Sip A Singapore Sling In The Elegant Long Bar Of Raffles Hotel

World-famous establishment with a long history and colonial past (from USD 1610)

The majestic Raffles Hotel stands proudly in all its pale glory, a graceful building that has played host to many influential people over the years. Whilst the original building, a private beach house, was built in the 1830s, the present main building was built several years later, with building completed in the late 1890s. A glamorous and modern hotel in its heyday, it was the first hotel in Singapore to feature electric lights!

It was named after Sir Stamford Raffles, a British statesman who founded Singapore as an important trading post.

Attracting many high-end customers, Raffles Hotel has seen several expansions and improvements since it first opened its doors. It was taken over during the Japanese occupation of Singapore during World War II, later returning to its former use as a luxury hotel. Today a National Monument, feast your eyes on the impressive façades before admiring the gleaming white marble interiors.

Take a step back in time in the atmospheric Long Bar

Sure, the Long Bar is more of a tourist attraction today than a place where people actually go to hang out on a regular basis, but the past character and ambience can still be felt in the air. This may be different if there is a large tour group present but, if you’re lucky and visit when it’s fairly quiet, it is pretty easy to imagine how the bar must have been in its heyday.

Settle into a comfortable chair and soak it all up … the palm-shaped electric fans whirring above, the highly-polished and almost-shining mahogany of the bar, the risqué picture of Shanghai Lily (a colourful character played by Marlene Le Dietrich in the film The Shanghai Express) hanging behind the bar, the sacks of unshelled peanuts, the crunchy peanut shells on the floor, old-fashioned lampshades, polished brass beer taps, the olde-worlde atmosphere.

A favourite place in the past for writers, poets, playwrights, social-thinkers, and socialites, the Long Bar attracted people like Rudyard Kipling, Somerset Maugham, Noel Coward, and Ernest Hemingway in its early years. It is also said to be the place where Singapore’s last remaining tiger was shot dead!

Although the Long Bar has actually been relocated from its original position within the hotel, you can still take a journey back in time and experience the character of a colonial bar filled with charm and character.

Savour your Singapore Sling

Invented in the original Long Bar in 1915 by Ngiam Tong Boon, a bartender, the Singapore Sling was possibly once known as the Straits Sling. Whilst there are some contentions as to the early recipe, with claims that the original recipe was actually lost at some point during the 20th century, the pre-mixed drink that you can enjoy today still has links with its earlier counterparts.

The ingredients of a Singapore Sling at Raffles Hotel are gin, cherry liqueur, triple sec (orange flavoured liqueur), Dom Benedictine (a herbal liqueur), pineapple juice, lime juice, grenadine (non-alcoholic syrup), and Angostura bitters (a strong alcoholic liquid infused with herbs and spices). It is garnished with a slice of pineapple and a cherry. Recipes in other establishments may vary.

Sweet, with a slight twang of sour, the bright pink drink certainly grabs your attention!

You’ll also be given a small wooden box of unshelled peanuts to enjoy with your drink. Do as patrons did in the past and toss your shells directly on the floor; this is perhaps the only place in the whole country that actively encourages littering!

Other drinks are also available, such as a wide array of cocktails and hand-pulled beers.

Snap a picture of you with your drink

It’s such a typical tourist thing to do in Singapore, but you’d want a photo of you in the Long Bar with your Singapore Sling, right?! Don’t be shy – pretty much everyone else is doing the same! Raise your glass, smile, and say cheeeeeeese!

If you’re travelling solo and visiting the Long Bar alone, you could whip out a selfie stick. Or, simply ask one of the smartly-dressed members of staff to help you out – they are more than happy to take your photo for you. Indeed, they may even offer before you open your mouth to ask!