With one swift motion, Sago House co-founder Desiree Jane Silva chalks a guest’s name on a table, mirroring the colourful scrawls that spell out the drinks menu on a repurposed windowpane behind the bar counter. It is a personal touch that makes even first-timers to this drinking spot in Duxton Hill, a few steps away from the newly opened Mondrian Singapore Duxton hotel, feel like cherished regulars. And it is gestures like this that has earned it the Michter’s Art of Hospitality Award last year and a consistent spot in the Asia’s 50 Best Bars list since 2021 (it is currently in 10th place).
Founded in 2020 during Covid-19, Sago House was first opened by Silva (formerly of 28 Hong Kong Street and premium craft spirits distributor EC Proof) and her co-founders Jay Gray (previously of Sydney’s Hinky Dinks and currently at Idle Hands) and Abhishek Cherian George (The Spiffy Dapper) in a gritty shophouse along Sago Lane in the Chinatown area. Guests would book a coveted spot in the 35-seater bar and climb up to the third floor of the residential building, often wondering if they were in the right place as they navigated the dim stairwell.
Inside, the owners had built the place almost entirely by hand, salvaging a major stage set into raised flooring and seating; even wiring and tiling the place themselves. In a city where a luxurious ambience has become the norm for cocktail bars and fine dining restaurants, Sago House’s dive bar concept, albeit with an impressively sophisticated drinks list, was an instant, refreshing hit.
At its new location since November last year, Sago House still retains the charm of its original spot but can now entertain a fuller house, thanks to the more generous standing room and outdoor seating. Guests are still greeted with the same warm chorus of “Hello!” when they enter, and it still looks cosy inside.
Drinks on the menu board change weekly based on what’s available at the local market, with six classic-style drinks always on rotation. Among its popular drinks is the Bakwa Negroni, a localised rendition of the Florentian classic. Fat-washed with bakwa, a caramelised pork jerky popular during the Lunar New Year season, the drink is full-bodied and buttery smooth, with a gentle smokiness coming through from the Montelobos mezcal. The garnish: a slice of actual bakwa, which lends a sweet-savoury note as you sip.
A five-minute walk from Sago House is the 40-seater speakeasy-style Cat Bite Club, discreetly tucked behind a café on the ground floor of a three-storey conserved shophouse, with only soundproof curtains separating the two.
“This is the kind of bar that guests will come back to over and over, and not just for special occasions”
Like Sago House, Cat Bite Club is founded by bartenders who relish the independence that running their own cocktail bar affords. “Here, we have complete creative control, from lighting to music, uniforms to operating hours,” says Jesse Vida, former head bartender at ATLAS, who opened Cat Bite Club in June with fellow mixologist Gabriel Lowe (previously of Bangkok’s Paradise Lost and San Francisco’s Black Cat). “Ultimately, it just feels good to be able to apply your experience completely, and not have to compromise because someone above you has other preferences,” Vida adds.
Cat Bite Club serves up tequila- and mezcal-inflected renditions of classic cocktails, alongside more than 100 bottles of agave spirits. Their signature Cat Bite Club Margarita, a refreshing blend of tequila, mezcal and agave nectar, remains one of their bestsellers. The bar also shines a spotlight on the underexplored rice spirit category by using, for instance, aged soju in place of cognac in I Love Gold, their own twist on the classic Vieux Carré.
Complementing the bar’s relaxed vibe are cheeky touches – such as a bathroom plastered with on-point cat memes – that add to its convivial atmosphere and differentiate it from the formality of bigger establishments. “There is a comfort in drinking at places like ours. This is the kind of bar that guests will come back to over and over, and not just for special occasions,” Vida says.
Husband and wife Bannie Kang and Tryson Quek would know. Formerly the head bartender and chef de cuisine at Fairmont Singapore hotel’s Anti:dote bar respectively, the two decided to forge their own path after Kang was named world’s best bartender at the 2019 Diageo World Class Bartender of the Year cocktail competition. They initially set up a modest four-person private diner, and in January, expanded their operations and opened Side Door, a 40-seater restaurant-bar on Neil Road, on the periphery of Duxton Hill.
The couple’s come-as-you-are policy translates into a bar with a stripped back, unpretentious aesthetic. The interior of bare concrete and natural wood is filled with personal artefacts like Quek’s collectible figurines and Kang’s lovingly cultivated plants. The minimalist ethos extends even to the drinks. Kang’s cocktails, usually presented with little adornment, are beautifully balanced. The deceptively simple Easy Peasy adds mountain peppers from Taiwan to the gin-based cocktail for an intriguing layer of complexity.
