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Are there any ice bars still open in SG?

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totallyFakeAccount
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Are there any ice bars still open in SG?

Post by totallyFakeAccount » Fri, 17 Jul 2015 12:40 pm

It seems like the golden era for ice bars in Singapore was a couple of years back. I see several mentioned online but they've all closed it seems. For example there was one on Circular Rd round the back of Boat Quay. I mean the kind of place where they have the temperature cranked down to close to zero and parkas are supplied along with your drink.

Now I totally get why opening an ice bar in Singapore is probably the worst business plan ever, since in my experience most Singaporeans:
a) hate getting even slightly 'cold' (for them this means about 20C btw)
b) are lukewarm about drinking alcohol.

So I completely understand why these places shut down.

However I'm a hairy caucasian expat who would at least occasionally enjoy the above combination of cold and beer. Anyone know of any places that are still open?

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ecureilx
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Re: Are there any ice bars still open in SG?

Post by ecureilx » Fri, 17 Jul 2015 4:05 pm

totallyFakeAccount wrote:It seems like the golden era for ice bars in Singapore was a couple of years back. I see several mentioned online but they've all closed it seems. For example there was one on Circular Rd round the back of Boat Quay. I mean the kind of place where they have the temperature cranked down to close to zero and parkas are supplied along with your drink.

Now I totally get why opening an ice bar in Singapore is probably the worst business plan ever, since in my experience most Singaporeans:
a) hate getting even slightly 'cold' (for them this means about 20C btw)
b) are lukewarm about drinking alcohol.

So I completely understand why these places shut down.

However I'm a hairy caucasian expat who would at least occasionally enjoy the above combination of cold and beer. Anyone know of any places that are still open?
you can go to Snow City :p

I suspect the main reason those places closed is because they were swamped with kids, who nurse a drink for few hours, to 'chill out' - worse if it is a soft drink - and yep, I know folks who can have a ice lemon tea stretched for hours.

From my bit of experience running an FnB op, that's how businesses die - when people order one drink and occupy the place for hours and chill out

Or so I am convinced now.

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Barnsley
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Re: Are there any ice bars still open in SG?

Post by Barnsley » Sat, 18 Jul 2015 12:54 pm

totallyFakeAccount wrote:It seems like the golden era for ice bars in Singapore was a couple of years back. I see several mentioned online but they've all closed it seems. For example there was one on Circular Rd round the back of Boat Quay. I mean the kind of place where they have the temperature cranked down to close to zero and parkas are supplied along with your drink.

Now I totally get why opening an ice bar in Singapore is probably the worst business plan ever, since in my experience most Singaporeans:
a) hate getting even slightly 'cold' (for them this means about 20C btw)
b) are lukewarm about drinking alcohol.

So I completely understand why these places shut down.

However I'm a hairy caucasian expat who would at least occasionally enjoy the above combination of cold and beer. Anyone know of any places that are still open?
Eski bar on Circular Road was hilarious , I think they gave up trying to make it cold , it maybe got down to 15C... some folk still put the big coats on for fun , but it was largely symbolic.

MBS had a proper Ice bar a cpl of years ago , the beer was served in ice glasses , that was reasonably cold I think below freezing
Life is short, paddle harder!!

totallyFakeAccount
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Re: Are there any ice bars still open in SG?

Post by totallyFakeAccount » Sun, 19 Jul 2015 11:37 am

ecureilx wrote: you can go to Snow City :p

I suspect the main reason those places closed is because they were swamped with kids, who nurse a drink for few hours, to 'chill out' - worse if it is a soft drink - and yep, I know folks who can have a ice lemon tea stretched for hours.

From my bit of experience running an FnB op, that's how businesses die - when people order one drink and occupy the place for hours and chill out

Or so I am convinced now.
Thanks, but I'm not convinced the ice bar at Snow City is still around either.
The URL given for it here: http://travel.cnn.com/singapore/drink/c ... ore-600298 is http://www.snowcity.com.sg/icebar/ and that just 404s now. And the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/ICE-BAR- ... 9742251145 has no updates since 2009, and no replies to "are you still open" queries from 2012 and 2013.

As for nursing a drink -- I'm one of those people. Guilty as charged! Maybe if waiters were not trained to try and chivy you along and snatch your drink away when there's still some left, I might actually order more. That behaviour just seems counter productive.

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Re: Are there any ice bars still open in SG?

Post by totallyFakeAccount » Sun, 19 Jul 2015 11:38 am

Barnsley wrote: Eski bar on Circular Road was hilarious , I think they gave up trying to make it cold , it maybe got down to 15C... some folk still put the big coats on for fun , but it was largely symbolic.

MBS had a proper Ice bar a cpl of years ago , the beer was served in ice glasses , that was reasonably cold I think below freezing
Yes I forgot the other part of why ice bars in Singapore are the worst business plan ever -- colossal air conditioning bills !

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