Gibson

Ten years in, the bermudas have gone. The pickled onion stays.

Gibson is the martini bar for a pair or a small group: bring someone who likes a martini, or someone you would like to convert, and order the namesake first. The room is intimate, so a big birthday crowd will feel it more than the bar does. Book through its reservation link, climb the stairs and let the bartender talk you round.

Ten years up the stairs

When Gibson opened in 2015, the look was half the charm: bartenders in suits and bow ties above the waist, bermudas below. A decade on, the staff have swapped that famous split for green overshirt jackets and slacks, and the menu has been rewritten under the title Timeless. The bar sits on the second floor of a restored 1930s shophouse, reached by walking past sister venues Humpback and Live Twice, with original stained glass and an antique ceiling. Co-owner Gan Guoyi belongs to the Gan clan that owns the building, which makes the Jigger & Pony group's Bukit Pasoh outpost something of a family affair. She and her husband Indra Kantono launched it with a 60-strong list in vintage glassware, and it reached No. 25 on Asia's 50 Best Bars in 2020.

The Gibson

A Gibson is a dry martini with a pickled onion. Here it is served very cold, built on Roku gin with a house ginjo sake-vermouth, and flanked by little dishes of pickled pomelo, pickled cucumber and a smoked quail egg. That sake-vermouth came out of a collaboration between the group's Aki Eguchi, Michito Kaneko of Lamp Bar and a Nara brewery, which is a lot of diplomacy for a drink most places treat as a footnote.

Made for fries

Then the joke that became a signature. The MF Martini, 2:1 gin and dry vermouth carbonated overnight for fine bubbles, stands for "made for fries" and comes with a shareable cone of them. Elsewhere on the Timeless list, a soursop-and-soy-milk spin on the Penicillin and a non-alcoholic Chin Chow Cooler with grass jelly show the Southeast Asian ingredients the bar now leans on. Oysters come up from Humpback and katsu sandos cross the landing from Live Twice, so dinner can happen without leaving the building.

How to do it well

The house motto is to be serious about the craft but never too serious about themselves, and the green-and-gold room, dim lighting and close seating suit tables of two or four. If you think you don't like martinis, say what you usually drink and let them work from there. The bar points you to Exit 4 at Outram Park MRT.

Good to know 2nd floor, 20 Bukit Pasoh Road, a short walk from Outram Park MRT (Exit 4, per the bar). The official site lists evening opening from 6pm daily, with bookings via its reservation link; check the current menu and hours before you go.

Climbing more stairs for a drink? Our bars guide has the rest.

Gibson | 2nd Floor, 20 Bukit Pasoh Road, Singapore 089834 | Nearest MRT: Outram Park