott Singapore, Singapore 329568. Book here.

April

Atlas

Atlas head bartender Lidiyanah ‘Yana’ K embarks on her second menu refresh by delving into cocktail-making techniques, yet still showing admirable restraint similar to her debut attempt. Titled “Preservation of Fire,” four bartending methods from carbonation to infusion are demonstrated through four templates: the Martini, Sour, Old Fashioned, and Champagne cocktail. Certain techniques are needed for a style of cocktail – how would a champagne cocktail be bubbly without carbonation? – but Yana’s skills lie in inserting these approaches in nuanced ways, cementing her charge at one of the best bars in Singapore.

What to drink

The Silver Bullet, a Vesper-style cocktail made aromatic with rose and ylang-ylang, and presented bracingly cold. One is never enough, so get it in the decanter that serves five.

Tuesday – Thursday, 12pm – midnight
Friday & Saturday, 12pm – 2am

600 North Bridge Rd, Parkview Square, 188778. Book here.

Origin Bar

Like it did with its previous menu, Origin Bar goes large with 18 new cocktails. Titled “Infinity,” the menu showcases the bartenders’ vision of what a cocktail can be, seen through topics as mundane as ingredients, to out-there ideas like the economy. While brainy, Origin still knows how to inject some humour into its creations, from whimsical glassware to a cocktail masquerading as a candle, as befitting of its title as one of the best bars in Singapore.

What to drink

The Ma To Ma To takes on ketchup by distilling it and amping up its characteristic flavours with mezcal, Worcestershire sauce, green tomato, roasted sesame, and seaweed. The Art But No Latte also bamboozles as a coffee cocktail that neglects the bean but captures its fruity, roasted essence with bourbon, cereal, dark berries, and fortified wine.

Tuesday – Sunday, 5.30pm – 1am (closed on Monday)

22 Orange Grove Rd, Lobby Level, Tower Wing, Shangri-La Singapore, 258350. Book here.

Studio 1939

Potato Head’s Studio 1939 wants you to STFU – in this case, taste Spice, Tea, Fruit, and Umami from their latest cocktail menu. Based on flavours that head bartender Daniel Fong and operations manager Kavish Hurrydoss enjoyed throughout their lives, ingredients such as curry, thyme, Earl Grey tea, even cheese show up in various ways from distillation to foam. Prices are also very friendly too: all cocktails are S$22++ each.

What to drink

Fong has been toying with a savoury cocktail throughout his bartending career, and here it shows up as the Bassline Junkie. It has tomato, basil, mozzarella, and chilli, and tastes like liquid bruschetta. Like a good local, I wanted it spicier, and he gladly obliged by dousing it with more chilli oil. The Som Tum Mamuang cocktail was herbaceous, briny, and tasted exactly like its name: Thai green mango salad.

Tuesday – Saturday, 5pm – midnight (closed on Sunday & Monday)

36 Keong Saik Rd., Level 3 Potato Head, Singapore 089143. Book here.

March

Grocer Bar at Fairprice Finest Clarke Quay

For those who wanted to experience Clarke Quay’s raucous nightlife on a budget, drinking at Read Bridge used to be a rite of passage until the fun police took it away. Thankfully, Fairprice Finest brings back some affordability through its the Grocer Bar, which serves cocktails priced markedly lower than the other bars in its vicinity. There are 11 house creations (S$15 each) inspired by Singapore’s heritage, from the Lion City Sling that glows blue from butterfly pea flower gin to the Pahit Dino, an adult spin on the Milo Dinosaur. Shoppers can also consume beers, wines, and spirits purchased from the supermarket here.

What to order

You are already drinking in a supermarket, so might as well lean into the raffishness and get the Little Coco. It’s the Grocer Bar’s version of a Pina Colada with Malibu coconut rum, pineapple juice, and coconut cream, served in a coconut.

Sunday – Thursday, 8am – 11pm
Friday & Saturday, 8am – midnight

3 River Valley Rd, B1-05-06, Singapore 179019

Nutmeg & Clove

A decade is a long time for one of the best bars in Singapore, and Nutmeg & Clove is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a new menu and a refreshed look. What remains the same, however, is the venue’s dedication to telling the Singapore story. Over 25 cocktails, Nutmeg & Clove touches on wide-ranging topics from the country’s first Olympic gold medal to the covid era while remarking on chicken rice, Zouk, and the coldest temperature ever recorded here – an icy 21.2 degrees Celsius.

