Jigger & Pony

Where Tanjong Pagar's Cocktail Ambition Lands

The Amara Hotel lobby on Tanjong Pagar Road is not where you'd expect to find one of Asia's most consequential bars. Hotel bars in this part of Singapore tend toward the functional: a place to settle a tab before dinner, or to wait out a delayed check-in. Jigger & Pony occupies that same address but operates on a different register entirely. The room carries the kind of calibrated ease that only comes from a team that has been doing this for over a decade — warm without being performative, polished without the stiffness of somewhere trying too hard to signal prestige.

Singapore's cocktail scene split some years ago between bars chasing international recognition through technical spectacle and those building something slower and more durable around hospitality and menu intelligence. Jigger & Pony belongs firmly to the second group, and the results of that approach are now visible in the rankings: #3 in Asia and #5 globally at the World's 50 Best Bars in 2025, alongside a listing in the Tatler Leading Bars Asia-Pacific 2025 and a #5 position in Top 500 Bars the same year. Those numbers don't arrive from novelty. They arrive from consistency across a long arc — the bar has appeared in the World's 50 Best rankings every year since 2016, moving from #8 in Asia that first year to its current position near the leading of the global list.

For context on the broader Singapore scene, bars like 28 HongKong Street, Analogue, Anti:Dote, and Atlas each occupy distinct positions in what has become one of Asia's most competitive drinking cities. Jigger & Pony's particular niche is the intersection of editorial rigour and approachable hospitality , a harder combination to sustain than either quality alone. See our full Singapore restaurants and bars guide for broader context on how the city's drinking culture has developed.

The Menuzine Format and What It Says About the Programme

In most cities at this tier, a bar's drinks menu is a functional document , perhaps well-designed, occasionally themed, but ultimately a list. Jigger & Pony has been publishing what it calls 'menuzines' annually for several years: 68-page editorial-format publications that are structured more like magazines than menus, and which have accumulated a following among regulars who collect each edition. The current iteration, titled Embrace, organises its drinks into conceptual sections that gesture at the style and intent of each cocktail without reducing them to flavour descriptors.

The editorial format isn't decoration. It shapes how the drinks programme works in practice. Drinks appear within thematic frameworks , sections like Embrace Change and Embrace Tradition , that allow the bar to position each cocktail within a broader argument about cocktail culture rather than simply listing ingredients. Embrace Tradition, for instance, engages with timeless formats and integrates them into a contemporary context: a Paloma reworked with aged, slightly smoky tequila and a house-made guava and pink grapefruit soda, served with a peeled grapefruit wedge that the guest breaks open for an additional citrus hit. That kind of detail , the guest interaction built into the serve , is characteristic of how the programme thinks about the drink as an experience with multiple stages rather than a static product in a glass.

Embrace Change takes a different approach, using familiar ingredients as entry points into less expected territory. The Red Revival, for example, takes beetroot , a vegetable more at home in Scandinavian fine dining than in a cocktail shaker , and combines it with smoky, house-roasted coffee, tequila, and strawberry. The layering of those elements produces something that reads as complex without requiring explanation, which is the harder trick.

The menuzine format also creates a natural rhythm to visiting across years. Regulars who have collected previous editions arrive with an existing vocabulary for how the bar thinks, which means each new release deepens rather than replaces the relationship. It's a retention mechanism that works because it's built on genuine content rather than loyalty points.

Drinks and Food: How the Programme Fits Together

The editorial angle of EA-BR-06 asks for a focus on food and drink pairing, which is honest territory for a bar whose identity is so thoroughly drink-led. Jigger & Pony's programme is constructed around cocktails rather than a food menu of equivalent weight. What the kitchen offers functions as complement rather than co-anchor: snacks and small plates that extend the drinking occasion without competing with the drinks for attention. In the Singapore context, this is the standard model for bars at this tier , the food programme exists to pace the evening and give the palate something to work with between rounds, not to reframe the bar as a restaurant with serious cocktails.

What matters here is that the drinks themselves carry food-like structural complexity. A cocktail built around house-roasted coffee, beetroot, and strawberry is doing some of the same work a kitchen does with layered flavour , smoke, acidity, sweetness, earthiness in sequence. The Paloma's house-made soda functions similarly, replacing a commercial mixer with something that has been developed specifically to interact with the spirit in the glass. These are drink-programme decisions that reduce the pressure on a food menu to provide complexity, because the complexity is already in the cup.

