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Peppermint Park
Outdoor chill-out area with a bar, large day beds and swing seats.
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Post
After-workers schmooze beneath high ceilings, metallic Art Deco finishes and a wall of vodka - if only all post offices looked this snazzy! Things look even better after a few caipiroskas and a chubby Davidoff 'Short Perfector' from the humidor.
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Post Bar
Retaining the original post-office ceiling, decked out with modern sculptures and some decidedly futuristic underfloor lighting, Post Bar exudes class without snobbery and mixes an outstanding mojito. Worth dressing up for.
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Powerhouse
Industrial design and a huge dance space aimed at a younger crowd.
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Que Pasa
Mediterranean-style wine and tapas bar in Emerald Hill, a pedestrianised lane of crumbling, lantern-lit shophouses. There can be few more atmospheric spots in the city to stop for a drink - that is until you realise it's all a bit of a charade. That little neighbourhood bar strip is entirely owned by a single company, but even so the drinking holes are all good, drawing crowds of locals and tourists alike.
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RAV
Unrelentingly red with disco balls aplenty, RAV is Circular Rd's stand-out club, pumping out everything from acid jazz to Motown to under-30s. Big-name local DJ Illusion is a regular; gals are regular recipients of free-flow 'housepours'.
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Red Dot Brewhouse
The service at the restaurant here was shocking, which is a shame, because this microbrewery is the product of one Singaporean man's passion for beer - and his beers are pretty damn good. So go along and plonk yourself at the bar, where the staff can't ignore you, or take 40 minutes to bring your drinks.
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Rouge
On a stretch of restored shophouses trying to maintain their Peranakan themes, Rouge features a host of snuggly nooks and crannies with an emphasis on deep red and velvet. Luxurious yet intimate. Wednesday is the funk and groove-themed Love Hotel night, Thursday and Saturday are hip-hop, and Friday can be anything in between.
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Sound Bar
Choose between alfresco riverside cocktails and beery bar stools by the glowing fish tank. Ambient tunes, evening breezes and sexy clientele round out the mood. Migrate upstairs to the Liquid Room later on.
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St James Power Station
New poster boy of Singapore's night scene, St James is quite an achievement. Converting a 1920s coal-fired power station into an entertainment complex took both huge amounts of money and a fair scoopful of design talent. All the bars and clubs are interconnected, so one cover charge gets access to all of them. Several bars - the Bellini Room, Gallery Bar, Lobby Bar and Peppermint Park - have no cover charge at all. Minimum age is 18 for women and 23 for men at all except Powerhouse, where the age is 18 for both.
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Taboo
Hottest gay dance club on the scene (for the moment, at least), always packed with the requisite line-up of shirtless gyrators, dance-happy straight women and regular saucy themed nights.
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Tangos
Tangos' red/white/black perspex-panelled interior is a stylish place to prop yourself for a few happy hours ( to ). The daiquiris are reasonably affordable, and it also serves some tasty pasta.
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Thai Disco
Thoroughly raucous, slightly seedy and heartily drunken - it's a Thai disco! The house band, featuring scantily-dressed female singers and heavily hair-gelled male heart-throbs, play danceable rock classics at high volume, while admirers buy garlands to place around their necks. You're likely to be the only tourist in here, but no one seems to care.
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The Old Brown Shoe
Classic British-style pub that gets especially jammed on Wednesday nights for its pub quiz, which draws competitive types from far outside the pub's usual Bukit Timah catchment area.
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The Terrace
Part of the hip Screening Room, the views across Chinatown and the CBD from this intimate rooftop bar are superb. Bag a comfy couch on the periphery, kick the shoes off and have a shouting-into-each-other's-ears conversation over the sound system.
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The Toucan
Unique among Singapore's Irish pubs in that it has a proper beer garden: a lawn, wooden benches, big umbrellas, even a wishing well.
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The Wine Company
Casual, relaxed, unstuffy wine bar in a quiet location opposite the National University of Singapore sports grounds. Places particular emphasis on offering 'affordable' wines, principally from South Africa.
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The Wine Network
An old favourite of Dempsey Rd aficionados whose patronage predates the area's yuppification. Sit and pine for the old days over a large wine list in the bare brick, barrel-scented interior, or on the peaceful wooden deck outside. Cheese platters ward off hunger before dinner at PS Café or Samy's Curry.
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Union Bar
With big squishy corduroy couches, plenty of elbow room and views onto Club St's passing parade, Union is hard to beat for a relaxed late-afternoon beer. If you're flush with cash, most of the abstract art on the walls is for sale.
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Villa Bali
Highlight of this relaxed garden bar is the private wooden platforms, where you can recline back on some cushions, sink a few drinks and some decent Indian snacks and fantasise that it's your own backyard.
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W Wine Bar
Tiny, intimate, relaxed, low-lit - everything you could want in a pre or postdinner wine bar. There are low tables and sofas and of course, a huge list of around 300 wines.
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Wala Wala
Large, raucous but friendly, Wala Wala has been a long-standing favourite with the young expat crowd for its breezy vibe and its live-music bar upstairs, where the focus is on danceable, singable, air-punchable tunes.
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Why Not?
Why not plant yourself on a podium at Why Not? and carve it up? One of Singapore's most popular backstreet G&L hangouts boasts nonstop house and crowd-pleaser anthems.
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Zouk
Ibiza-inspired Zouk is a regular destination for globe-trotting DJs. Five bars, 2000-capacity, roomy dance floor - there's guaranteed bar access and plenty of space to cut the rug. Minimum-age entry is 21 for women, 23 for men.
