If there is one precious resource in the Lion City, it's space. Everywhere you look on this tiny island skyscrapers are going up and traditional shophouses are under threat, so a number of new bars and restaurants have adopted a time-share arrangement with more traditional kopitiams and retail businesses for the mutual benefit of both operations.
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By day you can get kaya toast and kopi-o but come evening the space is transformed into a moody den of craft spirits and boutique beers. Noodles are replaced by bar snacks, coffee by cocktails. For the owners of these shared spaces it means half the rent; for punters and partygoers in the city-state it's a case of double happiness.
The pioneer of this trend was the aptly named Two Face Pizza and Taproom (now closed) in Tiong Bahru, an enclave of expats and Singapore's fashionable set. The high rents in this blooming burg is what drove Two Face owner Victor Tan to see if he could co-exist with the "day guys", a traditional kopitiam, and not only save on costs but help the area retain some of its old-school charm.
Around three in the afternoon on busy Eng Hoon Street✓ the specials boards of the kopitiam were packed away and the mobile beer taps of Two Face wheeled into place, dark screens covered white-tiled walls and the pizza joint came to life.
Another traditional Tiong Bahru eatery that transforms itself at night is Hua Bee located in one of the curvaceous mid-century-era housing estates that give the areaits retro appeal. When the sun goes down Hua Bee, which has been on the site since the 1940s and featured in Singaporean film Mee Pok Man, turns into Bincho a yakitori-ya (Japanese grill) and cocktail bar, where you might find omakase sets or hot pots. Even Bincho's website celebrates its dual use with a button that fades from Hua Bee to Bincho depending on the time of day you select.
Still in Tiong Bahru, the Dough and Grain bakery decided to make use of an old storage area out back and turn it into Backdoor @ Seng Poh, a poky 18-seater bar which shares the bakery's tiny kitchen. Backdoor has New World wines and Western food and is a perfect size for holding movie nights or small functions.
But this new trend is not just contained to food and beverage outlets. A more unusual combo can be found just off Chinatown where cocktail bar Jekyll & Hyde shares its space with Manicurious, a popular nail salon. Owner of the bar Jeff Ho has taken collaboration a step further so that the businesses overlap and open at the same time – you can have your nails done and sip on one of Jekyll & Hyde's liquid creations.
Bespoke cocktails are also the go at Bitters & Love around the corner from Jekyll and Hyde. Bitters & Love was ahead on two Singaporean trends: by day it is a lunchtime noodle joint called Shoebox Canteen and it was also one of the Lion City's first "no menu" cocktail bars. Just sit in one of the dark booths and tell the waitstaff a few of your favourite flavours and they will bring a surprise in a glass. You'll not find this same bar, but with a different concept at Telok Ayer.
And if you indulge a little too much at these new dual-use establishments look on the bright side: you can come back in the morning for a coffee and a restorative bowl of noodles to get your day started.
Five more hip Singapore bars
The Secret Mermaid
Dual-use bar Shinkansen, a lunchtime Japanese eatery, morphs into this tightly packed home of craft spirits. The food signs come down, the drinks lists goes up and Old Fashioneds or a Sazerac are the order of the day. Or go for the whisky tasting flight.
10 Collyer Quay; thesecretmermaid.com
The Library
This is the smaller sibling to Brit chef Jason Atherton's restaurant, the Study. With the weekly password (which is hardly a well-kept secret, ask any surrounding hotel) you access a dark and brooding space with the requisite shelves stuffed with books. Cocktails are killer, but so are the bar snacks coming out of the shared kitchen.
49 Keong Saik Road; the-study.sg
The 1925
With boutique beers all the rage, this is one of Singapore's few micro-breweries with homemade brews on tap like The Yellow Van and Blk 6.22. Food is top notch too and you have to love a bar that has Streaky Bacon chips, grilled to snapping point and served with grilled pineapple – food made by people who love their beer.
369 Jalan Besar; the1925.com.sg
28 Hong Kong Street
One of the original speakeasies in the Lion City, there is no sign, just a light hanging over a yellow door. Head through an antechamber and curtain and you find this cosy bar with friendly staff who have a clear grasp of the cocktail classics.
28 Hong Kong Street, Chinatown; 28hks.com
Bar Stories
This upstairs bar in a small shophouse in the Malay Quarter pioneered the "no menu" trend in cocktails. It's all about the vibe here as you describe what flavours float your cocktail umbrella. My tip, include yuzu in there somewhere. I have been spent hours trying to recreate the yuzu-inspired martini I once had here.
55/57A Haji Lane;
TRIP NOTES
MORE INFORMATION
GETTING THERE
Major airlines Singapore Airlines (singaporeair.com), Qantas (qantas.com), Emirates (emirates.com) and British Airways (britishairways.com) all fly to Singapore from Melbourne and Sydney. For low-cost carriers, Scoot (flyscoot.com) flies from Sydney to Singapore and Jetstar (jetstar.com) flies from Melbourne to Singapore.
STAYING THERE
Hotel Clover
Doubles from $S280 with breakfast at this good mid-range option set in the Arab Quarter with a foyer referencing its former life as a textile house.
769 North Bridge Road; hotelclover.com.sg
DRINKING THERE
Hua Bee/Bincho is at 78 Moh Guam Terrace, bincho.com.sg. Backdoor@Seng P oh/Dough and Grains bakery shares a shophouse at 71 Seng Poh Road, +65 6225 5223. Jekyll and Hyde/Manicurious are at 49 Tras Street, Chinatown, 49tras.st. Bitters @ Love/Shoebox canteen share space at 36 North Canal Road, +65 6438 1836.
Brought to you in association with the Singapore Tourism Board