What to drink

The rum-based Medusa, which marks Nutmeg & Clove’s move from its original Ann Siang Hill home to its current digs on Purvis Street. It was a bittersweet moment for them, which they captured with herbal liqueurs, while the cocktail’s bold flavours reflected their step into the unknown.

Monday – Thursday, 5pm – midnight
Friday & Saturday, 4pm – midnight
Closed on Sunday

8 Purvis St, Singapore 188587. Book here.

Last Word

Most cocktail bars have some sort of original cocktail on the menu, but not at Last Word. Instead, the Purvis Street bar continues to play the classic hits, which the new menu divides according to time. Split into five distinct eras, it starts with the Golden Age of the 1830s when some of the most iconic cocktails were invented, before moving through the Prohibition Era, the excess of the 1980s and its subsequent dark ages, and finishing with the cocktail’s renaissance during the late 20th century. It’s a history lesson told through icons like the Old Fashioned, Bloody Mary, Mai Tai, Cosmopolitan, and White Negroni by one of the best bars in Singapore.

What to drink

Last Word’s namesake cocktail encapsulates what the bar is about – Japanese-style bartending tweaked for the local palate. More gin and less green Chartreuse and maraschino liqueur are used to make it drier, garnished with a maraschino cherry soaked in brandy and cinnamon.

Tuesday – Sunday, 5pm – midnight (closed on Monday)

8 Purvis St, #02-01, Singapore 188587. Book here.

February

Close Shave

The people behind upscale barbershop Sultans of Shave have decided to grow their follicles into a cocktail bar. Enter Close Shave, which cuts some of the world’s most iconic hairdos into ten drinks.

What to drink

Knowing which style suits you involves taking a personality quiz, which spits back options like Dreadlocks, a spiced rum, pineapple, and pandan cocktail that recalls Bob Marley. The shaggy do of English rockers like Liam Gallagher is shaped into the bourbon and black tea British Mullet, and Lara Croft’s Ponytail swings into a whisky and chocolate tipple.

Monday – Saturday, 6.30pm – midnight (closed on Sunday)

13 N Canal Rd, #01-02, Singapore 048826.

White Shades

Six months after its opening, White Shades has finally pulled the covers off its second-floor cocktail menu called Colours. Based on the colour spectrum, 22 cocktails are segmented into four themes that grow more conceptual. Clarified cocktails entirely populate the Clear section, while Mark plays with contrast to highlight a main colour, like white coconut oat foam sitting on top dark Guinness reduction, espresso, and coffee liqueur in the Black III.

What to drink

The Mood section plays on how colours can reflect emotions, and a stick of rhubarb sharply changes the tequila and sparkling coconut water-based Fresh Pink. Under Flavours, White Shades wants you to think about how colours can affect perception, and the Sparkle Pearl belies its innocently pale complexion with waves of salinity.

Monday – Saturday, 5pm – midnight (closed on Sunday)

25 Boon Tat St, Singapore 069622. Book here.

Writers Bar

For a place calling itself Writers Bar, it is fitting that the new cocktail menu is as hefty as a novel. The stately drinking den at Raffles Hotel has filled the pages with an impressive number of drinks inspired by literary greats, all of them with links to the historic landmark.

What to drink

The opener is Madeleine Lee, the first Singaporean author under the hotel’s Writer-in-Residence programme, and her stay at Raffles led to five drinks including the Mikan, a zesty whisky highball with a ball of calamansi balancing on the rim. Lament is a sherry cocktail motivated by “Jungle Book” author Rudyard Kipling, and fans of the fortified wine will not regret its bold oxidative flavour. From French novelist Andre Malraux, a cocktail called Spinoza’s Toast, which had a captivatingly silky texture. But some of the most interesting cocktails are not credited to any writer. Rather, they are billed as low-sugar, and the gin-and-vodka-based Light of the South was boozy, austere, and as bright as its name.

