It’s a Tuesday evening in Dry January, but Night Hawk is buzzing. Never mind that it’s named after Nighthawks, the Edward Hopper painting that explores loneliness in urban environments. At this Singapore speakeasy, people are burrowed deep in conversation and butterfly-pea co*cktails, and laughter is bouncing across the bar as the crew banters with the crowd packing the modernist counter seats.
A great night out is becoming an everyday occurrence in Singapore, Asia’s co*cktail capital – the result of a wave of exciting new watering holes plying the best of the Lion City’s local ingredients, spirits and creative vision. They’re the product of a maturing co*cktail scene that was previously dominated by a few key players. Now, the students of these pioneers and fresh talent are launching their own concepts, bringing even more diversity and creativity to the city’s barscape.
While having a classic Singapore Sling at the iconic Raffles Hotel is still memorable, it’s a visit to these more modern bars that conveys a true sense of the city’s pulse, and why it’s come to be known as the region’s co*cktail hub. The top spots, like Jigger & Pony (No. 14 on the World’s Best Bars 2023 list), Sago House (No. 32), Atlas (No. 48) and even two-year-old Night Hawk, which won Best Bar Design at last year’s World’s Best Bars awards, may already be familiar given their prominence in the global co*cktail scene. But there are many others to be explored, each offering a different immersive experience.
One social media favourite is Mama Diam, a whimsical hidden bar modelled after the small, family-run mamak shops – or provision stores – that dotted Singapore in the 1980s. From the front, it’s a photo opportunity for visitors, who are invited to pose behind its colourful display of snacks. But push aside a shelf at the back and a sleek bar is revealed. Here, drinks such as the eye-opening OG Kopi, made with the robust local coffee that many Singaporeans start their day with, are paired with creative bites like chicken curry kueh pie tee – delicate pastry cups cradling Peranakan-style curry topped with creamy coconut foam. One floor above, sister bar Lou Shang (which means ‘upstairs’ in Mandarin) is a quirky take on the residential block that owner Sebastian Ang grew up in, and offers a more upmarket menu of drinks featuring local makers Brass Lion and Compendium Spirits.
At equestrian-themed restaurant-bar Farrer Horse, visitors are served a trifecta of co*cktails, meals and history. In conceptualising the place, owner Srinivasan Ayyakannu drew from his childhood spent in the Farrer Park area, where Singapore’s first horse-racing course – developed by Europeans with the help of Chinese investors and Indian builders – was located. “I want to pay homage to that multicultural history,” he says. His bar offers a similarly eclectic range of signature co*cktails named after famous race horses and courses around the world, like the fragrant Good Ol’ Days, which marries gin from local distillery Tanglin Gin with cucumber, ginger and homemade pandan tuile.
Ang, the owner of Mama Diam and Lou Shang, has a vision to bring tourists and locals together by creating shared experiences steeped in Singapore nostalgia. His biggest project, a speakeasy called Synthesis, resembles an old-school traditional Chinese medicine hall – a common sight in Singapore’s neighbourhoods. It takes inspiration from the childhood years he spent with his grandmother, who worked in one, and focuses on co*cktails and food made with Chinese herbs that are designed to balance the body’s elements.
These vibrant experiences aren’t limited to independently run bars. Chandu, a hidden speakeasy at the rear of the Ascott hospitality group’s new Robertson House hotel, is an intimate space reminiscent of the clandestine opium dens that mushroomed in Singapore through the late 1800s and early 1900s. The tiny 20-seater focuses on co*cktails themed after colonial-era tales, made with ingredients and spirits that stay true to the time.
At Conrad Singapore Orchard, the team behind award-winning Manhattan – a regular on the World’s Best Bars list – has just opened East47, a ‘secret’ space within the main bar. A tribute to Andy Warhol’s Factory studio, it shakes up experimental drinks like a co*cktail that explores the different textures of tomato. And even if you’re not staying at the Mandarin Oriental, a visit to the newly refurbished MO Bar is a must for its spectacular bayside views and modern mixology, including the sassy Reclaimed Slings that reframes the Singapore Sling as martini-styled tipple embellished with a lollipop made from the distilled essence of the drink.
Singapore’s world-famous multicultural cuisine has always been one of the most tantalising ways to discover the city. Now, its co*cktail culture offers an equally compelling map to this adventure.
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