ATLAS

The gin tower is eight metres, or fifteen, depending who's telling it. Either way, look up.

ATLAS is the room to show a visitor that Singapore does drama indoors as well as out, and the bar for a date or a celebration where the setting is half the point. Dress for it: there is a smart-casual code from 5pm, with no shorts or slippers. It is closed on Sundays, and worth booking.

Gotham's lobby

Parkview Square, the Art Deco tower on North Bridge Road that many people know by its nickname, Gotham, was completed in 2002 as the crowning project of developer CS Hwang of the Chyau Fwu Group. Since 2017 its ground-floor lobby has been ATLAS, a Jazz Age-styled bar and dining room the Hwang family created to be grand but welcoming. Grand is not in doubt: high ceilings, gold finishes, plush banquettes and soft lighting, and the Great Gatsby comparison writes itself.

The tower nobody can measure

The first thing to look at is the gin tower rising through the middle of the room, and here the story gets pleasingly unreliable. Published figures range from an eight-metre tower to a 15-metre one, and from roughly 900 labels to more than 1,300 bottles, some dating back to 1910. Either way, it is a lot of gin. Before ATLAS, the space was a wine bar where a bartender dressed as a fairy was winched up on wires to fetch bottles; these days a sommelier and a conversation do the job.

What to order

That conversation is the useful part. The bar promises one of Asia's finest collections of gin, spirits and champagne, so tell the staff what kind of gin you like and let them steer, rather than trying to scale the shelves by eye. The house order is the ATLAS Martini, built on the bar's own London Dry Gin, launched in 2025, with vermouth, orange bitters and champagne vinegar. There is also a rose-gold champagne room with more than 240 labels. Food leans European and all-day, and afternoon tea is the way in for anyone who would rather admire the ceiling before sundown.

The credentials match the decor: No. 27 on Asia's 50 Best Bars in 2023 and No. 42 on the world list in 2024. Order one thing slowly, look up often and decide for yourself how tall that tower is. Bugis MRT is a short walk away.

Good to know Parkview Square, 600 North Bridge Road, a short walk from Bugis MRT. The official site lists a smart-casual dress code from 5pm (no shorts or slippers) and posts dated closures; check opening hours there and book ahead before you go.

More rooms worth dressing up for: our bars for conversation.

ATLAS | Parkview Square, 600 North Bridge Road, Singapore 188778 | Nearest MRT: Bugis