After a brief lull, Singapore’s bar scene is picking right back up with new places opening left, right and center. Here are some new ones to check out if you need ideas on where to go.
13% Gastro Wine Bar (Killiney Road)
Cheese platter at 13% Gastro Wine Bar (Killiney Road)
Kampong Glam’s wine bar is bringing its wine and food offerings to Killiney Road, with a second outlet at a row of shop houses already known for its variety of local food. There are bar bites and mains like the Iberico pizza ($22), which comes with 50 grams of cured Iberico ham, Geoffrey Weckx’s Belgium fries ($8), fried in beef fat and served with homemade mayonnaise, and the tomato tatins ($23), made with confit tomatoes, roasted pine nuts, Burrata cheese and balsamic reduction. The affordable wine list is curated by owner Bruno Vaillant, and overs both Old and New World stuff. 2/F 177A Killiney Rd., open Tues-Sat 5pm-1am.
Alchemist Beer Lab
Alchemist Beer Lab at South Beach Avenue
Touted as Asia’s first and only infusion beer lab is a new venture by the team behind microbrewery-pub Little Island Brewing Co., glamorously located at South Beach. Beer lovers will be privy to 16 pretty looking and advanced beer infusion towers,adding more variety to the recently booming local beer scene. Out of the 16, eight of them consist of familiar draft beers such as the Sister Golden Ale, Singapore Pale Ale and That Old Black Magic (this one won a Gold Medal at this year’s Asia Beer Awards), all of which ($12-$15) are also available at Little Island Brewing Co. The bar bites menu is a Modern-European tapas-style affair with dishes like the slow-cooked pork cheeks with sweet red cabbage, yogurt, cabernet syrup and pig ears ($16); and duck fat chips with sprinkled with chipotle salt and preserved lemon aioli ($12). #B1-16 South Beach Avenue, 26 Beach Rd., open Mon-Thu & Sat noon-midnight; Fri noon-2am.
Bourbon Street
Bourbon Street
A Louisiana-style bourbon bar opened on Club Street over the weekend. It’s narrow and warmly dim, kind of like Flagship over on Bukit Pasoh, and promises a wide selection of top-shelf bourbon and strong cocktails. On the food front, it’s Southern American comfort food like chicken and waffles and chicken and shrimp gumbo. Watch this space for more information. 46 Club St. Open Tue-Sun 5pm-2am.
Craft Beer Bar Takumi
Craft Beer Bar Takumi
One of our favorite craft beer bars in Singapore, JiBiru, has been serving up some of Japan’s finest brews for five years. Now, they’re taking their beers beyond 313@somerset with the opening of sister outlet Craft Beer Bar Takumi at the Mandarin Orchard Hotel. Takumi has many JiBiru staples on its menu including Hitachino Nest White Ale (from $9.50 a glass during happy hour), Shiga Kogen Pale Ale (from $10.50 a glass during happy hour) and Owa ($16.50 a bottle). Adding to that, they have a focus on limited edition and barrel-aged beers like Kuro Owa Grand Cru 2013 aged in Bordeaux wine barrels ($58 for a 750ml bottle), Shiga Kogen No 10 Anniversary IPA ($21 a bottle) and Belgian offering Buffalo Grand Cru Barrel Aged ($58 for a 750ml bottle). 5/F Mandarin Orchard Hotel, Mandarin Orchard Singapore, 333 Orchard Rd., open daily 11am-midnight.
Highball
Highball
Brought to you by Kino Soh, whose resume covers some of our favorite places, such as Bar Stores, Hopscotch and Fresh!, and who was recently one of four finalists in the Singapore edition of Diageo World Class 2016, has brought the Japanese highball trend to a quiet neighborhood stretch on Kampong Bahru. She and her all-female bartending crew serve up simple and affordable highballs, starting at $10, such as gin and tonics, and whisky-sodas. The place also has a Japanese ice making machine that makes pretty 45mm iceballs for minimal dilution. #01-01 79 Kampong Bahru. Open Mon-Sat 4pm-midnight.
The S Bar
The S Bar on Club Street
Unless you’ve had dinner at Senso, you probably didn’t know they had a tucked away bar on Club Street with ever-closed doors. Now, the Senso Group is changing all that with the reopening of The S Bar. Try their special Prosecco cocktails if you like something sweet, such as the Rosecco ($18), a simple concoction of raspberry and rose Prosecco; or the Rossini ($17), made with strawberry puree and Prosecco. But if you want to have something more classic, try the bar’s take on the Negroni ($20), Americano ($18) and more. The food menu is not that extensive list but it’s enough to get you through the night. Apart from the usual platter of cheese and cold cuts, they’ve added a selected of arrancini stuffed risotto balls, six pieces with Arrabiatta sauce ($13). 21 Club St. Open Mon-Fri noon-3pm; Mon-Thu 5:30-11pm, Fri-Sat 5:30pm-midnight; Sunday 6-11pm.
Quaich Bar at South Beach
Quaich Bar at South Beach Avenue
If you’re more into Scotch than bourbon, try Quaich’s second outlet at the retail section of the exciting new South Beach development. Quaich brings you the same whisky bar experience you know and love with a few bells and whistles and over 500 whiskies to offer with many of them— including some of the oldest and rarest—available by the glass. Exciting drams include the rich, fruity Springbank 16 Year Old Local Barley ($38), the spicy Kilkerran Calvados Single Cask ($37) which is limited to just 60 bottles in Singapore and the creamy, herbaceous Glenglassaugh 40 Years Old Vintage 1973 ($156). As for the food situation, think bar bites with a big upgrade – a Scottish cheese plate ($21), Scottish smoked deep sea salmon ($24), jamon iberico (from $24) and more. #01-16 South Beach Avenue, 30 Beach Rd. Open Mon-Sat 5pm-1am.
