Blu Jaz Cafe
One of the few places in Kampong Glam that serve alcohol, including a long list of beers, and while food is served as well pastas and Western-style mains $12-15, the main draws here are the laid-back ambience and the live music, which runs the gamut from rock to jazz. Grab a drink, a shisha and a seat outside on the sidewalk, screened from passing cars by a thicket of greenery, and just chill; or if you want to get your groove on, there's a DJ and dancefloor on the 2nd floor. Very popular on weekends, and on Thursdays there is a somewhat-funny Comedy Night held upstairs - more fun with a group of friends, especially during the audience participation $10 to get in to Comedy Night.
Cafe Le Caire
The Middle Eastern food here is somewhat localized, but comes in generous portions — $15 for the mezze set is easily enough for two — but the main draw is the shisha $12 and the vast tea menu. The cafe now sprawls across four shophouses and at night sets up tables on sidewalks all around as well, but it can still be hard to find a seat on weekends. No alcohol served.
Divine
Inside the Gothamesque Parkview Square building and offering a collection of 3000 wine bottles stacked 12 meters high, winged waitresses are hoisted up on a rope to fetch the better stuff. Now open to all, but dress to impress. Live jazz most nights, bottles from $80.
Next Door Cafe
Low-key cafe with 40 types of beer and good thin-crust pizza. No air-con.
For a district once known by sailors as Boogie Street, modern-day Bugis is woefully short on dedicated places to drink, although you can of course get a cold beer at any hawker centre. Perhaps a better if non-alcoholic option is to kick back on one of Arab Street's many cafes with an Arab-style waterpipe shisha and a glass of mint tea. Figure on $10 for a pipeful.