In the mood for a big celebration just like ours? We’ve got 5 bars to recommend, each with their own unique specialty that’s sure to leave you feeling happy.
By Hiasa Kyte
As you might’ve heard, we celebrated our first birthday in July, and we haven’t lost the party mood just yet. Between shots the night before and Bloody Marys the morning after, we got to thinking about the things that make a great celebration. Five things to be precise. And here’s where you can find them.
The people behind this bar with a not-quite-rhyming name want you to have a good time, and they’ll make sure of it with carefully curated free flow plans tailored to your desire to get hammered. Their deals include the Happy Turtle (S$49), a free flow of spirits, the Beer Turtle (S$59), a free flow of beer, and the Buzz Turtle (S$64), a free flow of beer, cider and spirits. You can also top-up S$10 to include cocktails in the mix, and group packages are available. Each free flow lasts for two hours.
Purple Turtle
45 Boat Quay
Singapore 049835
9876 1338
Mon – Thu & Sun: 4pm – 2am
Fri & Sat: 4pm – 3am
We hear you, sometimes it’s not about quantity, but quality, and no sound signifies a cultured celebration like the pop of a champagne cork. Oyster Bar at Customs House has one of the best champagne lists anywhere in Singapore, ranging from a casual S$130 for a bottle of Delamotte to a cool S$6,000 for a 1996 Krug Clos d’Ambonnay. It all depends on how much you have to celebrate.
Oyster Bar
70 Collyer Quay
#01-01 Customs House
Singapore 049323
6534 5534
Mon – Wed: 11am – 2pm & 6pm – midnight
Thu: 11am – 1am
Fri: 11am – 2am
Sat: 4pm – midnight
Sun: 2pm – 9pm
While one school of thought leads you to bubbly, another will take you to a plush couch, single malt whisky in one hand and one of Cuba’s finest in the other, with the poshest accent you can put on. The Olde Cuban is the very definition of a hidden gem, located above a seafood restaurant in the touristy part of Chinatown. With a hundred whiskies and a walk-in humidor, it’s the closest you’ll get to classic cool without changing your surname to Hemingway.
The Olde Cuban
2 Trengganu Street
#02-01
Singapore 058456
6222 2207
Mon – Fri: 11am – 12:30am
Sat, Sun & PH: 1pm – 12:30am
Alright, so Fat Cow is a restaurant, but we think its cocktails would earn it a place on any list of good drinking spots. How about a Negroni-san (switching out gin for Juniper-infused shochu) or a Mukashu (an Old Fashioned with a Nikka “From the Barrel” base)? You get the picture. A good feed is essential to festivities, and the beef at Fat Cow represents some of the best stuff from around the world. Think Grade A3 and A4 wagyu from Japan’s Saga, Iwate and Ohmi prefectures, full-blood black angus from Australia and “True Natural” bottom sirloin from American supplier Brandt Beef.
Fat Cow
1 Orchard Boulevard
#01-01/02 Camden Medical Centre
Singapore 248649
6735 0308
Mon – Sat: 12pm – 3pm & 6pm – 11pm
No celebration is complete without cake, and at 2am, they’re considerate enough to tell you exactly which alcoholic beverage you should order with your dessert – tiramisu with a 2009 Nivasco Brachetto d’Asti, for example. You can also sample the 4X4 dessert and wine degustation menu.
2am:dessertbar
21A Lorong Liput
Singapore 277733
6291 9727
Mon – Sat: 10am – 2am
Hiasa Kyte is a contributor to Straatosphere. From absinthe to zinfandel, Hiasa drinks it all. While he knows his way around grand old whiskies and Bordeaux First Growths, he gets his real kicks trying unheralded booze found on the dusty lower shelves of the alcohol world.