Humpback is Jigger & Pony Group's neighbourhood seafood bistro and oyster bar, set in a 1930s conservation shophouse on Bukit Pasoh Road where Chinatown, Outram and Tanjong Pagar meet. Named after the whale species that live across the world's oceans, it serves bistro classics with familiar Japanese flavours — and, as the team puts it, plenty of vitamin sea.
Oysters are the point of pride: shucked fresh daily and sourced largely from the Hama Hama Oyster Company, a sixth-generation family farm on Washington State's Olympic Peninsula, with an Oyster Index that rotates through varieties from Discovery Bay to South Australia. Happy Hour deals on oysters run all day on Mondays and public holidays and from opening to 7pm the rest of the week, with drinks deals daily until 7pm.
Beyond the raw bar, expect snacks like shokupan with seaweed butter, sashimi and pastas such as king crab linguine with spicy miso, mains from halibut with sake beurre blanc to steak frites with sansho pepper, and desserts like hojicha tiramisu. Twists on classic cocktails, a thoughtfully curated wine list, a vegetarian dinner menu and weekend lunch round out a room built for sharing food with your tribe any day of the week.
On one of Singapore's most atmospheric streets — Bukit Pasoh, a lane of conserved shophouses where Chinatown, Outram and Tanjong Pagar meet — Humpback does exactly what its signboard promises: a seafood bistro and oyster bar with plenty of what the team calls vitamin sea. The restaurant belongs to the Jigger & Pony Group, the hospitality family behind some of the city's best-loved bars, and it takes its name from the whale species that live across the world's oceans. The ambition is simple: bistro classics with familiar Japanese flavours, served in a neighbourhood hangout where you can come together and share food with your tribe any day of the week.
Oysters are shucked fresh daily, and the sourcing goes unusually deep. Humpback works directly with the Hama Hama Oyster Company, a sixth-generation family-run farm on Washington State's Olympic Peninsula, to bring some of the best oysters in the world to Singapore. In the American summer months, the raw bar supplements the lineup with oysters from the Southern Hemisphere.
The menu reads like a field guide. The Oyster Index runs from Disco Hama out of Discovery Bay, Washington — salt-forward, mellowing to a crisp sweetness — to Aphrodite from North Puget Sound, clean and briny with a sweet finish; buttery, plump Wildcat from Little Skookum Inlet; delicate, sweet Coffin Bay oysters tumbled in Port Douglas, South Australia; and Marlborough oysters from New Zealand. Happy Hour is the local ritual: oyster deals run all day on Mondays and public holidays, and from opening to 7pm Tuesdays to Sundays, while drinks deals apply every day from opening to 7pm.
The kitchen keeps the menu short and confident. Snacks set the tone — pillowy shokupan with seaweed butter, potato and leek croquettes with spicy mayo, squid tempura with garlic dip. Small plates swing between continents: scallop ceviche with passion fruit vinaigrette, steak tartare toast with smoked daikon, burrata with blood orange and cherry tomato, seasonal clams in mala cream with chili crisp, and steamed mussels with Japanese leek and 'nduja butter.
A sashimi section covers salmon with truffle ponzu, yellowtail with mikan kosho, marinated sea bream in sesame sauce and bonito tataki with nori shoyu. Pastas lean happily Japanese — king crab linguine with cherry tomato and spicy miso, mentaiko bucatini with shio kombu and furikake. Mains range from halibut with black garlic and sake beurre blanc to steak frites with green sansho peppercorn sauce and Iberico pork chop with miso apple and mustard jus. Even the vegetables get star treatment: broccolini in smoked oyster sauce, cauliflower with sumo miso and brown butter, white asparagus with hollandaise and prosciutto. Dessert is hojicha tiramisu with dark rum or warm chocolate cake with sea salt, and a dedicated vegetarian dinner menu keeps the whole table happy.
Weekends run on their own lunch menu — beer-battered fish and chips, a bikini sandwich layered with prosciutto and truffle butter, a wagyu curry rice bowl with pickled ginger, and beef short ribs with garlic mash and shishito peppers — alongside a set lunch for quicker tables.
The bar more than earns its place. Cocktails are twists on the classics designed to pair with the food: a Yuzu Shiso Mojito built on Havana rum and shiso, a Pepper Martini mixing kome and sugarcane shochu, an Apricot Whisky Sour, a whisky highball. The wine list is thoughtfully curated, spanning easy-drinking varietals to expressive, exploratory labels, with a solid by-the-glass selection, sake, Seedlip-based non-alcoholic cocktails, kombucha and sparkling teas.
Set in a 1930s conservation shophouse, the room has the casual polish you would expect from the group behind Jigger & Pony, Gibson and Live Twice. Weekday evenings run from 5pm to 11pm, Saturdays from noon to 11pm and Sundays from noon to 9pm, with the nearest MRT at Outram Exit 4 — an easy after-work stop or a weekend lunch destination.
Come with company: the restaurant caters events and large-group dining, and gift vouchers are available for the oyster lovers in your life. Reservations can be made online, with enquiries by email or WhatsApp. Whether it is an all-day Monday oyster session or a long Saturday lunch over king crab linguine, Humpback keeps the neighbourhood well fed — and well shucked.