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Slideshow
Top 10 hidden Singapore bars
Singapore may be known for sky-high cocktail hot spots and gleaming Champagne bars, but there’s an underworld of secret drinking dens tucked away amid the glitz and glamour.
Singapore has come a long way from the Singapore Sling and impressively-linen-ed Colonial bars frequented by expats.
Over the last few years there’s been an upsurge in underground, hidden-away boozers serving anything from premium whisky to hard-to-find Champagne.
Click through to discover Singapore’s secret saloons…
28 Hong Kong Street
The website doesn’t give anything away so it’s just as well the location is in the name. Overseen by San Franciscan bar expert Michael Callahan, 28HKS looks from the outset a nondescript 1960s shop but peer behind the velvet curtains and there’s a buzzing bar which seats 60 – plus standing room “to keep things lively.”
The drinks are a mix of spirits and American-style cocktails created by Callahan and his team, as well as a generous side order of craft beers from the US and a selection of grower champagnes.
28HKS, 28 Hong Kong Street (surprisingly), Singapore, 059667
Operation Dagger
Despite the Clouseau-esque name, Operation Dagger really is off the beaten track with no signage but a tempting vampire-esque symbol near the door which opens to a dark corridor, a dingy staircase and downstairs, an array of achingly cool drinks served in unmarked bottles.
Have a stab at the varied cocktail list which doesn’t list the alcohol used but just the ingredients – in a bid to dissuade drinkers from rejecting a drink because of their preconceived idea of a particular spirit.
Operation Dagger, 7 Ann Siang Hill, Singapore, 069791
The Horse’s Mouth
Hidden behind a curtain and secret sliding door combo at Forum in Orchard Road is The Horse’s Mouth which takes its cues from Japanese drinking dens with plenty of dark corners for louche drinkers.
Known for its premium whisky and lavish cocktails, this is one well-designed drinking hole which also offers a mean selection of Japanese snacks – Eihire (stingray fins), anyone?
The Horse’s Mouth, 583 Orchard Road, Singapore, 238884
The Library
Dubbed by some as Singapore’s worst kept secret, The Library is at least hidden away behind a fake bookcase and requires a password to get in.
However, this password is easily found on its Facebook page or by going into its sister restaurant, The Study next door and asking a passing bartender.
Still, cocktails are served in copper mugs and you’re challenged to ask for anything you like. The Bloody Mary with lamb fat-washed vodka is a particular favourite with the locals.
The Library, 47 Keong Saik Road, Singapore, 089153
Ah Sam Cold Drink Stall
Looking like it’s come straight out of a hawker centre, Ah Sam keeps things simple and old-school Singaporean with details such as latticed window grills and old Cock Brand glass tumblers all sourced from flea markets and dumpsters around town.
Drinks are infused with local flavours including milo, pandan and gula melaka and there are classic cocktails with a twist including Gin Fizz, Scotch and Cointreau-based Blood & Sand and rye whisky-based Old Pal.
Ah Sam Cold Drink Stall, 60A Boat Quay, Singapore, 049848
The Spiffy Dapper
Located right next to Ah Sam’s, Spiffy Dapper is another hole-in-the-wall bar which radiates a 1920s Jazz Age atmosphere with its rustic interior and mustachioed bartenders.
The self-styled “cocktail geeks” will whip up a startling array of concoctions for the crowd who range from tech start up founders to the media to general hangers-on.
The “Sheik on the Level” cocktail in homage to Rudolph Valentine is a heady mix of Turkish black tea gin sours finished off with cardamom.
The Spiffy Dapper, 2/F, 73 Amoy Street, Singapore, 069892
The Cufflink Club
Apparently styled “boozer run by the boys, for the boys” according to Time Out, the Cufflink Club is the brainchild of ex-Tipplig Club mixologist, Joel Fraser.
With a bawdy and laddish atmosphere (down to piped-in Alan Partridge through the bathroom speakers), the Cufflink Club offers “an integrated concept of charcuterie and cocktails,” with one ironic speciality dubbed, “The Cocktail Formerly Known as Quince” – a hard-hitting combination of pisco and quince liqueur offset by fig jam, citrus, honey, bitters and egg white.
The Cufflink Club, 6 Jiak Chuan Rd, Singapore, 089262
Bitters and Love
As another bar-hidden-behind-something else, Bitters and Love announces its presence with a simple mailbox signboard.
The lack of a menu is a nod towards its hipster vibe but the bartenders easily whip up impressive cocktails such as the Kaya Toast (with a mini kaya toast served alongside) and mocktails served in plastic baby bottles as a playful dig towards teetotallers.
Bitters and Love, 36 North Canal Rd, Singapore, 059292
The Tippling Club
For boozers who crave seriously mad molecular cocktail combinations, make a beeline to Singapore stalwart, the Tippling Club.
Overseen by head bartender Kamil Foltan and his team, the Tippling Club serves up the most whacky concoctions such as the Night Shift at the Potato Factory which comes with potato vodka, whisky, roast potato skin and espresso and La’ Final (pictured) which uses Venezuelan dark rum, sweet vermouth, pimento drum and walnut bitters, complete with a smokey chocolate cigar pastry served in a crystal ashtray.
The Tippling Club, 38 Tanjong Pagar Road, Singapore, 088461
The Secret Mermaid
Masquerading as a salad bar by day, the Secret Mermaid transforms into a cocktail bar at the stroke of five in the afternoon.
Elusively nestled away behind a nondescript industrial sliding door, it gives a hint to its whereabouts with a quirky mermaid sign and once inside, offers a well-stocked but bizarre selection of American “craft” spirits, including Smoked Salmon Vodka, and bacon-flavoured Bakon Vodka.
The Secret Mermaid, 10 Collyer Quay, B1-08 Ocean Financial Centre, Singapore, 049315