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WINE&DINE
204
July14
Several pockets of Singapore feature
excellent Aussie-style cafés, including
Tiong Bahru, Robertson Quay, Duxton
and Dempsey. Tracking down a faultless
flat white is trickier in the heartlands,
however. Traverse the 6km of Upper
Thomson Road, for instance, and you’re
unlikely to find much more than a
kopi
in a bag.
THAT RISE
SPOTS
BEFORE YOU DO
The blogObnoxious Expats in Singapore had it right
when it used an picture of a woman slapping a guy
across the head to illustrate the phenomenon of the
coffee shop that only opens at 11am. What gives?
Wededicate this space to all the early-opening coffee
shops, bakeries and breakfast spots out there.
From 7am:
• Baker & Cook on Hillcrest Road
• Boomarang Bistro & Bar at Robertson Quay
• Kith at Robertson Quay
• Toby’s Estate at Robertson Quay
From 7.30am:
• Casa Verde in the Botanic Gardens
• Sarnies on Telok Ayer (9am on weekends)
From 7.45am:
• My Awesome Café on Telok Ayer Street (10am on
weekends)
From 8am:
• Assembly Coffee on
Evans Road (closed
Mondays)
• Choupinette on Bukit
Timah Road
• Common Man Coffee
Roasters near Robertson
Quay
• eM by the River at Robertson
Quay (weekends only)
• Food For Thought in the Botanic
Gardens
• Gastronomia Da Paolo at Cluny Court
• Hatched on Evans Road (closed Mondays)
• Maison Kayser in Scotts Square
• Merchants on Duxton Road (opens later on the weekends)
• Nassim Hill on Tanglin Road (closed Mondays)
• Revolution Coffee in Media Circle (Portsdown Road)
• Riders Café on Fairways Drive
• The Book Café near Robertson Quay
• The Canopy at Bishan Park (weekends only)
• Tiong Bahru Bakery (Tiong Bahru, Raffles City, Tangs
Orchard)
From 8.30am:
• Cafe Melba at Goodman Arts Centre (weekends only)
• Jimmy Monkey at One North Residences
• Spruce in Phoenix Park (weekends only)
• The Pantry at Loewen Gardens (closed Sundays)
Habitat,
223 Upper Thomson Road | 6456 2567
One Coffee Man,
215R Upper Thomson Road | 6456 1555
OZ Speciality Coffee,
11 Sin Ming Road, #01-13 Thomson V Two
All three cafés have Facebook pages with
more information
ALSO NEARBY:
November 8 Café & Company, 11 Sin Ming
Road, #01-30 Thomson V Two
Then you come to the intersection of
Upper Thomson and Sin Ming Road and
whammo!
– within about 50 metres of
each other are three excellent cafés that
wouldn’t seem out of place in St Kilda.
Habitat
is arguably the best known
of the trio, and it deserves its popularity.
One EL staff member is a weekend
regular here and swears by the coffee
and the food. Excellent espressos aside,
don’t miss the eggs with tomato relish
and sourdough, and grab a side of
truffle fries while you’re at it.
About four doors down,
One Coffee
Man
hit upon the clever idea of sharing
the premises of Crust, the pizzeria,
which was mostly using the space in the
evenings. It has great coffee – beans are
imported from Melbourne’s Axil Coffee
Roasters – supported by a satisfying
if limited menu (they only have a pizza
oven to work with, after all).
The third spot in this holy trinity of
caffeine is
OZ Specialty Coffee
.
Australia is again the inspiration – it
shows in the décor and menu – though
the coffee is made with Pacamara beans
from Thailand. Set back from the busy
main road, this is a slightly mellower spot
for café lounging than the other two.
Upper Thomson
AREA HIGHLIGHT:
TRIO