Potato Head took over a 1939 shophouse on Keong Saik Road in 2014 and turned a single address into four floors of drinking and eating. The building still anchors the strip, though the group relaunched the whole operation under the name 1939 in late 2024.
The address is 36 Keong Saik Road, a five-minute walk from Outram Park MRT and the spine of Singapore's most photographed shophouse row. The format climbs as you go up. The ground floor is Three Buns, the burger room that built the brand's reputation. The second floor adds a sit-down dining hall, the third hides the Studio 1939 cocktail bar, and the roof opens onto an open-air terrace above the rooftops of Keong Saik. For the wider field of high bars in the city, our guide to the best rooftop bars in Singapore sets the context.
Studio 1939 is the room worth climbing for. Asia Bars & Restaurants reported in 2024 that the bar reset its list to a tight run of signature cocktails, with roughly half the menu available in a non-alcoholic version. The drinks lean tropical and produce-led rather than spirit-forward, which suits the heat outside the windows.
What to order starts with the Ottis Rock at S$26, a bourbon build with coffee, green apple, chocolate and a jalapeno kick. The Rhythm and Vase at S$23 is the low-ABV move, a watermelon and yuzu vermouth highball. The Imagine Dragon, also S$23, is the photogenic one, gin and dragon fruit cut with peach, pineapple, calamansi and lemongrass. Three Buns downstairs handles the food, and the Baby Huey burger remains the order that started it all.
The crowd reads young, design-aware and international. Keong Saik draws a steady run of in-the-know visitors, and Potato Head pulls the post-dinner cocktail trade rather than a late club rush. It works as a date stop, a group warm-up or a slow climb from burger to terrace over one evening. For a contrasting register on the same street, line it up with Ce La Vi in Singapore for the skyline view, or read our round-up of the best cocktail bars in Singapore to plan the rest of the night.
Best time to go is early evening, from 5pm when Studio 1939 opens, before the dining floors fill. Weeknights are calm enough to talk and to get a seat at the bar where Bar Manager Kavish Hurrydos and his team work. Weekends after 9pm tighten up fast, so book the dining floors ahead if food is part of the plan. Three Buns takes the spillover when the upstairs bar is full.
Who it is for: the cocktail drinker who wants craft without ceremony, the traveller working through Keong Saik's shophouse bars, and anyone who likes a venue that can carry a whole night across four floors. It pairs neatly with the rooftop circuit, so see how it stacks against 1-Atico in Singapore and Mr Stork in Singapore for the higher, view-led version of the same evening.
The building itself is part of the appeal. Keong Saik Road runs through a conservation row of pre-war shophouses, and the group restored the 1939 frontage rather than gutting it, keeping the narrow staircase that forces you to slow down between floors. That climb is the point. Each level has its own bar and its own mood, so the venue rewards a long visit over a quick drink, and the rooftop is the payoff at the top.
One note on the name. The venue most visitors still search as Potato Head Singapore now trades as 1939, confirmed by Time Out Singapore and the group's own site. The shophouse, the floors and the Studio 1939 bar are the same. Marcus Webb rates it as the most complete single-building night on Keong Saik, the rare address where you can start on a burger and finish on a terrace without leaving the door.
Sources: Asia Bars & Restaurants (Studio 1939 menu coverage, 2024); Time Out Singapore (1939 relaunch); Potato Head official site (singapore.potatohead.co); Google Maps listing.
