How Offtrack reaches new guests, a Native review, and more

In this issue:

• The Two Drink Review — Native: a brief review of the 10 year old Singapore staple on Amoy Street;
• The Interview — Aslam Zainal on the three pillars that keep the bar busy;
• The Last Word — Awards season news, what’s on in Singapore and beyond.

Welcome back to our Singapore briefing — round two. This week we’ve got a chat with Aslam Zainal, co-founder and general manager of Offtrack, and what I love about what they do is that every time I’ve been in there, there’s an emphasis on fun (those garlic noodles don’t hurt, either).

And talking to Aslam for this interview, he talked about how the three pillars of Offtrack — drinks, food, and music — appeal to different sections of the community, and widens the pot of people who are potential guests.

We’ve also got the return of the quiz — how many guest shifts do you think Offtrack has hosted since opening in 2022? Take a look below.

And the two drink review this week is of Native, a bar I’ve enjoyed over the years, but which is at the height of its powers right now.

And a reminder, you can access all our Singapore and Asia stories at boothby.asia, along with each edition of this email briefing. In the meantime, do give us a follow on Instagram at @boothbydrinks, and send any tips, intel, or feedback to me direct at sam@boothby.com.au. I’d love to hear from you.

Okay, let’s get into it.

The three pillars that get people into Offtrack

Drinkers meet other drinkers in any part of the world. And they always talk about where you’re going to next.

Offtrack is a special place: equal parts neighbourhood cocktail joint, vinyl party bar, and eats destination, they host regular guest shifts, and have found a way to appeal to a diverse — and appreciative — audience. And those garlic noodles? Well, they’re all the excuse you need to stick around for another drink.

In the Q&A below, Offtrack co-founder and general manager Aslam Zainal credits Offtrack’s three pillars of music, food, and drinks as essential to building a robust business — and fans around the globe.

BOOTHBY: This is a city of eaters. When it comes to the clientele here, what’s the breakdown between locals and expats and other tourists?

ASLAM ZAINAL: We’re still driven by locals, at least 60 to 70 percent. I mean if you include expats into that, we consider them as locals as well.

BOOTHBY: Yeah, some people I’ve been talking to have been breaking out expats from local.

ASLAM ZAINAL: Because a lot of the expats that we get here, they’re part of the music community. We go party together, we drink together. They’ve lived here for a good portion of their lives. So essentially local, right? And then the tourists, I mean before 50 Best, a good 20 percent of the customers were tourists that heard about us through word of mouth. Drinkers meet other drinkers in any part of the world. And they always talk about where you’re going to next.

BOOTHBY: They’ve always got a recommendation.

ASLAM ZAINAL: And I think the beauty about us is that people talk about us in terms of food, they talk about us in terms of drinks, and they talk about us in terms of music. So in those three circles, the word got out really quickly.

BOOTHBY: What in your professional opinion do you think makes a great bar? And then more importantly, what is it that makes you happiest in a bar?

ASLAM ZAINAL: I think it’s the interpersonal communication, right? I come to a bar because I want to chat shit with people. If I know them or not, if you’re leaving the bar without me having a chat with you — of course, unless you don’t want to talk to me — I feel like that’s a wasted opportunity for us to chat shit. And for you to come back again and we would continue the conversation, week after week, right?

BOOTHBY: Well it makes people feel welcome in a place, like they can relax.

ASLAM ZAINAL: It almost always starts at the door, the way you receive the customer at the door. I do feel like it’s quite robotic in Singapore. People tend to be like, ‘Hi, do you have a reservation?’

Whereas I try my best to ask, how are you? How’s your day? Have you had dinner yet? And that breaks the ice and almost asks them to open up to me a little bit more. Having that one, two sentence conversation at the door before they come in sets the tone of how they expect to be treated here. I think if you’re super formal at the door, they’re going to be super formal with you at the table.

Vijay Mudaliar’s Amoy Street cocktail bar, Native, is 10 years old in 2026, and better than ever. The bar has always had well-constructed, considered cocktails, but in the past I’d found some drinks were more interesting than they were delicious — technically smart, but pretty serious. On my last visit? The pendulum had clearly swung towards tasty, the drinks are lively and bright, and behind the stick, the bartenders offered banter with a bit of fun. It’s a compelling combination.

After a sparkling sake amuse bouche to begin, I’d move to the ferments (all $21), all of which are clean and delicious sippers; a Calamansi Mead is bright and aromatic in the glass, with plenty of zip and zest on the palate (you’ll be inclined to order another round). The Red Rice Makgeoli has a light effervescence, is complex, and moreish.

Moving to cocktails proper, the Bambool (100 percent brown rice sake, 20 year old aged sake, $26) is a gentle, aperitif style cocktail that overdelivers on complexity; light in alcohol but big on flavour. The Pho-resh (rice gin, Thai basil, coriander, roasted ginger, lime distillate) is super clean, refreshing, with pho-like flavours but this is far from soup; it’s a drink that stands up to repeated rounds. My notes on the Black Rice (rice whisky, toasted black rice, coconut, wild berries, $26) I took at the time gush with enthusiasm: immensely drinkable.

Mudaliar told me recently that he’s seen a trend in Singapore of people going “back to old school, OG bars like Jigger & Pony, Nutmeg & Clove, instead of new bars.” That’s driven by a desire for comfort, for sure, but people want value as well. When we’re spending $25 and up for a drink, you want a sure thing.

And when the drinks are as delicious as they are at Native, it’s a sure bet there is no better value in town. Here’s to another 10 years.