Cocktail Bar Near Me at Marina Bay: Republic's 1960s Television Cocktails

Republic serves its cocktails on Level 3 of The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore at 7 Raffles Avenue, and most drinks on its current Volume Four menu cost S$28. The bar's own website, which says it is now open every day at 5:30pm, lists closing at midnight from Sunday to Thursday and at 1am on Fridays and Saturdays, so older guides quoting a noon start are out of date. The bar ranked No. 12 on Asia's 50 Best Bars in 2022, which makes it the cocktail bar near me worth booking first if you are anywhere between Promenade MRT and the Singapore Flyer.

Republic opened in 2021 in the space that once held the hotel's Chihuly Lounge, a lobby lounge remembered for afternoon tea, live jazz evenings and a strong list of coffee cocktails. Spirited Asia reported that an East Wing refurbishment closed the old lounge from July 2020, and Republic arrived as part of the finished work. The drinks programme was created with bar consultancy Proof & Company, giving the hotel's bartenders a proper stage of their own.

The name carries a story. In 2021, general manager Peter Mainguy explained that the hotel's Colony restaurant recalls Singapore as a British Crown Colony, while Republic marks the next milestone, the formation of the Republic of Singapore in 1965. That is why every menu so far has stayed inside the 1960s. Recognition followed quickly: No. 12 on Asia's 50 Best Bars in 2022, No. 16 in 2023, No. 57 on the extended list in 2024 and a Tatler Best 20 Bars place in 2025.

The current menu, which the bar's homepage introduces as Volume 4, frames the decade through six television channels: Film, Sport, News, Music, Drama and Cartoons. Each channel contributes two cocktails, so there are 12 signatures in all, and Tatler noted in July 2026 that the printed menus are designed to look like vintage television sets. Senior bartender Aleron runs the bar with bartenders Jun Gyu and Zack Matthias, and Jun Gyu, who joined the hotel in 2023, likes working with overlooked local ingredients.

From the Film channel, La Dolce Vita at S$28 tops peach, lychee, jasmine syrup and citrus with Champagne as a toast to Fellini's Rome. Paparazzi, also S$28, starts from a Dirty Martini with Monkey 47 gin and olive brine, then adds kiwi purée and fresh basil. The two priciest signatures sit at S$30. Mission honours the 1969 Moon landing with Macallan 12 Sherry Oak, Cynar, Lustau PX sherry and salted chocolate bitters, a rich, whisky-forward pour for slow sipping.

The other S$30 drink, Emma Peel, is the house take on an Espresso Martini, with Grey Goose, Mr. Black, coconut syrup, banana purée and coffee, named for the heroine of The Avengers. The most playful order is Yabba Dabba Dew at S$28, which mixes Woodford Reserve bourbon with melon, honey, fino sherry and soda and arrives with a slice of prosciutto as garnish. Pink Panther, also S$28, pairs Roku gin and Campari yuzu liqueur with tomato purée, lychee and egg white.

If you would rather drink something familiar, every classic on the list costs S$26. The choice runs from a Vieux Carré made with Michter's rye and Rémy Martin VSOP to a Hemingway Daiquiri, a Blood and Sand and two sherry aperitifs, the Adonis and the Bamboo. Non-drinkers get proper cocktails too. Pink Whisker and Yabba Dabba Juice, zero-proof versions of the two cartoon signatures built on Seedlip, cost S$22 each.

Groups should look at the punch bowls, which cost S$260 and serve 12 to 15 people. They were developed with cocktail historian David Wondrich. The Paul Jones Punch recalls the American clipper that brought the first blocks of ice to Singapore in 1844, the Straits Gin Cup recreates a gin sling drunk at the Singapore Cricket Club in 1913, and Captain Dampier's Rack Punch mixes Sri Lankan palm arrack with French cognac and pineapple gula melaka syrup.

Reservations run through SevenRooms, linked from the bar's website. The cheapest way in is Sip & Sunset, served daily from 5.30pm to 8.30pm, when a Whisky Sour, Margarita, Espresso Martini or Old Fashioned costs S$15, a Tiger is S$10 and truffle fries cost S$10. Skip the S$25 Truffle Fries on the bar bites menu later in the night, because the happy-hour portion earlier in the evening costs less than half that.

Two more early offers are worth knowing. Oysters and Bubbles pairs three baked oysters with a glass of Champagne for S$28 from 5.30pm, and the Sunset Aperitivo gives 120 minutes of free-flow prosecco, classic cocktails and Tiger with a tapas plate, last seating at 8.30pm.

Republic draws a mixed crowd. When the alfresco Terrace opened in 2023, Changi Recommends' Discoverist described the bar as popular with locals and tourists alike and pitched the outdoor space at office workers unwinding after a long day and groups of friends out for the night. Serious cocktail drinkers come for the bartenders, who, as Grazia found in its 2024 review, walk guests through each menu chapter with conversation that goes well beyond small talk.

Indoors, City Nomads settled into a plush booth at the back of the bar, the quieter seats for conversation. The Terrace sits in a botanical setting framed by the Singapore Flyer and Marina Bay Sands, and the whole bar can be booked for private events and after-parties. Late October brings a Halloween menu from 23 to 31 October 2026, adding two specials, Green Goblin and Ora di Lutto, the second named after the Italian phrase for hour of mourning.

Give yourself twenty minutes in the hotel before the first drink. The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore holds about 4,200 artworks, one of the largest contemporary collections in Southeast Asia, with pieces by David Hockney, Andy Warhol, Dale Chihuly and Frank Stella. Stella also inspired an earlier Republic cocktail, Visions of Stella, which Grazia tasted on the Volume Three menu in 2024, so the art in the corridors and the drinks at the bar share more than a building.

Discoverist puts the Singapore Flyer within a five-minute walk of the hotel, and the wheel is running an Oktoberfest package this October. A loop past the Flyer and back along Raffles Avenue ends at MO BAR in Mandarin Oriental, where the bar counter faces the city skyline from Level 3. Heading home afterwards, Promenade station on the Circle and Downtown lines is the nearest MRT stop, and City Hall on the East-West line is the second option the hotel lists.

Republic is on Level 3 of The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore, 7 Raffles Avenue, Singapore 039799. The contact page gives the hours as 5.30pm to midnight from Sunday to Thursday and 5.30pm to 1am on Fridays and Saturdays. The nearest train stations are Promenade, coded CC4 and DT15, and City Hall, coded EW13.

The dress code is smart casual. Slippers and activewear are not permitted, and men need covered shoes, so change out of sandals after a day of sightseeing. Menu prices are in Singapore dollars before service charge and GST, which adds a noticeable amount to a S$28 cocktail. Raise allergies with staff before ordering. Sous chef Dharam Raj, at the hotel since 2008, runs the bar bites, and his Kueh Pie Tee with crab jelly costs S$22.