Saturday 11 August 2012

Emerald Hill's No. 5 Bar

(Another guest post by my husband).

Its a well known that Friday is one of the most anticipated days of the working week.  You can finally shut down the computer (and lets be green here; turn it off completely please), say shove it to the Man and head out for some drinks with your buddies.

This Friday turned out to be a different type of get together.  The people we were meeting up with were friends; but we were meeting for the first time ever.  So how can that be?  Well on Twitter we know each other but we've never met in real life before.  To tell the total truth, we did know 2 people and that is a bit of a relief as arriving at the meeting point, I realised I had no idea what the others looked like!  Everything worked out of course and I didn't run into a #fail.  Not your everyday meet ups but hey we hit it off fairly well and were talking amongst ourselves like buddies do. Yes; we  talked in real life as opposed to sending out tweets. Great night :)

Anyhow, lets talk drinks.

The location was Emerald Hill.  Those who have been in Singapore awhile would know it well. Emerald Hill can be reached by catching the MRT to Somerset.

Our bar of choice was No. 5.  This is a great bar and there is a buzz about it with the smoking crowds at tables outside and inside there are 2 levels.  Quite dim lighting in the bar, even more so due to the choice of dark oak colours.  It actually adds to the charm of the place as No. 5 is actually housed in an old shop house.  Old photos and pieces of art line the walls.  2 levels and there is a bar on each floor. For larger groups definitely try and grab a table upstairs.

Another thing you'll notice is that from time to time as you're moving around, you'll hear crunching sounds coming from your steps.  Like the Long Bar at Raffles Hotel, this is another bar where you can shell your peanuts and simply throw the shells onto the floor.  This is perfectly fine and you won't get held liable for any Singaporean littering laws :)  It is so encouraged that one of our drinking buddies was leaving a pile of shells on the table and the waitress came and swept it off the table onto the floor!

Drinks wise; you could order your usual beers and wines.  I didn't have any wine but I'm guessing that since the ladies were ordering the same one again and again it must have been a decent/good drop; Sauvignon Blanc from memory.  I had Gin and Tonics for the night and they were quite good. Decent amount of Gin in the drinks too and the Tonic was actually bubbly for once.  Its odd that many other places I go to the Tonic is very flat.

There is also the usual selection of cocktails but No. 5 appears to pride itself on Martinis.  There were the Lychee ones through to an Earl Grey one.  We didn't try any of them on this occasion but on a previous visit I did try their Chilli Martini.  True to its name the Chilli itself can be seen in a large jar on the bar fermenting in its own juices.  The bartender would grind up the Chilli, add some of the spicy juices and shake up a Martini for you.  Great spicy after taste; must try.

Overall, a great place to chill out, a good buzz and a crowd that is relaxed.  Bonus is that on Emerald Hill, the small area is surrounded by bars so you can always move from establishment to establishment and sample the drinks on offer.  Second bonus is that you can easily find a taxi in the area after a great night out.

Check it out.

Dunno which round we were on, but everyone was Happy :)


1 comment:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...