Located along Keong Saik Road, Simply Analog by Tin Box is a convivial vinyl bar with chill out retro tunes and a smashing cocktail menu.
Here’s one for music fans, especially those who love chilling over retro tunes with a cocktail in hand. Simply Analog by Tin Box at Keong Saik Road – you’ll find it right next to Potato Head Singapore – is almost nondescript from the outside, but within is a cocktail haven for vinyl-loving lounge lizards.
Decked out to look like a record store, this cosy and intimate cocktail and vinyl bar dishes out familiar ear worms that run the gamut of genres and styles over a span of different musical decades. Sorry, their vinyls aren’t for sale.
But Simply Analog, opened by multi-concept music-centric lifestyle brand Tin Box Group, is rather different from most other music-focused venues. “Unlike typical vinyl bars that transition into party scenes after hours, our focus at Simply Analog is on fostering meaningful conversations and connections through music,” Simply Analog’s head bartender, Sam Wong, tells us.
Indeed, the music isn’t deafening here. There are also some unspoken house rules; the venue frowns on guests being too exuberant, or loudly mingling across tables, for example.
As for drinks? Sure, you can have your beers or spirits by the glass. But cocktails is where it’s at. Seasoned bartender Sam Wong – yes, he of the Ah Sam Cold Drink Stall fame – has crafted a cocktail menu that’s almost like a compilation of his best hits over his illustrious career.
Each cocktail is named for, and is inspired by, an iconic song. Ju Hua Tai is a fabulously floral chrysanthemum-infused gin highball, while Monkey See Monkey Do is a cheeky pandan take on the KTV favourite of Chivas green tea. Sam’s signature gin sour La Vie En Rose – a different yet familiar version on the one he created over at Nox In The Dark – is deliciously balanced and complex as ever. I absolutely loved Islands, a New York Sour that leans on the stronger, sweeter flavours of port instead of the usual dry red wine as a float.
For those who prefer spirit-forward drinks? Go for Must Be The Whiskey, a twist on the Old Fashioned that comes with an additional splash of of white wine and apricot brandy for fruitiness, or Goldfinger, which combines dry vermouth, herbal liqueur and absinthe for a punchy herbaceous hit.
I like that the cocktails are tasty enough without being overly complicated that your server has to come by and explain in great detail how each is exactingly made. Timeless classics, like in music, are sometimes best.
On Wednesdays and Fridays, veteran DJs drop in with their special playlists, spinning tunes ranging from world music and downtempo to mainstream pop and elusive rare grooves some of which come from their own personal vinyl collections.
So if you’re looking for a different kind of venue to space out to – particularly if you’re just looking to chill over some music and well-composed artisanal cocktails – Simply Analog might just be the place.
Simply Analog by Tin Box
Address 34 Keong Saik Road, Singapore 089141 (Google Maps link)
Opening Hours 5pm to 11pm Tuesdays to Thursdays; 5pm to 12am Fridays and Saturdays; closed on Sundays, Mondays and public holidays
Tel (65) 9866 5111
Web simplyanalog.tinbox.sg
Facebook tinboxgroup
Instagram @tinboxgroup
Reservations here