For drinkers who have experienced the same editorial ambition applied to food-and-drink integration elsewhere, bars like Kumiko in Chicago or Jewel of the South in New Orleans offer useful reference points , programmes where the kitchen and bar operate as a unified creative argument. Jigger & Pony's version of that relationship is drink-forward, with food in a supporting role, which suits the bar's position and the expectations of the Tanjong Pagar crowd.

Positioning in the Global Tier

The trajectory of Jigger & Pony's rankings tells a specific story about how bars consolidate global reputation over time. Starting at #8 in Asia in 2016, the bar reached #1 in Asia in 2020, held a top-10 global position through 2020 and 2021, dipped slightly in the middle years as new programmes entered the conversation, and has now settled into the leading five globally. That arc , build, peak, consolidate , is more representative of serious long-term programmes than the sharp rises and falls that characterise bars built around a single concept or individual.

Comparable programmes at this tier internationally include Bar Leather Apron in Honolulu, Superbueno in New York City, Julep in Houston, The Parlour in Frankfurt, and 1806 in Melbourne , each operating with a defined point of view and a track record long enough to sustain repeat visits. What connects them is a commitment to the programme over the product launch, which is the same quality that distinguishes Jigger & Pony from bars that rise quickly on the strength of a debut menu and then plateau.

The Google rating of 4.7 from over 1,500 reviews is relevant here not as a vanity metric but as a signal of consistency across a high volume of visits. Bars that score at that level with that many data points are delivering reliably across a wide range of guests and occasions , not just on nights when the leading team is behind the bar.

Planning a Visit

Jigger & Pony operates out of the Amara Hotel at 165 Tanjong Pagar Road, a neighbourhood that has developed into one of Singapore's more serious drinking corridors. Tanjong Pagar MRT puts the bar within easy walking distance, and the concentration of other notable venues in the area makes it a logical anchor for an evening that moves. Given the bar's rankings and the current menuzine release cycle, the period around each new menuzine launch tends to generate heightened interest and fuller bookings , if the current Embrace edition is still in circulation, order from it deliberately rather than defaulting to requests outside the menu. The team has built the programme around those drinks for a reason. For reservations, the bar's website at jiggerandpony.com is the primary booking channel, with phone contact available through the Amara Hotel for parties with specific requirements.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do regulars order at Jigger & Pony?

The menuzine is the starting point, not a supplement to it. Regulars work through the current edition's sections rather than defaulting to off-menu classics , the Red Revival (beetroot, house-roasted coffee, tequila, strawberry) and the reworked Paloma from the Embrace menuzine are the drinks currently defining the programme. The bar's cocktails are rooted in classic structure, so guests comfortable with Palomas, sours, and spirit-forward builds will find the menu approachable without being predictable. The Embrace Tradition section is a reliable entry point for first-time visitors who want something familiar taken seriously.

What should I know about Jigger & Pony before I go?

The bar is located inside the Amara Hotel in Tanjong Pagar, which means the entrance is through the hotel lobby rather than a street-level door. It holds a #3 ranking in Asia and #5 globally at the 2025 World's 50 Best Bars , which sets the expectation level accurately. The bar opened in 2012 and relocated to this address in 2018, so it has had years to develop a loyal local following alongside its international recognition. The menuzine format means the drinks list changes annually; arriving with a sense of the current edition's themes will make the ordering conversation more productive. Price range is not published, but the positioning within the global leading five aligns it with premium cocktail bar pricing comparable to similar-tier venues in London, New York, and Tokyo.

What is the leading way to book Jigger & Pony?

If you are visiting during a peak period , weekends, the weeks immediately following a new menuzine release, or during major Singapore events , reservations through the bar's website (jiggerandpony.com) are the more reliable route than walk-in. The bar's global ranking means demand from visiting international guests now runs alongside local regulars, and capacity is finite. For groups or specific requirements, the Amara Hotel contact number (9621 1074) provides a direct line. Walk-ins are possible on quieter weeknights but carry more risk at this tier than at most Singapore bars outside the leading rankings.