Six weeks in: how new bar Your Mother’s House is really going

In this briefing:

• A tough year for Singapore at The 50 Best Bars;
• Six weeks in at Your Mother’s House;
• Our pick of the drinks;
• a new menu drops at Live Twice.
• The Last Word — what’s on in Singapore and beyond.

Welcome back to Boothby’s Singapore briefing, after a short break while I have been on the road attending The 50 Best Bars global event in Milan.

On that topic, it was a relatively slight year for Singapore entries onto the list of the top 50. Just two Singapore bars made the cut this year (as was the case in 2025): Jigger & Pony at number 18, and Nutmeg & Clove at number 38. On the extended 51-100 list, released in late September, just one Singapore bar made the list: Offtrack at number 89.

Last week on Boothby, we took a look at how the list shook out for Singaporean and Australian bars — tough times all round — and broke down the numbers behind the list. You can see that here.

Anyway, on to brighter topics. The duo behind Your Mother’s House, Bryan Bonifacio and Shaheera Rahman, are now two months into their first bar, and I stopped by recently to talk about how the first six weeks had treated them. We talk a lot about opening new bars in this industry, but it’s not as often as we check back to see how things progress after you open the doors.

I also have a Two Drink Review of the bar below — I do love the drinks there.

There is a new menu drop below as well.

If you’re enjoying this email and the focus on Singapore, please share the newsletter with a friend so we can get the word out further — it’s the best (and cheapest!) way to support the kind of independent bar journalism we do here at Boothby.

And 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.

Despite having written a preview story of the place, and visiting a couple of times already, it still feels a little odd to tell someone where you’re going when you’re visiting this new-ish bar on Keong Saik Road. Where am I going? Your Mother’s House.

It is a memorable name, that’s for sure. The bar, which opened back in August, comes from ex-Employees Only bartenders Bryan Bonifacio and Shaheera Rahman. They’ve taken over the space that was home to No Sleep Club, and made it a little warmer — it’s an open space, with warm white on the walls, and plenty of good things to drink.

Their Garibaldi riff, called Gary’s Balding (Campari, bergamot, fluffy orange, $23) is delicious and made in the Dante style; light and fluffy and well-balanced, it’s a perfect example of the form. Better still is the Starz; inspired by Thai nightclub nostalgia, it’s a combination of Martell Noblige cognac, green tea, honeydew melon, and shiso, carbonated; it’s a refreshing and moreish drink, with good spirit heft and a little umami note thanks to the tea, with spot-on carbonation.

But more than the drinks, it’s the owners you’re here for. Their approach to hospitality is generous, and put simply, they’re nice people who love what they do. Go check them out.

Our brief review format looks at what makes a bar great, in two drinks. All reviews are paid for by Boothby.

BOOTHBY: How many weeks has it been since you opened?

SHAHEERA RAHMAN: Opened for about six weeks now.

BOOTHBY: How’s the first six weeks of the first bar of your own? How’s it going? What’s the feeling like?

SHAHEERA RAHMAN: Very mixed feeling.

BOOTHBY: Really?

SHAHEERA RAHMAN: Yeah, it was a lot in the beginning. I mean attention is good, everyone’s very receptive to the brand, to the concept. Actually it’s going very well with the locals.

BOOTHBY: Very good.

SHAHEERA RAHMAN: And that was what we wanted in terms of demo and in terms of customer retention. So whatever we are doing, I mean it works. I’m very happy with that.

BRYAN BONIFACIO: Yeah, it’s aligned to how we envisioned it. We’re still understanding the location. From our observation it’s very volatile.

SHAHEERA RAHMAN: Yeah, the market now is crazy, you can’t put a finger on it. Day to day, for the past four weeks, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays had been insane. But then again, it’s honeymoon period, we are opening, and all that. But then just two weeks ago, the days flipped.

BOOTHBY: So what’s going on?

SHAHEERA RAHMAN: Maybe because it was summer holidays, I don’t know. There’s a lot of things ongoing, so it’s pretty hard to gauge.

BOOTHBY: But otherwise at six weeks the bar is still a baby.

SHAHEERA RAHMAN: So far it seems that everything is aligned to what we envisioned from the get-go when we were trying to conceptualise everything.

BOOTHBY: The idea was correct.

SHAHEERA RAHMAN: So we’re happy with that. The food, the drinks, all of it.

BOOTHBY: Tell me about the story behind the Starz cocktail?

SHAHEERA RAHMAN: It’s the name of the infamous Thai disco. Us Singaporeans call it Siam Diu. It’s where you go after hours. They shut at like 6a, 7am. That’s the only time we were able to make it to the bars or the clubs, right?

BOOTHBY: After service, gotcha.

SHAHEERA RAHMAN: They do beer towers, they do Martell and green tea. That’s a very Singaporean thing. We wanted something that sticks, that’s memorable, that people can relate to. Nostalgic. Very, very nostalgic.

BOOTHBY: It’s a super tasty drink. It’s lovely.

SHAHEERA RAHMAN: Everyone sees the menu, they actually laugh about it because it’s like a if you know, you know situation.

BOOTHBY: How many days are you open?

SHAHEERA RAHMAN: Six days.

BOOTHBY: Have you managed a day off yet? Because even when you’re not open, you’re still gonna be thinking about it.

SHAHEERA RAHMAN: Correct, yeah, it’s still very consuming. But for the most part it’s still doable, but I think at some point the burnout will be real.

It’s worth it because it’s in the beginning phase. So while we oil all the engines, get all the gears rolling, I think we’re good.

BOOTHBY: Anything that bartenders should know about this place that they might not know already?

BRYAN BONIFACIO: I feel we kinda create a space where bartenders could actually relax. Because when you go to another bar, it’s another bar setting, where it could give you maybe anxiety or stress, like PTSD.

BOOTHBY: Well this is like coming around to your friend’s house.

SHAHEERA RAHMAN: Your friend’s house — with a bartender, right?