5 oldest bars in Southeast Asia

It would be a big miss if you don’t spend time visiting these oldest bars in your trip to Southeast Asia. Here is the list of the oldest nightlife venues in Southeast Asia, each owns a story about the rich history of the formation as well as its distinctive mark during operation. Let’s discover 5 oldest bars in Southeast Asia.

1. Saigon Saigon Rooftop Bar, Caravelle Hotel, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Saigon is well known for its dynamic nightlife, and no other cities in Vietnam can beat Saigon in term of entertainment. One of the oldest bars in the city is Saigon Bar, that promises to give you an endless joy.

Besides seeing the whole city from the 10th floor of Caravelle Hotel, and indulge in Cuban salsa dance, the history of Saigon Saigon also contributes to the attraction of the bar. After opening on Christmas Eve 1959, this airy space has become a favorite destination for international war correspondents and a list of clients including the most seasoned reporters of the twentieth century such as David Halberstam, Walter Cronkite, Neil Sheehan, and Malcolm Brown.

In the book named Dispatches that describe the landmarks of the War, reporter Michael Herr mentioned Saigon Bar as a favorite stop for him and his colleagues. “At twilight, we did exactly what the reporters used to do in the horrible stories that were told in 1964 and 1965, and we sipped on top of the Caravelle Hotel, looking at the wind surfacing the river that is so close that a quality camera lens can capture the symbols on the fuselage. We have dozens of people on it, just like noblemen watching Borodino from above. ”

What to drink: Ciroc Vodka includes Triple Sec, grapefruit, blueberries and lemon.
Address: 19 – 23 Lam Son Square, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Opening Hours: 11:00 – 02:45

2. Bamboo Bar, Sofitel Legend Metropole, Ha Noi, Viet Nam

Located four meters below the Bamboo Bar is a bomb shelter built after the United States Air Force bombing campaign named “Sam Ren” in 1965 and recently discovered by accident. Philippine female journalist named Gemma Cruz Araneta – who had stayed at the hotel (named Thong Nhat Hotel at this period) for a month in 1968 – was one of the first to stay in this 40 square meter bomb shelter.

Nowadays, the bomb shelter is part of the historic tour Road History for visitors. Thunder recalled, “At that time, the bomb shelter of the hotel was a long and narrow room. I remember clearly. I used to think, ‘wow, this room could turn into a fascinating dance floor …’. For security purposes, bomb shelters are still as it were. From the ventilation holes, the old wires were exposed and rusted seriously. Forty years after the last bombs dropped on Vietnam’s capital, visitors can imagine what happened in the shelter, surrounded by bombs.

What to Drink: Cocktail Graham Green martini includes rum, lemon juice and sugar.
Address: 15 Ngo Quyen Street, Hoan Kiem District, Ha Noi City, Vietnam.
Opening Hours: 18:00 – 01:00

3. Bar & Cigar Lounge, The Anantara Chiang Mai Resort & Spa, Thailand

When EB Gould was appointed as UK Deputy Consul in Chiang Mai in 1884, he was responsible for monitoring the profitability of the teak companies and presided over the diplomatic meetings of the British Consulate, his office marks the 90th anniversary of the British Consulate’s presence in this prosperous northern city. Most of the consuls lived and worked in the consulate building. Built on the Ping River in 1915, the building has a meeting room, offices, servant quarters and four elephant camps.

The Consulate is the center of society in Chiang Mai, and the signatures in the Diary of the Consulate Chiengmai, from November 1947 to April 1953, reveal many frequent visitors who came here. lamb. Some seek help or counsel, while others simply express their respect or notice of their presence.

Dinner parties, croquet games on the lawn, King’s birthday party are always big events held every year. Built on this land for more than 100 years, the resort is designed around the original British Consulate building and restored as the Bar and Terrace restaurant.

What to drink: Mae Ping River, including light rum, heavy rum, lime wine and apricot wine.
Address: 123 Charoen Prathet Road, T.Changklan, A.Muang, Chang Khlan, 50100 Chiang Mai, Thailand.

4. Long Bar, Raffles Hotel, Singapore

Long Bar is one of the oldest bars in Singapore particularly and Southeast Asia generally. If you are planning to visit Singapore, don’t miss this long-life bar!

Before being a formal bar, in the early 1900s, the Raffles Hotel’s pub was simply “The Dockyard’s Meeting Place” – a row of tables overlooking the Beach Road, a spot for dockyards coming from Malaya visit and admire the ladies traveling along Bras Basah. Things did not change until the hotel entrance was demolished in 1919 and the bar was moved to the new 12-square-meter ballroom at the Raffles Hotel and renamed the Long Bar.

Singapore Sling is probably the most famous kind of drink at Long Bar made by Ngiam Tong Boon in 1915, a Hainanese-Chinese bartender. It had an interesting story about how Singapore Sling is created. Raffles Residence’s historian Leslie Danker explains, “Tong Boon notice the young British gentlemen sit down on the terrace and behold the ladies entering the hotel. Ladies do not necessarily have to drink alcoholic beverages, so Tong Boon has created a recipe. He used gin, Benedictine DOM, cherry, Cointreau, pineapple juice, lime juice, bit wine and pomegranate juice to create a pink drink so they didn’t know they were drinking alcohol. The gentlemen are happy that they can buy drinks to invite the ladies, and the hotel is happy because they make money! “.

Nowadays, the Long Bar has been moved to the second and third floors of the new shopping mall built during the restoration of the hotel in 1991 with sales up to 2000 glasses a day.

What to drink: Singapore Sling
Address:1 Beach Road, City Hall, 189673 Singapore, Singapore
Opening Hours: Sun – Thu 11:00 – 00:30, Fri – Sat 11:00 – 01:30

5. Elephant Bar, Raffles Le Royal, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Jackie Kennedy inspired some of the most iconic fashion lines of the 1960s and one of Cambodia’s most iconic cocktails: Femme Fatale at Elephant Bar. The cocktail includes cognac, champagne and cream de cassis, and it marks the First Lady’s stop at the hotel during a visit to the Angkor Wat in 1967. “When Raffles took over the building in 1995, they found out the cup that the First Lady used in 1967, “said Business Director Gareth Walters. “The Raffles martini glass is still on display, along with the image of the First Lady drinking this glass at the party. It was rumored that the red lipstick of the First Lady was still on the rim … ”

Most visitors to Angkor Wat pay a visit to the hotel’s restaurant – the Elephant Bar – and the original Western pub from the 30s to 60s, including Charlie Chaplin. But Cambodia’s tourism boom ended abruptly under the reign of Lon Nol and then the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s. It was not until the country had gone through four years of dissolution, genocide and two decades full of difficulties.

During that time, the hotel was a Red Cross’s refugee camp, staff accommodation of international aid agencies and a facility for United Nations staff. Visitors has begun to return to visit Elephant Bar and Raffles has been restored the splendor of the former French colonial-style hotel.

What to drink: Femme Fatale inspired by Jackie Kennedy
Address: 92 Rukhak Vithei Daun Penh, Sangkat Wat Phnom, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Opening hours:
Open from 12:00 PM to 12:00 AM
Creative Lunch: 12.00 PM – 2.30 PM
Afternoon Tea: 2.00 PM – 5.00 PM
Happy Hour: 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Tapas and light meals served all day.