UE Square is hardly the first place to which most people would think to flock for a good beer, or for anything beyond utilitarian needs for that matter—coffee, groceries, laundry, your child’s ballet class, a freshly made sandwich flavored with the occasional hair of a golden retriever. (Don’t worry, the keyword is “occasional.”)
That’s not to say this mid-90s mall is short on significance, at least of a certain kind. Though it may be the only ones that do so, Singapore’s National Heritage Board recognizes UE Square as a historic site, likely due to the involvement of late Pritzker Prize-winning architect Kenzō Tange in its integration with adjacent Park Avenue Suites.
UE Square also has a Delifrance.
As of mid-2017, it also has one of the republic’s best booze shops. Temple Cellars, clearly an anomaly in these parts, offers a modern space with two long raised communal tables and a few two-seater couches. There’s a small bar at one end with up to eight craft beers on tap, too, along with a few wines and whiskies poured by the glass. The daily happy hour—one-for-one on all draft beers and wines—is one of Singapore’s better deals, though it’s catered to that wretched hive of scum and villainy known as day drinkers (noon – 6pm).
Of course, like at two of our favorite London bottle shops—indiebeer on Holloway Road and Hop Burns & Black in Peckham Rye—at Temple Cellars you can drink your booze while shopping for it, too. There are upwards of 25 gins and whiskies here, a decent wine selection, a handful of sakes, and several tall fridges packed collectively with a couple hundred local and imported craft beers. The shop offers free one-hour delivery on online orders of at least $150 if you’re in a pinch, too, and the same for next-day shipments if you drop at least $99.
As we humans all know, and as one of UE Square’s affiliated websites puts it so eloquently, “there is nothing more energizing and exciting than reveling in the pulse of the city.” In that regard, Temple Cellars does enjoy a somewhat advantageous location, located as it is a block from popular nightlife area Robertson Quay and on the fringes of the Downtown Core.
Temple Cellars alone doesn’t elevate UE Square into a premier destination for good beer in Singapore. It does, however, give you a good reason to pop in for something other than another burned Delifrance coffee or game of retriever roulette with a sarnie.
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Temple Cellars is located at 81 Clemenceau Ave, UE Square, #01-12. +65 6262 2191. Open Monday to Saturday 12pm – 11pm (Sat 12am), Sunday 12pm – 6pm. templecellars.com
