The Best Bars in Institution Hill & around

A cocktail bar tucked on a quiet street, 28 HongKong Street took its cues from early-2000s New York and spent years building its reputation entirely through word of mouth. The room runs to dim lighting, secluded booths, and hip-hop on the speakers. Drinks are named for rap lyrics, bar food leans hard into American comfort, and the whole thing carries the easy confidence of a place that never needed a sign out front.

1. Difford's Guide 5 stars · Difford's Guide
2. The 50 The 50 Discovery

Kotuwa is a casual Sri Lankan restaurant in New Bahru's old school block, and it's the first on the island to cook only the food of Sri Lanka, curries mostly. Seventies records play while servers set your spice level, so nobody leaves with steam coming out of their ears. Hoppers, the thin fermented rice pancakes, handle the gravy better than rice does. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, which keeps the bill friendly.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
2. The Infatuation The Best Restaurants & Bars To Eat And Drink At When You're Visiting Singapore

The in-house microbrewery sitting in the corner is the whole point here. Brewerkz is a sprawling beer bar and hall in the Clarke Quay chaos, with pool tables inside and fan-cooled riverside seating out front. Around forty international bottles share the menu with a weekly rotating cask ale, which is not something you stumble across often in Singapore. Food and cocktails exist, but nobody's pretending that's why you came.

1. Difford's Guide 4 stars · Difford's Guide

The back bar at this cocktail bar runs deep enough that "what are you having?" becomes a genuine philosophical question. Coffee Bar K has been around forever by Singapore standards, and the spirits list, Pétrus included, would cause serious distress to anyone on a budget. The cocktail menu is vast without feeling unfocused, and the head bartender handles every persuasion with the calm of someone who has seen it all.

1. Difford's Guide 4 stars · Difford's Guide

Wall-mounted fridges packed with sake stretch the length of the room at this tiny stand-up bar, Singapore's sole Japanese-style sake joint. It's a sibling to a Tokyo original, which shows: the range runs deep into plum wines and shochus, and the snack menu leans into proper otsumami, the kind of thing you'd actually eat alongside a pour. Staff know the list cold, which helps when you're choosing between fifty-odd plum wines.

1. Difford's Guide 4 stars · Difford's Guide

A tequila bar at Riverside Point leaning hard into the theme, with mariachi on the speakers, agave-themed memorabilia covering the walls, and a menu listing over a hundred 100-percent agave tequilas alongside thirteen mezcals. The Margaritas come from a machine, except the premium ones, which arrive by hand (a meaningful distinction). Burritos and tequila prawns keep things grounded in Tex-Mex territory if you need something to eat.

1. Difford's Guide 3 stars · Difford's Guide

1. Difford's Guide 3.5 stars · Difford's Guide

The smell of leather and Cuban tobacco announces this whisky and cigar bar before you're fully through the door. The Pacific Cigar Company, the sole formal distributor of Cuban cigars across Asia Pacific, runs the place, so the humidors are serious and the back bar holds around a hundred bottles, nearly all single malt Scotch. Members keep their bottles in dedicated lockers, which tells you the kind of crowd it draws.

1. Difford's Guide 3.5 stars · Difford's Guide