Dong Po Colonial Cafe

Everything seemed so unreal to me.  I was at Kandahar Street, near Sultan Mosque, the heart of Singapore's Arab and Malay culture, then there was this 'colonial' cafe, isn't cafe part of the western culture?  And the cafe is named after a famous Chinese poet back in the Song Dynasty, Su Dong Po (苏东坡).  So many different culture elements mixed together and reminded me Singapore is such a melting pot of different cultures.

The interior of the cafe is like a living museum.  Advertisement posters from 1930s and 1940s are displayed on the walls.  The tables are doubled as display tables.  Below the glass table-top, items from yester-yester years are on display.

The items are really too old even for my generation.  You have to live in the period before 1970s to have a nostalgic feelings, while for me, it was more like a visit to the museum, as many items are seen first time for me.

A museum it may be, it is still a business.  They have quite a selection of cakes on offer to go with their typical South-East Asia milk tea and coffee.   Some set menus are available too.

We ordered their set, two cakes with a choice of coffee or tea.  Both the butterfly cupcake and the aloe vera cream cake were good.  Not too sweet, perfect companions to the coffee/tea.  And they were very smooth.

When we were there, both locals and tourists streamed in to patronize the cafe.  The place is not very big and with limited seating capacity, so most people just finish and go.

JB Food Hunting 02 - The Replacement Lodge and Kitchen

I got to know The Replacement Lodge and Kitchen through Instagram.  It shows up quite often and seems quite 'instagrammable'.  Out of curiosity, I paid it a visit on a fine Sunday afternoon.

To get there, get to City Square in JB, look for the MacDonald on the ground floor, walk out of City Square into Jalan Wong Ah Fook.  Then walk towards Johor Strait/Singapore, until you see an Indian temple.  Walk across the street to the street behind the Indian Temple, turn left and continue walking, until you reach Jalan Dhoby.  The Replacement is on the right, behind a very run down place.

The Replacement Lodge and Kitchen Building

We got there around 12 o'clock noon.  They only had outdoor seating at that time, if we wanted to have indoor seating, we had to wait for 15 minutes or so.  Considering the raving heat outside, we decided to wait for indoor seating, in the comfort of air-conditioning.

The Counter

The interior design is simply, fusion with both modern and some hints of retro.  The patrons seem to be mostly young people, I mean really young people, those who are in their late teens to early 20s.  The staff there are also very young, about the same age group.  My friend and I looked pretty much out of place :(

We were soon offered an indoor seating, sofa seats.  The two of us occupied two sofas that could fit at least six people.  I wondered why nobody took up such nice seating while the whole place was full?  I got the answer the moment I sat down.  My butt was expecting a comfortable, soft cushion when it hits the sofa, instead, it met with the hard, cold wooden frame underneath a paper thin layer of fake leather!  In addition, water was dripping down from somewhere on to one of the seats of my 3-seater sofa.

As we already had our lunch that day, we only ordered a dark chocolate cake, a piccolo for myself, and a mocha for my friend.

Dark Chocolate Cake, RM18.90++

A sponge cake with a layer of hard crust of dark chocolate was served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, with biscuit crumbles as the topping.  The cake was not bad.  Rock-solid crust of dark chocolate!  Those that like it bitter must have loved it to the core.  The sweetness of the vanilla ice creams softened the impact of the bitterness of the dark chocolate, leaving a pleasant sensation. 

Piccolo, RM 11.00++

My piccolo was acceptable, but comparing it with the one I had from The Botanist, it lacked the nutty fragrance, the punch was also much milder.

My friend ordered the mocha, and it was a total disaster.  It didn't taste anything remotely like mocha.  I had a sip.  Yucks, was it actually water chestnut juice?  Or something like that?  My friend said it tasted like durian.

Our bill came to a total of RM50, including service charge and GST.

My opinion is that this place is hip, but there is quite a lot of room for improvement.  Eventually, what attracts people are good food, good drinks, a nice and comfortable environment, which they are lacking in some.

