Native

The sourness in the signature drink came from weaver ants, not limes. That was the point.

Native is for a drink you cannot order anywhere else, made from things you have probably never tasted, and it suits two curious people far better than a birthday table. There are no classic cocktails, so if someone in your party is set on a Negroni, this is the wrong staircase. Tell the bartender what you usually like, then ask about the spirit you have never heard of; that is where the evening gets interesting.

The regional rule

Around the end of 2016, Vijay Mudaliar left Operation Dagger, climbed the stairs of a shophouse at 52A Amoy Street and set himself an awkward rule: everything behind the bar would come from the region. That meant Thai and Indonesian rums, Sri Lankan arrack, Indian whiskies and Chinese baijiu, plus herbs and roots foraged close to home. Nearly a decade on, Native still runs on that idea.

Then there were the ants. The drink that made Native's name was Antz: Thai rum with salt-baked tapioca, coconut yoghurt and soursop, finished with locally foraged weaver ants for acidity. The joke had a serious point. The ants supplied the sourness that most bars buy in as limes. In 2018 Native was the Highest Climber on The World's 50 Best Bars, jumping 34 places to No.13.

The shock value was never the product. "We wanted to sell something other than flavor," Mudaliar told the drinks site PUNCH. The bar swaps fresh citrus for acids fermented in-house, serves in locally made ceramics, cuts its coasters from lotus leaves and keeps the playlist mostly Singaporean and Southeast Asian. Mudaliar prefers the word regional to Asian, because the point is working with people closer to home, and he adopted zero-waste habits well before sustainability became a menu buzzword.

The rooms

The house comes in two parts: the second-floor bar, snug rather than showy, where drinks arrive as stories about their ingredients and the regional makers behind the spirits, and a third-floor tasting room with a fermentation bar under a skylight. There is no restaurant listed, so treat dinner as a separate plan.

Where it stands

The rankings have cooled since the early years. Native was No.45 on Asia's 50 Best Bars in 2025 and No.84 on the world's 51–100 list, down from No.67 the year before; in July 2026 it landed at No.80 on Asia's extended 51–100 list. We read that less as decline than as the rest of Amoy Street catching up: plenty of bars now talk about local produce, fermentation and regional spirits, and Native was doing it in 2016. Mudaliar once described it as an idea that could be planted anywhere. It seems to have taken root.

How to do it well

Go as a pair. If you need a non-alcoholic drink or have dietary limits, say so outright rather than assuming. The second round tends to beat the first, because by then you know what to ask. It is closed on Sundays; Chinatown and Telok Ayer are the nearest stations.

Good to know 52A Amoy Street, a short walk from Chinatown and Telok Ayer. The official site lists the bar as open Monday–Thursday 6pm–midnight and Friday–Saturday 6pm–1am, closed Sunday; check hours and booking on tribenative.com before you go.

Bars where the glass does the talking: our pick for conversation.

Native | 52A Amoy Street, Singapore 069878 | Nearest MRT: Chinatown