Orchard Road is usually about malls, but on Sunday, 4 October 2026, the steps outside Design Orchard will feel more like an HDB void deck. Third Floor is hosting Void Deck Jam Vol. 2 there from 3pm till late, with homegrown pizza, burgers and brisket on the steps, a wine partner pouring through the afternoon, and three DJs who move the party upstairs once it gets dark.
That’s this coming Sunday, so there’s still time to clear your diary. The jam is the latest round of Third Floor’s recurring Block Party, a day-to-night gathering that the bar says makes room for smaller independent operators in a district “largely shaped by malls, international brands and chains”. If your Sundays off usually disappear into air-conditioned retail, this is a different way to spend one on the same street.
Before You Go
- 🗓️ When: Sunday, 4 October 2026, from 3pm till late
- 📍 Where: The Design Orchard steps in the afternoon, then Third Floor (top floor of Design Orchard), Orchard Road, after sunset
- 🍕 Eat first: SGBrisket Kitchen, the returning favourite, then Chooby Pizza and Smash Street
- 🍷 Drink: Wine from the event’s wine partner on the steps, then Third Floor’s bar upstairs
- 🎧 Arrive by 8pm if you want both halves of the day. That’s when Aldrin Quek (ONEWITHALDRIN) takes over from the afternoon DJs
- 🐶 Bring: A friend or two, an appetite, and your dog if you have one, since Third Floor counts dogs among the afternoon crowd
A Void Deck, Minus the Block
For readers outside Singapore, a void deck is the open, sheltered ground floor beneath an HDB (Housing & Development Board) block. Residents pass through it every day on their way home, so neighbours end up crossing paths whether they planned to or not.
The name explains the whole event. According to Third Floor, it started as a simple plan to call a few friends and meet once a month to cook, eat and drink together. An open-fire barbecue isn’t quite possible in the middle of Orchard Road, so “Void Deck” stands in for that same sense of community and intention.
It’s a clever borrow. Anyone who grew up around an HDB block knows the void deck as the one place where nobody needs an invitation, and an event that wants strangers to stick around could hardly pick a better reference.
Three Kitchens, One Returning Favourite
Each edition brings in a new line-up of independent restaurants and food concepts. This round has Chooby Pizza, Smash Street and SGBrisket Kitchen on the steps.
SGBrisket Kitchen is the returning favourite, which makes it the stall to hit first. Being invited back is the organisers’ own vote of confidence, and brisket is the dish here most likely to send people back for seconds. Chooby Pizza and Smash Street round out the trio, and pizza and smashed burgers are easy food for a group spread across the steps. A wine partner pours through the afternoon, which suits a crowd that would rather linger than rush a meal.
On the decks, Keith Colaco (DJ KFC) and Dave Tan (Hookstyle) play from 3pm and cover the picnic hours. Aldrin Quek (ONEWITHALDRIN) takes over at 8pm and carries things into the night. If you can only make one half of the day, come before 8pm. Catching the handover gets you both the sunny steps and the room upstairs, and that switch is what a day-to-night party is really about.
Picnic by Day, Party by Night
Third Floor describes the afternoon as spilling across the Design Orchard steps with “food, wine, music, friends, dogs, strangers and whoever happens to wander through”. Its own summary is “more city picnic than food festival”. So there’s no need for a game plan. Bring a friend and an appetite, and let the afternoon set its own pace.
Once the sun goes down, everyone moves upstairs to Third Floor. The DJs keep playing, the drinks keep flowing and, in the bar’s words, “the room gets looser”. Third Floor sums up the day in one line: “What starts as an afternoon with people you don’t know has a habit of ending as a night with people you probably will.” Not many events aim so directly at turning strangers into friends.
Who Runs Third Floor
If Third Floor is new to you, it sits on the top floor of Design Orchard and looks over one of the busiest junctions on Orchard Road. It’s open from morning to evening, serving coffee, cocktails, wine and food, and it hosts music, events and creative collaborations. A Block Party fits right in.
The venue is run by the team behind No Sleep Club, which Third Floor describes as award-winning. That matters for an event that promises to run late. A crew that knows how to keep a bar busy after dark is who you want running the night shift once the crowd heads indoors.
Why Days Like This Matter
Orchard Road isn’t short of big moments. Recently, BABYMONSTER took over 600m of the street for an F1 moment. The Straits Times reported that Orchard Road ranks among Singapore’s top three non-ticketed tourist sites, and that Christmas on A Great Street drew 6.3 million visitors in 2025. A street that draws crowds like that is an expensive place for a small operator to get a foothold, which is exactly the gap the Block Party is trying to fill.
Bar operators told The Spirits Business in November 2025 that rent, short leases and sudden rent hikes were major threats. One said a 40% rent rise could make a venue that cost S$400,000 to build unviable. Another said a night out could cost the younger generation more than S$150. Figures from the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) show 2,101 food and beverage (F&B) businesses closed in the first seven months of 2026, up 25.1% on the same period in 2025, while 2,594 new ones registered. Plenty of new places open, but many don’t last, and an afternoon on public steps gives three independent kitchens a spot on Orchard Road for a day.
There’s a social side too. National Youth Survey data reported by The Straits Times found that 8% of respondents in 2025 had no close friends, up from 4% in 2013. One Sunday on the steps won’t change that number. But Void Deck Jam is built for wandering in alone and leaving with a few new names, and that’s the point of it.
🗓️ Date: Sunday, 4 October 2026
⏰ Time: 3pm to late
📍 Location: Design Orchard steps, then Third Floor (top floor of Design Orchard), Orchard Road
🍕 Food: Chooby Pizza, Smash Street and SGBrisket Kitchen
🍷 Drinks: Wine from the event’s wine partner on the steps, then Third Floor’s bar upstairs
🎧 Music: Keith Colaco (DJ KFC) and Dave Tan (Hookstyle) from 3pm, Aldrin Quek (ONEWITHALDRIN) from 8pm
🐶 Good to know: Third Floor counts dogs among the afternoon crowd on the steps
Void Deck Jam Vol. 2 is happening this Sunday, 4 October. Set a reminder for 3pm, bring a friend or two (and the dog, if you have one), and follow Third Floor on Instagram for updates before the day. In the meantime, check out Chooby Pizza and SGBrisket Kitchen so you know what to order first. As with any void deck, the best spots go to whoever shows up early.
Photos and Visuals courtesy of Third Floor.
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