Check out Singapore’s new bars: From a martini club near Tanglin and prohibition-themed speakeasy on Amoy Street, to a contemporary cocktail bar nestled within a heritage building, our bar scene has a busy season ahead. Text by Eris Choo
The Singapore Martini Club
Created by Dario Knox, the bar veteran behind The Backdrop, the new Tanglin destination takes inspiration from the golden age of luxury rail travel. Vintage train-carriage-style booths, atmospheric lighting, rich textures and polished finishes set the scene for what the bar calls its “Martini Journey Experience”.
The Singapore Martini Club’s menu spans more than 50 martini expressions, including alcoholic and zero-proof options, organised as a journey through different flavour “stops”. Zesty serves include the Kochi Yuzu Martini with gin, sake, yuzu, cucumber, lavender and lime, while the savoury Tokyo Spice Martini layers seven types of Japanese spices with tequila and lemon for a bold, fiery finish. Further along are tea-led, fruity and herbal variations, as well as playful riffs such as the Mexican Espresso Martini with tequila, coffee, hazelnut and coconut.
House signatures push the format further. The Sub-Zero Dry Martini combines selected gins and dry vermouth for an intensely chilled serve, while the ‘Guanciale’ Sinful Martini uses guanciale oil to lend gin extra richness. For bites, there are olives chosen to complement different spirits and vermouths, alongside Jamón Ibérico, tuna belly tartare, bikini and tiramisu. Appropriately, both drinks and food are served late into the night. It also makes a useful stop for anyone feeling peckish around Orchard Road, with the full food menu available until 2am.
(Related article: Singapore Cocktail Scene Resets: Jigger & Pony Expands with Pop City x Pony and BOP)
Blind Tiger
A “blind tiger” is Prohibition-era slang for an illegal speakeasy — though there’s nothing secret about this new late-night hideaway above Smash Street burger joint on 50 Amoy Street. Blind Tiger’s dimly lit interiors evoke the clandestine atmosphere of bars from that era, with a cocktail list to match that includes The Borderline Smuggler (jalapeño-infused tequila, strawberry, orange) and Midnight Shipment (rum, cold brew coffee, vanilla, orange).
The Indigo Signal, named for the coded signals that once told patrons it was safe to enter an establishment, gets a local twist via butterfly pea-infused gin that shifts colour with yuzu liqueur, lemon and honey. A bar bites menu is in the works, including smash burger sliders and mini fried chicken caviar sandos.
Bar Kap
A new chapter unfolds at the House of Tan Yeok Nee, the last of Singapore’s Four Grand Mansions, with the launch of Bar Kap, an intimate cocktail bar designed as a living archive of the building’s history. Developed with Studio Ryecroft, the menu is themed around four eras, from the building’s earliest years to the present day, each represented by its own range of cocktails.
From the Kapitan Era, try the Pepper Peddler, a baijiu-gin-makgeolli highball lifted with citrus, pepper and a firewater tincture—a tribute to Tan Yeok Nee’s trading years. The Station Master Era, meanwhile, pays homage to another house occupant—a British station master—with the spirit-forward Dynamo, weaving Irish whiskey, amaro, sherry and Drambuie. Soy, chocolate and cardamom lend a touch of complexity. The drink forms part of Bar Kap’s clay-ageing programme, where cocktails are matured in purple clay vessels to soften texture and refine flavour, making Bar Kap the first in Singapore to revive the 8,000-year-old practice.
Food similarly reworks familiar flavours: try the Mee Kapitan with minced pork and shrimp paste, or Bar Kap Bao filled with beef and house-special achar. Dessert brings a dose of nostalgia with a rainbow Ice Cream Sandwich. The one-of-a-kind setting retains the mansion’s original timber beams and intricate carvings, juxtaposed with mirrors, and a Y-shaped bar console. Upholstered chairs feature handwoven textiles inspired by Teochew motifs, while raised booths take cues from traditional Chinese teahouses. Private spaces include the train carriage-inspired Carriage Room and The Chamber, modelled after a TCM apothecary.
Hi Stranger
Hi Stranger, the newest addition to Neil Road’s stretch of eclectic bars and eateries, is a cocktail bar built as a playground for the curious, with evolving visuals, menus, and music told through ‘chapters’. Its opening chapter, A World Aglow, draws on the acclaimed documentary Fire of Love, following French volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft. The menu leans into smoke, spice, funk and intensity with signatures like The Funky Daiquiri (Jamaican rum, lime, chilli) and The Smoky Sour (Scotch and Islay whiskies, citrus, bitters). For the adventurous, taster portions of rare spirits sourced by the founders on their travels include Philippine rum, Swedish whisky and Mexican raicilla.
Xava Skybar
Xava Skybar, atop National Gallery Singapore, is the latest from the C.O.T.U. team, who is also behind Filter and Attica. The rooftop space overlooks the Civic District, anchored by a bespoke LED ceiling that cycles through digital artworks and light compositions, from cloudscapes to sunsets, timed to the day’s rhythm. Cocktails rework classics with regional flavours—think the XAVA Sling, a Singapore Sling riff with gin, guava and longan honey, and Mango Hour, with vodka, glutinous rice, mango, coconut, Sapporo Lager and mango caviar. The kitchen presents an international smorgasbord of dishes such as king prawns with tomato gelee and lobster cream, bourbon-glazed beef short ribs, and duck lasagne.