To Kang and Quek, Side Door is where they can implement their unique brand of hospitality without having to seek clearance from higher-ups. “Big hotel bars are more likely to chase accolades, whereas smaller bars can prioritise the consumer experience rather than awards. We prefer a more intimate space, where customers can come as they are – there’s no dress code,” Quek says.
That’s not to say that all cocktail bars in hotels are not fun. At voco Orchard Singapore hotel, Italian impresario Dario Knox exudes a similar sense of independence at The Backdrop, which opened in October last year. The entrance is hidden behind an unmarked wall on the hotel’s ground floor, and guests need a password to get in. Inside, the 37-seater is a sight to behold. Decked with deep red velvet curtains, a crystal chandelier and feather centrepieces, the ambiance may be more luxurious compared to other bartender-run establishments, but the atmosphere is just as fun and experimental.
Behind the bar, Knox eschews traditional bar tools and liquors in his cocktail game. Instead, his “percolated cocktail” creations utilise meticulously extracted botanics, which he fuses with flavourless distilled alcohol. Made with this technique, the Percolated Espresso Martini is a crystal clear cocktail that’s at once familiar yet disarmingly new. Elsewhere on his menu, you’ll find other sly twists on classics; for instance, his Queen Mary is a Bloody Mary made without a drop of tomato juice. Instead, he incorporates kimchi and beans to create the drink’s sensational umami.
The entire experience, from drinks to décor, is in a class of its own.
The expert distiller has 18 years of mixology experience, including setting up Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel’s The Other Room, a secret bar known for its cask-finished spirits.
“It’s my life project, my tribute to Italian artisanship,” he says of this latest venture. “It’s born from a personal need to express something that I have always wanted, that encapsulates quality, fun, attention to detail and tradition and that finally focuses on customers rather than creating another hipster spot that followed a trend,” he says.
Whether low-key and intimate or extravagant and novel, it’s clear that the new batch of cocktail bars that have opened in Singapore are delivering solid concepts, great drinks and warm hospitality. And the people behind them believe that this momentum will keep on as the bar scene continues to mature.
Sam Ng, who co-founded pizza-and-cocktails joint Puffy Bois in Kampong Glam with Zul Zaba, predicts that the shift towards unique, friendly and service-focused venues will continue as more mixologists who have worked overseas strike out on their own locally. “These experts tend to bring with them bar experiences that they themselves love, which in turn creates a sense of familiarity, home and belonging for their international clientele,” Ng says.
“As a small, independent business, we are both managers and toilet cleaners, chefs and trash collectors. You have got to do it all”
Hanging out at Puffy Bois, an easy-going, no-frills spot on the second floor of a shophouse along Bali Lane, feels like having drinks at a friend’s home – who just happens to be an award-winning bartender. “We want to create a place which we ourselves want to walk into, embodying the ethos of all the things we love in venues abroad,” explains Ng, a former Monkey Shoulder ambassador who has had stints at New York’s Employees Only and Melbourne’s Black Pearl.
Ng and Zul run a tight ship, handling all parts of the 24-seater operation themselves. Ng serves up a concise menu of smooth, well-balanced classics like the martini, Manhattan and old-fashioned, while Zul makes pizzas from scratch. “As a small, independent business, we are both managers and toilet cleaners, chefs and trash collectors. You have got to do it all,” Ng says.
Over at sustainability-minded gastrobar Fura, co-owner Sasha Wijidessa (formerly of now-shuttered Operation Dagger and Danish distillery Empirical) likewise notes a growing shift from big and splashy destination experiences to more relaxed social settings. “I think it’s more apparent with the local dining scene, but that move is also felt within bar spaces,” Wijidessa says. “These days, you see more consumers prioritising a setting where they can be comfortable, relax and enjoy their company rather than be entertained by the venue or experience itself.”
Brightly lit, narrow and minimalist, the 70-seater gastrobar opened on the second floor of a colonial-style shophouse on Amoy Street in September 2023. Here, Wijidessa’s partner, Christina Rasmussen, leans on her experience as the former head forager at Noma, the legendary Copenhagen dining spot that was repeatedly included in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list (it was number one in 2021).
Guests will find a menu peppered with unconventional ingredients like mealworm, corn husk and vegan custard. It’s all part of Wijidessa and Rasmussen’s crusade to introduce their customers to a more climate-sensitive way of dining. To the couple, this means prioritising the use of ingredients that are over-abundant or which generate a lower carbon footprint.
Wijidessa’s forward-thinking cocktails include Caviar Papi, a vodka martini-style drink that utilises pearls made from black garlic for a gently pungent umami; and the Jellyfish Martini, which incorporates the invertebrate as well as fish leaf into a clear gin-based tipple. Come with an adventurous palate and – as with its fellow newly opened indie bars – be ready to be delighted.
For more on where to drink in Singapore, check out our Singapore City Guide.
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