SINGAPORE – Singapore’s nightlife scene roared back to life in 2023 with a flurry of openings and international events packing the local calendar to the hilt.

Perhaps, no other Singapore bar has borne with the vicissitudes of the pandemic as well as the Sago House group of cocktail bars and restaurants.

Founded and run by entrepreneurs Jay Gray, 33, Desiree Jane Silva, 37, and Abhishek Cherian George, 38, the group’s ventures include Sago House, which moved to new premises in Duxton Hill in November; Low Tide, Ghostwriter and SSAL, all in Club Street; and Underdog Inn in Amoy Street. 

Ghostwriter and Underdog Inn opened in January. Underdog Inn specialises in cocktails on tap, along with an open-fire menu, while Ghostwriter is an incubation space located above the group’s popular Low Tide rum joint. Ghostwriter provides a venue for would-be bar entrepreneurs to trial their concepts before making the high-stakes investment of opening a full-blown food and beverage joint.

While Sago House began serving drinks in June 2020, Low Tide opened its doors in May 2021. The four venues are all pandemic babies, with the more established Sago House and Low Tide shaking up some 200 to 250 cocktails each on weekends.

Each venue features a differentiated concept with a specific brand identity, and their collective success suggests the three co-founders are either careful strategists, savvy masterminds, or both, and deserve a spot on the Power List 2023.

But Mr Gray demurs: “Almost nothing we do is by design.” 

He adds: “As comical as that sounds, we tend to stumble upon opportunities that I guess most people would walk away from. That’s not to say we are ignorant to the risks of expansion, and it’s certainly not to say it doesn’t have its drawbacks.”

Mr Gray is a former regional brand ambassador for scotch whisky Monkey Shoulder, Ms Silva started out as a host at iconic Singapore drinking joint 28 HongKong Street, and Mr Cherian runs cocktail bar The Spiffy Dapper in River Valley Road on the side.

But if there is an underlying motivation that guides the co-founders, it is the spirit of top-notch hospitality and service. Sago House’s emphasis on hospitality has brought it international acclaim. The bar was recognised with the Michter’s Art of Hospitality Award at the Asia’s Best Bars ceremony in July.

This award is chosen by the 280-strong voting academy – which includes bartenders, drinks writers and other industry experts – through an open nomination process, where each member is asked to name the one bar where they have received the single-best hospitality experience within the judging window.

The organisers highlighted that Sago House had built a reputation for offering guests “a high level of personal service with outstanding drinks in an ultra-relaxed yet high-end setting”, where staff warmly greet every guest and keep the personal interaction right up until guests step back out onto the pavement. Or, to phrase it in Internet meme parlance: The vibes are immaculate.

Sago House also took the 10th spot in the main rankings, behind two other popular, well-established Singapore bars – Jigger & Pony at Amara Hotel (No. 2) and Nutmeg & Clove in Purvis Street (No. 7) – jumping 20 places from No. 31 in 2022.

Sago House was also one of three Singapore bars to make it to the 2023 edition of The World’s 50 Best Bars ranking in October, landing at No. 32, between Jigger & Pony at No. 14 and Atlas at Parkview Square at No. 48.

It was a respectable debut for Sago House, especially alongside the veteran local joints. Jigger & Pony opened in 2012 and Atlas in 2017. Both have strong track records in the influential The World’s 50 Best Bars list, with Atlas peaking at No. 4 in 2020 and Jigger & Pony hitting No. 9 that same year, in addition to being named Asia’s Best Bar.

But when The Straits Times interviewed the ecstatic Sago House team after The World’s 50 Best Bars ceremony, they dropped a bombshell. Sago House would bid farewell to its 40B Sago Street premises – which it had occupied since opening in June 2020 – and move to new digs at 37 Duxton Hill in November.

His new venues join a slew of other bar entries and revamps over 2023, such as White Shades in Boon Tat Street, an innovative multi-concept venue that includes an ice-cream parlour and rooftop bar under one roof; Draftland in Purvis Street, which is the Singapore output of Taiwan’s famed draught cocktail bar; and Mo Bar at Mandarin Oriental, Singapore, which reopened in September after a six-month renovation hiatus that encompassed the entire hotel.

“Having all of our venues concurrently open and operating in such a competitive landscape is our largest accomplishment of all for the year,” says Mr Gray, who is chief executive of Sago House, Low Tide, SSAL and Ghostwriter.  

But he notes that inflation and the current cost-of-living crisis have made it difficult for hospitality venues to keep going, even if the dark days of Covid-19 are over.

“Cost of goods, rent, wages – these are all on the rise, and not just in our industry. The year has certainly had its challenges, and the resounding sentiment in the industry is that our legs are getting pretty tired of treading water all the time,” he says.

He adds: “All too often, I see spaces changing hands, changing operators, changing concepts. But I can guarantee that most of the failures are not those of the concept or the operator.

“It’s simply that the people who should be guiding the brand to market, or spending time with guests or running the business, are stuck washing dishes, serving tables and cleaning toilets due to stagnant hiring and peak rental costs.”

Nevertheless, he is optimistic for the future. In 2024, his team hopes to slow down, stabilise all their businesses and regroup.

“I believe I have said this every year for the last three years, but I think it will get better,” Mr Gray says with a laugh.