Sunday – Thursday, 5pm – 11pm
Friday & Saturday, 5pm – 11.30pm

1 Beach Rd, Floor 1 Raffles Singapore, Singapore 189673. Book here.

January

Highhouse

Joining Singapore’s rarified list of sky-high mega venues is Highhouse. Located across 10,000 feet on the 61st and 62nd floors of One Raffles Place, the establishment consists of a bar, restaurant, and nightclub with bird’s eye views of the Padang and Marina Bay.

Like its perch, a lot of things at Highhouse are soaring. There is a double-height main bar. The champagne room and wine cellar are vast. A 14m by 3m screen broadcasts digital artworks. And the music programme spans diverse styles from house, techno, progressive, hip-hop, and rap to other electronic music sub-genres.

Both the restaurant and bar draw on flavours around the Pacific Coast. To do this, the bar tapped on Jay Gray of Underdog Inn and Sago House fame to come up with cocktails. Similarly, executive chef Sam Chin offers sharing plates of seafood kokoda ceviche, Spanish Dover sole with homemade chye poh, and sakura pork belly in massaman curry, accompanied by sticky rice. Come early 2024, Highhouse will also open Nova, the tallest rooftop bar in Singapore on level 63.

What to drink

The clarified Pisco Punch with key lime foam, and Umami Martini made savoury with Japanese seaweed.

Monday, Wednesday, & Thursday, 11.30am – midnight
Tuesday, 5pm – midnight
Friday & Saturday, 5pm – 2am
Closed on Sunday

1 Raffles Place, L61-62, Singapore 048616. Book here.

Moga

The latest F&B establishment to open at Pullman Hill Street is Moga. Concealed behind an unmarked sliding door, it takes cues from the Prohibition Era and 1920s Japan to conceive a modern izakaya that has big hopes of becoming one of the best bars in Singapore.

To achieve that, Moga hired Marcus Liow – formerly of The Other Roof and Antidote – as head bartender and award-winning bar consultant Dario Knox to conceptualise the menu. Together with ex-Jigger & Pony barman Jasper Tan and Jay Shin of Barbary Coast, the team came up with 12 signature cocktails heavily influenced by Japanese flavours.

What to drink

One of them was the champagne-like Crystal Sake Royale, a silky milk punch with junmai ginjo sake, passionfruit, and vanilla. Matcha and jasmine tea made the gin-based Geisha Garden floral and refreshing, while Karaita was a Mezcal Margarita with the bite of toragashi. For spirit-forward drinks, the Natsu-Roni  added layers of coconut and bright red fruits to the classic Negroni, and Smoking Yakuza was a contrast of bold medicinal smoke and smooth coconut butter.

To eat, Moga has a concise food menu made up of hand rolls, sashimi, grilled items, and sandos. Some highlights included the sweet botan shrimp tempura and A3 ribeye accompanied by well-charred broccolini. The chicken tsukune was brushed with teriyaki and served with a sous-vide egg dip, which you should save for smearing over the wagyu sando.

Monday – Thursday, 12pm -3pm, 6pm – midnight
Friday & Saturday, 12pm -3pm, 6pm – 1am

1 Hill St, Pullman, Singapore 179949. Book here.

The Guild

Several bars that made Keong Saik Road a destination for boozehounds have left the area, but The Guild continues to hold the fort. Opened in 2018, the craft beer bar has renewed its drinks offerings and food menu of Asian-inspired grub.

As the only international taproom for Hong Kong brewery Young Masters, 16 of The Guild’s 18 taps are dedicated to beers. Seven of them pour their core range like a pilsner and a wheat beer, while the other seven taps dispense limited edition brews like a lychee-flavoured IPA. Other breweries and collaboration beers are showcased on two taps.

The Guild has noticed a demand for “casual, fuss-free drinking,” which they are trying to meet by introducing two draught cocktails, a G&T with orange and grapefruit, and a vodka highball with salted lime. Other signature cocktails are centred around Asian flavours and beer elements, from the cheng tng-like Red Date Redemption to the Stout Espresso Martini.

What to drink

The Cha Chaan Teng Gose, a tart and saline beer that works perfectly with the humid climate.

Monday – Friday, 4pm – 11.30pm
Saturday, 3pm – 11.30pm
Sunday, 3pm – 10.30pm

55 Keong Saik Rd., #01-01, Singapore 089158. Book here.