Neighbourhood bars in Singapore

The streetlights cast an orange hue against a quiet and slightly gusty Selegie Road. Two young women stroll past. One has legs seemingly up to her armpits and that slightly too- probing stare that hints that, in a different light, she is indeed a he. Out here on Singapore’s nightlife margins, there are few stars, but plenty of characters. Our mission in this lonely part of Singapore is simple. We want a drink. But not a drink out of a test tube, or one that requires a fight to place an order. In fact, not an inner-city, corporate-branded, queue-at-the door- for-disgruntled-service type of drink at all.

Tonight, and for the next week, we are in search of some soulful sipping, in bars set far from the maddening crowds. Somewhere you might actually go for a chat. Does the city have any neighbourhood bars worth returning to, we asked? My friends and I were about to find out, one glass at a time. First up, Night and Day feels like a hole-in-the-wall bar you could find in Lower Manhattan or East Berlin. Here, the lights are dimmed, the decor is dressed down and stripped back, and the music offbeat and suitably loud. The bar’s industrial loft space, complete with couches and lampshades, and clever glass-divided smoking veranda, has a creative air to it that suggests you’ve arrived in somebody’s home. At least, a home where they encourage you to write on the walls.

Sadly, few of the student-aged crowd here will go from wall writer to novelist. But the graffiti on painted concrete, together with comic-style artworks, spot lampshades and deliberately mismatched retro menu covers, lend kudos to a bar which has dared to go down-market in the right way. It’s the kind of place you’d meet your publisher if you had recently graduated from writing on walls. And while I’d like to say the service was amazing and the cocktails superb for the price, that would be a stretch – yet both proved charming enough for me to dub this my favourite neighbourhood hipster bar.

It is Monday evening, and we need music to drown out our screaming. And because drinking within walking distance of home is not really drinking, we head over to Wala Wala Bar and Café in Holland Village. Wala’s is a suburban mainstay that needs no introduction, yet its upstairs bar remains a hidden gem for many. Wearing its unpretentious student-pub status on its sleeve, the bar is a cosy, lowceilinged space dedicated to watching bands in an up-close-and-personal manner. Normally, covers bands induce me to either leave, or drink copious amounts until they sound good. But 53A, fronted by Sara Wee – a talented vocalist with a remarkably big voice – proved an exception to my rule. Even some of my most seasoned media friends gathered on the night noted, ‘Wah, this one got talent.’

'My friend and I decided this is probably the sort of place you go for the watercooler office affair – a remote, tranquil spot where your colleagues are unlikely to find you.'

Drinking on a school night? A more sedate place would be advised. Instead, on Tuesday I head over to Handle Bar. Now I know theme bars have become a painfully overplayed concept, but this biker bar is the real deal. In fact, sitting inside after a cold pint and lashings of their gumbo soup, you begin to realise that Handle Bar is as much a rebel’s drop-in support group as it is a bar. The lovingly compiled space is a living museum of motorbike memorabilia, from posters, books and slideshows to skateboards, flying skeletons, and yes, a bike engine fashioned into a beer tap.

Refreshingly free of the vagaries of fashion or political correctness, this is the type of place you go for honest-to-goodness dishes like Slap Yo Momma Pork Chops, or the Beer Butt Chicken, which the menu says is ‘smoked big bird over a beer can smoked up its ass’. Goodness. Yet among the oil and testosterone, Handle Bar manages to still feel clean, friendly, and free of the brawling bikers they usually show in the movies. Though I admit, a fight or two might have been entertaining.

In need of a workout of sorts, on Wednesday I headed out to East Coast Parkway, where I sat down with a perfect view of the joggers toiling away on the running track to enjoy an open-air drink at 1 Twenty Six, the restaurant-bar opened by the One Rochester team. While its food has garnered good reviews, the bar space, with its modern Balinese design, is at best a pleasant place to grab a sunset drink. With design elements like fountains, separate alcoves and pink-tinged under-bar lighting, this venue has gone for a more romantic-chic effect than a true neighbourhood bar would bother with. My friend and I decided this is probably the sort of place you go for the watercooler office affair – a remote, tranquil spot where your colleagues are unlikely to find you. Or, just take your partner.

Wild Oats at Emily Hill

Finally, to round out my week of suburban capers, I head up the windy streets to Mount Emily, where Wild Oats is a perfect spot for a Thursday evening. Set in a colonial house next door to the restaurant Wild Rocket, the bar recalls the old Hu’u Bar at the Singapore Arts Museum in terms of its setting and clever use of a heritage location. Sitting in the rattan chairs outside, and choosing from its interesting cocktails list, I realise the appeal of Wild Oats is not only its attractive setting, but also the fact it would be so much more crowded if located downtown. The feeling of escape up here is heightened by the small artistic community that shares the Emily Hill premises – making for a pleasant feeling of detachment at the end of my week. Having proved that with a ready map and a steadfast liver, there is drinking life outside the confines of the city, I vowed to return to my own evening couch again – resisting all temptation to write on the walls.

Where to go:

• Night and Day (139 Selegie Road; Tel: 6884 5523; website)
• Wala Wala Bar and Café (31 Lorong Mambong; Tel: 6462 4288; website)
• Handle Bar (Gillman Heights, 1 Lock Road; Tel: 6476 9571).
• 1 Twenty Six (#01- 26 Big Splash Playground, 902 East Coast Parkway; Tel: 6348 2126, website),
• Wild Oats (11 Upper Wilkie Road; Tel: 6336 5413, website)