Hattendo Singapore

Hattendo (八天堂) Cafe is a new Japanese cafe that opened its first shop at the brand new Tanjong Pagar Center in Singapore.  It is hidden behind the Japan Rail Cafe, so you have to make some effort to find it.   The space is quite small, a small counter where you can order your buns and coffee, and then some 10 or so small tables for patrons to sit down and enjoy their coffee and buns.

I had never heard of Hattendo before, until one day their instagram "like" one of my posts, then I started to find out what Hattendo is.  They are said to start their business in Hiroshima, Japan, back in 1933.  Well, impressed, that means they survived the atomic bomb which was dropped in Hiroshima on 9 Aug 1945.

Back to topic, their signature dishes are the 5 types of cream buns: Custard, whipped cream, matcha, azuki beans, and chocolate.  Each bun costs $2.50.  We ordered their matcha and azuki beans.  Just in case you wonder what azuki beans are, they are red beans.  We also ordered a cafe latte and a caramel latte. 

Matcha Cream Bun

Dangdangdangdang, here is the matcha cream bun.  Well, the bun seemed to have been left on the shelf for quite a while, and appeared to be soggy.  Matcha is supposed to have some bitter taste, but in this case, it was all sweet, the bitter was almost undetectable.

Azuki Beans Bun

Next came the azuki beans bun.  There were some red bean paste litered among the creams.  As both the cream and red beans were sweet, so I think this is quite a perfect match with the coffee.  It neutralized coffee's bitter, leaving a pleasant sweet after taste in your mouth.

Overall, I think the cream buns can be a good companion to the coffee.  However, this cafe's environment is not very cozy for friends to sit down and enjoy a romantic or free spirited afternoon.  I kind of wonder what kind of market niche that they wanna craft out.

Botanist at Neil Road

The cafe is housed in an old shop house in the Tanjong Pagar conservation area.  The sign is not very prominent.  We almost walked right past it without noticing it.

The place is quite small, with 5-6 tables in the alfresco area, indoors there was only the cashier, kitchen and product displays .  The alfresco area is just a stone's throw away from Neil Road, so sometimes it can be quite noisy when there is a lot of traffic.

You have to go the cashier to order your food and drinks, make the payment and then came back with a number plate for your order.  Surprisingly, there is no service charge, GST is included in the stated price.

Slow Cooked Beef Cheek, $24.00

I ordered their signature slow cooked beef cheek.  Well, beef cheek is the cow's facial muscle, which works really hard throughout a cow's life, munching grass.  This tough muscle transforms into tender stew after being cooked low and slow.  You could still see the coarse fibre-like tissues but it was pleasant to bite and chew.

Underneath the beef cheek was the truffle mash, which is mash potato cooked with butter and truffle oil.  Butter and truffle oil added layers of complex sensations to this otherwise common ingredient, in particular the fragrance, which enhances your appetite.

Piccolo Latte, $4.50

Other than food, this cafe is famous for its coffee.  They are by the Pacamara people.  Well, as if I knew what Pacamara are.  Frankly speaking, I have never heard of Pacamara, until now.  Obviously they are a well-known boutique coffee roaster in Singapore, providing good coffee to the Singapore connoisseurs.  At first, I wanted to try their cold brew, but then it was not available on the day of my visit (why?).  I ordered a piccolo latte instead.

I always wonder why there are so many different names for the same stuff, coffee is just coffee.  Piccolo latte is a kind of 'new' invention that became popular in Sydney about 10 years ago.  It is coffee with milk served in a small glass.

The milk tames the bitterness of the coffee, while retains the nutty flavor of the beans.  It is gentle to the stomach, stimulating to the brain, fresh for the nose.  It would be great to have it after meal, but too bad, they served it before my food arrived.  Still not bad.

Overall, it was a pleasant dining experience.  The staff were friendly, service with a smile.  The place can be noisy and hot sometimes, mostly due to its close proximity to the main road.  Food and coffee are both good.  My friend whose standard comment on food is always 'so-so', surprised me with an 'above average' comment for Botanist.