Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Dong Po Colonial Cafe (东坡茶室) - Superb Kopi @ 56 Kandahar Street [Near Bugis]

Most people would proceed to Ya Kun, Toastbox, Fun Toast to fix their craving for local kopi and traditional toast as their sheer number of outlets made it extremely convenient. 

Dong Po Colonial Cafe, however, was situated in an inconvenient location stuck in between Bugis and Lavender MRT stations. I know because i had to walk there on an early Saturday morning! 

As the name suggested, the interior design of the cafe was planned towards the period before Singapore declared independence although there was still the modern comfort; the very much needed air conditioning in the premise. 

Since we are on decoration, let me show you the interesting tables with hollow compartment that's covered with a glass top; interesting relics of that era were placed within the compartment and each table had different items! 

I don't belong to the generation that has seen the 50s or 60s but i am sure my parents didn't use the Chinese chess pawns as replacement for pool balls. 

Items found in the homes back then were placed at wooden bookcases near the cashier. My era doesn't have the charcoal iron but i do remember the wooden clogs my mom would wear when we were living in the village! 

With so much money presumably sank in for the decoration, i seriously expect chairs that are wooden instead of plastic! It just doesn't make sense to have noticeably plastic chairs destroying the "nostalgia feel" even if they are lighter (hence, easily stacked up for ease of cleaning).

Nevertheless, my mantra dictates that food matters more than decorations and in Dong Po, we are talking more than the toast!

There were many cakes and pastries to choose from with some that i have never even heard of in my life despite the fact that most had existed for more than half a century; one example, what the heck is a lamington?!

Breakfast isn't a meal i required although a cup of kopi will be essential to kick start my day! I really enjoyed the coffee which had just the right level of sweetness, wasn't bitter and featured the addictive fragrant buttery flavour! 

Given that it's an arranged meet-up session with friends on a weekend, it's necessary to order more than just beverage! A bit too much if you ask me as there were only four of us and two of them couldn't even manage a normal-sized meal.

It's been a while since i last had such good kaya butter toast; lightly sweetened kaya and amazing butter even though the crisp was a result of machine rather than traditionally charcoal toasted.

Less impressionable were the pastries including apple crumble tart and bostock even though my friends enjoyed them way better than i did.

No complaint about the eggs but i bet Alex the soft boiled egg guru would love them for being the perfect texture. 

The ladies were done and there were still so much food left! Would i be back? Definitely and i would bring along my parents; psst, my mum was already aware of this place and had already dined there before i did.

=====

Location
56 Kandahar Street

Map 
As above from streetdirectory.com

Operating Hours
Sundays to Thursdays - 8am to 8pm
Fridays to Saturdays - 8am to 10pm

Facebook Page

Set Menu
As above

No comments:

Post a Comment