Side Door

Concrete floors, a skylight and some figurines. Then the drinks arrive and you understand the awards.

Side Door is the bar to pick when you want serious cocktails without a serious room. Bannie Kang builds the drinks, her husband Tryson Quek, a former chef de cuisine, runs the kitchen, and the Neil Road room seats about 40 under a skylight rather than in the usual dark cave. Book, sit at the counter and let Kang choose. The compromise is the calendar: it is closed on Sundays and Mondays.

The credentials explain the confidence. Kang, who is South Korean, was named Bartenders' Bartender at Asia's 50 Best Bars in 2021, an award voted by other bartenders, and World Class Bartender of the Year in 2019; Quek was World Class Singapore champion in 2025. The bar is No. 57 on Asia's 50 Best Bars 51–100 for 2026. Before Neil Road the couple ran Anti:Dote's bar and kitchen at Fairmont, then a private diner out of their own three-room HDB flat, which is about as Singaporean a route to a ranked bar as exists. The Neil Road space opened in November 2023, and the name is a nod to coming in by the side rather than the front.

The room is closer to a café than a cocktail bar: concrete floors, a skylight, plants and Quek's collection of mini figurines. It looks casual; the drinks are not. Easy Peasy is London Dry gin with lime leaves, dry vermouth and Taiwanese mountain pepper, and it is the drink that explains the bar: a short list of ingredients, none of them showing off. Holy Moly Mary crosses a Bloody Mary with a Moscow Mule, using tomato-infused vodka and ginger beer with a plum-powder rim. The Green Door brings Tanqueray No. 10, green Chartreuse, cucumber and lime, and Kang has said the paloma-inspired Seaside is her pick for first-timers. There are throwbacks to her competition drinks too, and wine, champagne and local craft beer for anyone who came in for one.

Don't treat the food as an afterthought, because it is Quek's half of the deal: beef tartare with smoked yuzu sorbet, fried spring chicken in limited numbers (so order it early), and a souped-up Nissin cup ramen with grilled prawns and scallops for late nights. A pairing menu matches small bites to cocktails, which is the way to go if you can't decide.

How to do it well: book, come early in the evening and ask for the counter, where you can watch the drinks being made and ask about them. It sits between Outram Park and Maxwell MRT, so it works as the first stop of a Tanjong Pagar night or the last. Prices are in the facts box.

Good to know 3 Neil Road, #01-01, between Outram Park and Maxwell MRT. Open Tuesday to Saturday from 5pm; book ahead and check the bar's own channels for any change to hours.

Side Door | 3 Neil Road, #01-01, Singapore 088805 | Nearest MRT: Outram Park, Maxwell