The Whiskey Library & Jazz Club

A golden elephant, a banyan tree and 1,000 bottles. The quartet is the restrained part.

The Whiskey Library & Jazz Club is for a dressed-up night with someone who enjoys a bit of theatre, and Thursday to Saturday, when the house quartet plays, is when to go. The compromise is that those are also the nights you must reserve, and the room is built for listening, not for a catch-up shouted over the music. Book a music night and arrive early; save the quiet drink for Sunday to Wednesday.

The room

It sits inside The Vagabond Club, a 41-room boutique hotel on Syed Alwi Road that has never done understated. The French decorator Jacques Garcia designed the bar: red velvet banquettes, a golden elephant, a handcrafted banyan tree and enough Parisian glamour to make you sit up straighter. Finding all that a few minutes from the shophouses of Little India is half the fun (the other half is in the vitrines).

The library

Not a metaphor. More than 1,000 bottles, mostly single cask and limited editions, from Scotland, Ireland, Japan, the United States and further afield, kept in wooden vitrines handcrafted locally on brass claw feet. Order from the whisky flights menu if you want to work through a region; it is the sensible way to try bottles you would never buy whole, and the staff can steer you towards something you would not have picked. Regulars keep their own bottle in a private locker with its own tasselled key, which is either the most civilised arrangement in Singapore or the most dangerous.

The jazz

The house band is the Nicole Duffelle Quartet, three nights a week, and the intimate, salon-sized room suits a set of ballads far better than anything louder. That is the reason to come back, and the reason to book: reservations are required on music nights.

Eating and timing

The food has shifted over the years, from a French-influenced pan-Asian menu to the Tandoor-inspired Indian small plates now on the hotel's page; there is enough to make a night of it. A three-course set lunch is offered daily, for anyone who prefers their velvet by daylight. On a music night, arrive well before the first set to read the shelves and order a flight while conversation is still easy. Dress smart casual. Farrer Park and Jalan Besar MRT are both a short walk, and it suits an anniversary, a date who appreciates theatre or the friend with firm views on peat.

Good to know Smart-casual dress. Jazz nights are Thursday to Saturday from 8:30pm and need a reservation via SevenRooms. Farrer Park and Jalan Besar MRT are both a short walk.

The Whiskey Library & Jazz Club | The Vagabond Club, 39 Syed Alwi Road, Singapore 207630 | Nearest MRT: Farrer Park, Jalan Besar