Singapore’s Bar Power List 2025: The Top 10 Brands

By Know Well

Singapore’s drinking scene has never been just about cocktails, it is about culture, creativity, and the quiet mastery of experience design. In 2025, Time Out Singapore’s “50 Best Bars” list once again cements the city’s status as Asia’s mixology powerhouse. Despite rising rents, manpower challenges, and $25 cocktails becoming the norm, the city’s top venues have turned constraint into creativity, blending storytelling, sustainability, and sensory craftsmanship into compelling brand ecosystems. Below are the Top 10 bars shaping Singapore’s brand of modern hospitality.

1. Side Door  

Minimalism as a Signature: Run by power couple Bannie Kang and Tryson Quek, Side Door is proof that less can be more. Its stripped-back industrial aesthetic and precise, balanced drinks define a new form of understated luxury. Culinary pairings like cumin mid joints and buttercream gnocchi transform the bar into a holistic tasting experience, the very essence of quiet confidence branding.

2. Fura  

Sustainability Meets Subversion: Helmed by Sasha Wijidessa and Christina Rasmussen, Fura takes sustainability beyond buzzwords. Its use of cell-cultured milk, insect protein, and invasive species like jellyfish isn’t shock marketing. It’s innovation with integrity. Each drink, like the vegan “Caviar Papi,” positions Fura as a thought leader in the global shift toward conscious consumption.

3. Offtrack

Where Music Becomes the Brand: Created by nightlife veterans Dean Chew and Daniel O’Connor, Offtrack merges mixology with music culture. The result is a sonic bar brand, one that thrives at the intersection of rhythm, taste, and community. With its seasonal highballs and ambient playlists, Offtrack has redefined what experiential drinking means in the post-nightclub era.

4. Hup San Social Club 

Heritage in Four Seats: A four-seater bar by Korean mixologist June Baek, Hup San Social Club turns intimacy into exclusivity. Each drink, from the Cold Soup, a cocktail inspired by Korean chilled cucumber soup, to the French Fries whisky infusion, embodies Baek’s signature blend of nostalgia and refinement. It is micro-branding done right, where scarcity and storytelling become currency.

5. The Elephant Room 

A Toast to Little India: Founded by Yugnes Susela, The Elephant Room channels the colour and vibrancy of Singapore’s Little India through cocktails that taste like cultural narratives, from pink guava G&Ts to biryani-inspired spirits. Its strong sense of identity has made it a cultural touchstone, proving that heritage can be high design.

6. Jigger & Pony 

The Benchmark of Consistency: Ranked fifth on World’s 50 Best Bars 2024, Jigger & Pony is Singapore’s gold standard of hospitality. Its design, service, and signature Espresso Martini embody a heritage of precision. For global bar watchers, it remains not just a venue, but a symbol of Singapore’s craft legacy.

7. Last Word 

The Art of Simplicity: A minimalist retreat on Purvis Street, Last Word has mastered the fine art of doing one thing exceptionally well. Its namesake cocktail is clean, bittersweet, and flawless, a brand built on the promise that consistency is luxury.

8. Native

Southeast Asia in a Glass: Vijay Mudaliar’s Native is a pioneer of locality and authenticity. From jackfruit rum and laksa leaves to goat’s milk and candlenut, every element tells a Southeast Asian story. Native isn’t just a bar; it’s a manifesto for creative sovereignty in a global industry, a cultural export in cocktail form.

9. Bar Somma

Chic, Playful, and Perfectly Dirty: Home to the city’s most talked-about dirty martini, Bar Somma nails its blend of casual elegance and brand theatre, complete with complimentary beef tripe paninis during happy hour. It is not just hospitality; it is ritualized indulgence.

10. Gibson

Heritage Reinvented: From the Jigger & Pony Group, Gibson pairs Japanese precision with Singaporean sophistication. The namesake cocktail; a mix of Roku gin and Ginjo sake-vermouth, anchors the brand’s identity: timeless, technical, and artfully restrained.

In a world of algorithmic trends and viral hype, these bars remind us that the most enduring brands aren’t built on aesthetics alone, they’re built on emotion, intention, and the human art of connection.

Source: TimeOut, “The 50 best bars in Singapore”.
https://www.timeout.com/singapore/bars-and-pubs/best-bars-in-singapore?.com