A House That Feels Like Home

Sago House, which received the top hospitality honours at Asia's 50 Best Bars 2023, charms with its personable and genuine service in a tucked away shophouse.

- JUNE LEE

A cosy hand-built bar that seats 35 people at most and serves a rotating menu of five to six cocktails in Chinatown received the top hospitality honours at this year’s Asia’s 50 Best Bars awards. Crowned the winners of the Michter’s Art of Hospitality Award, Sago House edged out capacious hotel bars that have dominated the category since it started in 2020.

Previous winners are BKK Social Club in Bangkok, Singapore’s MO Bar, and Manhattan Bar. Sago House also soared to number 10 on the influential list — a fitting way to celebrate its third year of operations.

According to the organisers, the hospitality award is determined by Asia’s 50 Best Bars voters, who are asked to name the one bar where they received the best hospitality experience during the voting period. There are no prescribed criteria that the bars need to hew to. William Drew, director of content at 50 Best, suggests that it could be attention to detail, ambience, and vibe created in the bar — or, most likely, a combination of all these elements.

FINDING THEIR HUSTLE

The three founders, Abishek C George and recently married couple Jay Gray and Desiree Jane Silva unveiled Sago House in mid-2020 — one of the worst possible times in the F&B industry. “When we opened, Singapore went into its first lockdown. We had to think of ways to be hospitable without having a venue to host them. We wrote messages to our guests for all the deliveries, had Zoom sessions where we could make our drinks together, and gave virtual tours of the bar,” Gray recalls.