Hopscotch is a Singapore-style craft cocktail bar and grill restaurant from Mixes from Mars Pte. Ltd., described as 'your gateway to Singapore-style craft cocktails and decadent grilled food.' The brand runs three outlets — Gillman Barracks, Capitol Arcade, and Gardens by the Bay — with the Gillman Barracks venue nestled in the arts cluster there, offering a beautiful outdoor setting.
The kitchen runs a full charcoal grill programme, believing charcoal fire produces the best grilled meat, with skewers basted in one of four homemade glazes alongside main courses and sharing plates such as Hyogo Oysters, Satay Pork Cheeks and the Chargrilled 'Panggang' Pork Belly.
On the drinks side, Hopscotch is known for putting a local, Singaporean spin on craft cocktails — using ingredients like hand-roasted kopi, homemade sour plum syrup, durian and local osmanthus jelly dessert flavours. Each outlet has 4 exclusive specialty cocktails unique to its own environment, and the team also crafts bespoke, off-menu cocktails on request. Hopscotch traces back to 2014, when former Bar Stories staff Roger, Louis, Kino and Joe opened the original bar at Red Dot Traffic Building on Maxwell Road, before moving to Gillman Barracks in 2018 after the Maxwell lease ended.
Hopscotch bills itself as 'your gateway to Singapore-style craft cocktails and decadent grilled food,' and its history backs that up. The bar was born in early 2014, when a pop-up space at the Red Dot Traffic Building on Maxwell Road came up for grabs. Mixes from Mars, a team of former Bar Stories bartenders — Roger, Louis, Kino and Joe — took the opportunity to build something focused squarely on Singapore-themed drinks. With a tight budget, they renovated the space themselves in industrial style within a month, and Hopscotch soft-launched on 18 September 2014, with a grand opening on 17 October 2014.
The original debut menu featured 14 Singaporean-style craft cocktails, printed on foolscap paper for a nostalgic touch. Over the following years the bar kept reinventing its cocktail list — 16 new drinks in 2015 themed around Hong Kong, a 20-cocktail comic-book-inspired menu in 2016 illustrated by in-house artist Zae — while also bringing in international guest bartenders like Antonia Lai, John O'Toole and Toru Ariyoshi, and running events such as the first Hopscotch anniversary with live music.
When the Red Dot Traffic Building lease couldn't be renewed, Hopscotch closed its Maxwell doors in April 2017 after a 'Best Of' farewell menu and a run of closing parties. After a short hiatus — and a team trip to Bali — Hopscotch found a new home in 2018 at the arts cluster of Gillman Barracks, a location with an outdoor setting the team felt suited the brand's next chapter. The team renovated the new space themselves again, this time in two months, and used the move to introduce food to the menu for the first time: charcoal-grilled dishes and skewers, alongside a fifth cocktail menu of 16 new drinks with added flavour descriptions to help guests choose.
Hopscotch's kitchen is built around charcoal grilling, on the belief that charcoal fire makes the best grilled meat. Skewers are basted with one of four homemade glazes, and the sharing-plate menu includes dishes like Hyogo Oysters, Satay Pork Cheeks and the Chargrilled 'Panggang' Pork Belly.
On the drinks side, the bar's identity is built on putting a Singaporean spin on craft cocktails — using hand-roasted kopi, homemade sour plum syrup, durian, and the local osmanthus jelly dessert as flavour inspirations. Each of Hopscotch's three current outlets (Gillman Barracks, Capitol Arcade and Gardens by the Bay) has 4 exclusive specialty cocktails unique to that location, and for guests who want something off-menu, the bartenders also craft bespoke cocktails to order.
Hopscotch has long doubled as an events venue, with signature annual parties including the Art After Dark After Party, the National Day Party, its own Anniversary celebration, and the New Year's countdown party 'Hop In.' Past years have also seen themed nights like Reggae Nights and wine tastings. The Hopscotch team describes its goal as creating a welcoming environment 'reminiscent of being invited into our own homes,' with an emphasis on joy, lighthearted conversation and genuine connection with guests.
With three outlets now open across Singapore — the original arts-cluster home at Gillman Barracks, Capitol Arcade in the Kempinski arcade, and a spot at Gardens by the Bay next to Bayfront MRT — Hopscotch offers a daily happy hour from 5pm to 8pm, reservations through its online booking system, and a private events service for guests wanting to host their own gathering there.