Visited this café at Chinatown one day which was an interesting find. The place is easily accessible from the MRT station, in fact just a short walk away. It’s a charming little café with mostly Japanese-inspired hardware, furnished in gold and pastel countertop. The cafe took up the entire 3 floors – dining on the first level and the upstairs catered mainly for private events. Food-wise, they serve breakfast menu on weekends and lunch for weekdays as well. The cuisine is also mainly Japanese-inspired, pretty decent though the list is not exactly extensive. But they do have a list of tea to choose from for those who are not fan of coffee

Flat White $5.50

With beans sourced from Oriole Coffee, the coffee has a creamy texture to it. I had it in-house which I thought it tasted okay but the friend had a to-go version which she found it pretty strong. So well, I guess there are variations. And they served Lavender latte as well – would love to try it one day!

Uni Roast Karigane (Houjicha) $7.50

No idea what spurred me to order this but I thought it sounded pretty interesting. I was kind of expecting a milky houjicha but this was light, refreshing and thirst quenching which I really like it

Tamago Sando $12

I have never really tried a proper egg sandwich before so it’s difficult to make a comparison. On a standalone basis, this sandwich was pretty decent though the egg does look a little burnt. Spread with pear sauce and konbu mayo, it was sweet and appetising

Salmon Ochazuke $16

Crispy Sous Vide Salmon with Nori and Shiso on Kinmemai Brown Rice

It’s not usual to find ochazuke in a café so I thought I give this a try. The salmon was well-cooked with a crispy texture. You can literally hear the crackling sound when you bite into it. The stock made of bacon dashi green tea was fragrant, light and sweet and coupled with the brown rice, dried shrimps and nori seaweed to give it a refreshing finish

Pork Bowl $14

Sliced Pork, Okra, Onion Tare, Onsen Egg, Buttered Corn on Kinmemai Brown Rice

The friend really enjoyed her pork bowl which I’m glad she did. The pork slices are lightly seasoned and has a nice chewy texture to it

If you are there for lunch, you can add on $6 to make it a set which I thought was pretty worthwhile. Selection can be either soup/dessert of the day and choice of coffee/tea. We went for the dessert which was Matcha Affogato, a combination of milk icecream drenched in koicha, topped with butter caramel crumble which was pretty good without being too sweet

We had the macarons on compliments as well which was slightly too sweet for liking so perhaps if you are not a fan of too much sugar, you might want to consider giving this a pass

In all, I thought this place has its charms. I like the ambience there. It’s quiet and with the location out of bustling CBD crowd, it felt like a good place to chill if you want some me-time. And it’s probably a gem yet to be discovered

Grids & Circles

200 South Bridge Rd, Singapore 058749