Tipple and Dram / Ninteen 80
Alright, it is my fault that our alcohol documenting journey has come to a standstill. Despite me endlessly reminding Tay Kang Sheng about how long he took to write the previous article, I am now the laughable one. But nevertheless, we challenged ourselves to write 10 articles and so I shall write the 5th one.
As one might have guessed, this outing happened one eternity ago, but I am just getting down to writing now. Before getting started, there are few things to be established:
1. The places to be mentioned were not so impressionable that I can still remember what their drinks tasted like.
2. They are however, very photogenic places.
3. Therefore, to make up a substantial documentation effort, there will be many pictures.
The first place was a whiskey bar called Tipple and Dram at Ann Siang Hill (yes, again), which is listed as ‘Best whiskey bars in Singapore’ in many websites. We only stayed a short while and ordered the drinks that they were offering during happy hour. Personally, I didn’t like it so much, but I also feel like we didn’t fully explore the reason why they would be considered as ‘best whiskey bars’ around here, because we didn’t go down to their basement to experience their selections. The great thing though, is that this is a great place if ambience is very important to you.
There’s not many people around, and you can literally chill and talk about life in this cosy little place, while watching the the crowds get rowdier outside along the rest of Ann Siang Hill. Maybe one day if I feel like getting away from the crowd, I would consider coming back to try their exclusive whiskey selections.
Now the next place we went to is interesting. I had just heard my colleague talking about arcade bars and was super excited to check one out. The all knowing Kang Sheng miraculously brought us to one near Ann Siang Hill and this was it.
They did have a reasonable selection of drinks, beer, cocktails etc. but I wasn’t feeling so adventurous by now. I just had beer and I don’t remember what it was. This bar was really cute — they had actual old school arcade game machines which were free for customers to play. Although it was more limited that I had expected, I suppose that it is enough to keep all the guests there entertained. Apologetically I have no photos of the game machines to share because I was either too carried away or I have already deleted them.
In all honesty, I really hoped that the bar would have been a little more rowdy and ‘chaotic’, which is what arcades really were, to me. However on hindsight, I guess if someone were to host events or a huge friend gathering here, they would definitely be able to have a pretty good time, given that there are many party friendly drinks (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) and food on the menu, and the have quite some space for people to stand around and mingle. Bonus — many of the games can actually be played in 2 player mode, which makes it all the more fun to be here with friends.
The conclusion — I would be keen to check out more arcade bars, but I don’t know if this would be my first choice if I was looking for one.
