Does this place look familiar to you? If you’re around the Raffles Place area a lot then you’ve probably walked past it a multitude of times. Located in the underpass connected to Raffles Place MRT, it changes from a Japanese takeaway called Shinkansen which serves healthy protein loaded bentos during the day, to The Secret Mermaid at night where you can always hear a happy crowd of people there having a drink or two after work.
The Secret Mermaid has a variety of craft draft and bottled beers available and handcrafted cocktails using American craft spirits. They have a huge range of gin, whiskey, vodka, rum and plenty of other spirits and one of the walls in the bar is actually lined with all the bottles.
They have happy hour from 5pm to 7pm on weekdays where their draft beer is only $11 and cocktails are $14 and recently they started their “oyster hour” where oysters are only $2 with every drink ordered from 7pm to 10pm (limited to half a dozen oysters per drink). You can have the oysters either plain with lemon or with ponzu (Japanese citrus) jelly and ebiko (prawn eggs).
I’d always been curious about this bar and finally went there a few weeks ago on a Wednesday night. My friend and I got there at around 6.45pm and were given some seats near the back of the bar. It wasn’t too crowded at that time so reservations are probably not needed, they do take reservations however if you prefer to book a table in advance. It’s a very small and cosy bar, it’s fairly dark and has a relaxed atmosphere and most of the seats are lined up facing the walls and at the bar but there is a small table in the middle.
We first had their craft draft IPA beer which I have to say is one of the best beers I’ve ever had. It was a slightly darker beer than a usual IPA and had fruity undertones. We then tried a cocktail each. I had one called Pear Tree ($20) which is made from pear infused sac’resine, fine vermouth, benedictine and absinthe and my friend had one called Devil In The Details ($20) which is made from white rum, dragonfruit and lime juice. I really liked my cocktail, it was small but pretty strong due to the mixture of spirits in it and the pear infused sac’resine balanced out the strong aniseed flavour from the absinthe nicely. The Devil In The Details cocktail is a lighter option, in fact they actually separate their cocktail menu into strong and light selections so that you can make a more informative choice.
We ordered 6 of the plain oysters and 6 of the ponzu oysters as well as their Philly Cheese Steak ($14.70) which is a sandwich with thinly sliced prime rib, caramelised onions, roasted capsicum and melted white cheddar cheese in a buttermilk rye brioche roll. The oysters were delicious and fresh, the tangy ponzu jelly and ebiko went really nicely with them, better than the plain oysters with lemon and the Philly Cheese Steak was very tasty. The beef was tender and the sandwich had plenty of filling.
Service at The Secret Mermaid is polite and fairly efficient and it’s a great hidden bar to catch up with friends over amazing drinks and good food. It’s definitely my new favourite bar!
The Secret Mermaid
Address: 10 Collyer Quay, B1-08 Ocean Financial Centre, Singapore 049315 (Nearest MRT: Raffles Place)
Contact: drink@thesecretmermaid.com
Opening Hours: Monday – Friday: 5pm – 11pm, Saturday & Sunday: Closed
Hope you’ve enjoyed my The Secret Mermaid review, please feel free to leave a comment below with your own review of the bar or if you have any questions!
