The Old Man Hong Kong took inspiration from and celebrates Ernest Hemingway’s life and novels, with ideas put together over several drinking (drunk) sessions by the founders. Following its success, the brand opened the Singapore outlet in February 2019. In just under a year, the Singapore bar has already won “Best New Bar of the Year” in The Bar Awards.

The Old Man Singapore is surprisingly spacious for a small bar occupying the ground floor of a heritage building in Keong Saik Road, where competition is fierce and rental is high. Given that, it is still double the size of the Hong Kong outlet.

The concept and layout of both The Old Man outlets are unique. The design and functions are picked out from the best of bars around the world through observations from co-founder Agong Prabowo’s travels. “It’s a bar built by bartenders for the guests,” said Andrew Yap, co-founder and managing partner of The Old Man Singapore. From design to menu, service to pricing, the concept is to maximise the usage of the interior while keeping the place classy and minimalistic.

The  “工” shaped bar, which is also the logo for The Old Man, is the main feature and centrepiece of the bar with a brass plate that runs at the length of it. The plate is chilled at a constant -4°C to keep guests’ drinks cold at all times, for consistency and optimal enjoyment. Also, no coasters needed.

“Like your living room, this place is to encourage conversations and make friends,” said Andrew, before he further elaborated the seating and layout. There are cubbyholes against the walls, set amongst the library-like shelves for guests to place drinks. There is storage space everywhere and even under these “tables”.  The seats are measured to fit guests of any height, so everyone is at each other’s eye level when seated.

The Old Man Singapore runs the founding menu with nine cocktail that each is named after a Hemingway book. The drinks are all priced at a reasonable SGD17 each. Classics can be accommodated as well so long as the bar has the ingredients to make them.

For the most part, it is the hospitality of the bar that wins the heart of anyone who steps foot into The Old Man. Every guest is greeted and attended to with care. It is no wonder managing partner Andrew Yap was named “The Bar Awards Hospitality Ambassador of the Year 2019”.