A French man who looked like he’s the cousin of Wolverine (ripped muscles and all) stood at the entrance of Telok Ayer Chung Hwa Free Clinic said a big “Hello”. Not an expected sight, and you walk in and get more astonished that this is a new café.
My Awesome Café 真棒堂 is THAT NEXT café which is likely to stand out from all the newly opened ones. Its retro-looking décor, with all vintage furniture such as school desks and knick knacks gathered from various sources, reminds me of those quirky artistic cafes at Hong Kong.
The co-owner Franck Hardy who used to be from the hotel industry, was ultra-ultra-friendly. He gave me a quick tour to the back of the café, where I spotted restored old fans and an ice-kachang machine. (So pay a visit to the toilet area yah.)
This is quite the place to people-watch, as I noticed during lunch that every single person (yes every one) was having a salad, namely the My Awesome Salad ($15) – a generous portion of mesclun with smoked salmon, herbed chicken breast, duck rillettes, avocado and tomatoes.
Frank revealed he would go to Tiong Bahru market to source for his fruits and ingredients, while the salad greens are imported from Australian because “they just taste better”. Point taken.
Both desserts – Bread & Butter Pudding and Upside Down Pineapple Cake ($4.50 each), were well, classic and awesome.
Between the two, the Pineapple Cake any time. It was old-fashioned, rich, indulgent, and my café-hopping friend exclaimed, “So buttery, it hurts.” (This is a compliment.)
It was even served one of those 70s dark yellow glass plates sourced from Malaysia. We wished they would lessen the sugar though. I am so afraid of getting diabetes.
Does the staff here hit the gym immediately after work? Watching the barrister pull shots with those biceps, while we pamper in cakes felt like a guilt trip.
The café art may not be the prettiest, but the coffee made from a blend of beans from Columbia, Brazil and Sumatra was decent. The price was most surprisingly wallet-friendly – $2.50 for single, $3.50 for double, and $4.50 for latte or cappuccino. (Tip: They also serve Mexican Coco-cola made with cane sugar.)
This café may not serve the pretty instagram-worthy cakes and all-day breakfast. Its beauty comes from within, and its dedication to details in design and finishing touches is admirable. Indeed the next café to go to, because it gets too crowded. Very awesome.
My Awesome Café 真棒堂
202 Telok Ayer, Singapore 068630
Opening Hours: 7:45 am – 10pm (Mon-Tues), 7:45am – 12am (Wed-Fri), 9am – 10pm (Sat), 9am – 6pm (Sun)
Other Cafe Entries
Department of Caffeine (Duxton Road)
Jewel Café + Bar (Rangoon Road)
Craft Bakery Café (Holland Village)
Common Man Coffee Roasters (Martin Road)
The Basement Café (Singapore Management University)
Great Cafe!!! Favorite hidden spot in Singapore.
Great review, thanks for sharing. Makes me want to visit the place too. There is this map called CafeSG that lets you find all the local cafes in Singapore! Super useful for cafe hopping and to discover new cafes near home and workplace.
http://cafesg.bigspoon.sg/
Hope to see more reviews from you
Dan, I couldn’t stop laughing, you have such talent with words. This review is loaded with awesomeness. Thank you. b
I think i'll walk down at lunchtime today…
Sweet! Some where to explore this weekend.
great cafe.. love their salads which made me feel fat free.. goes best with the cup of coffee.. its gonna be my frequent hang out place now^_^
Love this cafe it's so unique!! Service is very warm unlike other robotic cafe without nice and friendly approach!! I would think they should also open up a training school to train Singapore service staff the technique to such awesome service similar to how they ran their cafe!! Food is awesome definitely a place not to be missed!! Awesome salad Yummie, Desert heavenly, coffee aromatic, Price Affordable hmm what else could I ask for!!
You're doing an awesome job!
Had the salmon croissant and scrambled eggs.
The overall impression, nothing to shout about but as i tucked into the sandwich,
I was greeted by a surprise, “Comment allez-vous”. Very well-made croissant. The problem with getting a good croissant nowadays is you would not get the subtle buttery aroma with the crisp, yet soft texture. You only get one and i hate to choose either because i feel robbed. It always happens but this cafe gave both. And in under five minutes, my experience ended. A happy ending and i wanted to reorder another but didnt want to appear as a glutton. So i ordered the quiche and salad, under the pretext of wanting to sample another. Anyway, i think most can agree that once you have had something chances are, you would be a little full to really let the food impress you but hey, thats not the case for this one. I’ve one quiche too many to know whats good and whats not! This quiche comes in warm and and has that soft baked smell permeating, the salad side, well, just an excuse to look healthy but try piercing your fork through the quiche, quiche lovers would know that this IS SERIOUS! I will not spoil it for you so visit them and have your own impression, an AWESOME impression!
P.S. i also had the orgasm in a cup. It came and went too fast.(no pun intended)
FYI i am not suffering from P.E but that’s just what it was.. Check it out at their cafe to know what i am talking about. 😉 hehe..
Thank you guys for your comments, support and Awesome write ups. Don't hesitate ti ask for Franck for a chit chat whenever you come over, ok? Hugs.
Thank you guys for your comments, support and Awesome write ups. Don't hesitate ti ask for Franck for a chit chat whenever you come over, ok? Hugs.
bonjour,
Je suis stephane de Toulouse et l’on s’était rencontré à Bergerac. Te souviens tu de moi ?
Thank you Regina Jawad Baig for your Awesome write up, love you! Franck
Thank you so much Jennabelle Tai for your super comments, do say hi when you next come over, ok? Hugs, Franck
Thank you Seb! Really appreciate. Franck
Cool info Jay Adam Tiong Siew Teo, thank you! Franck
Thank you for walking over for lunch, do say hi next time, Franck:)-
Message to their FB: “I’m pretty amaze that you hire an annoying staff! There is this Big size waiter w/ a ponytail (no discrimination, because they don’t wear nametags) who doesn’t seems to have any politeness with his customers! My friend and I were here for food and ambience, not distasteful jokes from your staff. I do hope you can brush up your service.”
Please review more ratings in their facebook page which reflect more reviews!
To Franck Hardy, there is nothing much against your cafe. It is rather the person who attend to us.
Hi Lionel, we since spoke off line and had a chat with the said waiter who understood where you were coming from and apologized. Just saw this post, so wanted to reassure everyone that action had been taken after listening to Lionel’s feedback…Franck
It states here that it opens at 7am and we happy went there for breakfast this morning. Yes it was opened alright but not for business at 8am. A cleaning lady happily told us that it is not opened and went on cleaning
Hi Elizabeth, sorry to hear about that. Have updated the opening hours accordingly. Many times businesses change their timings, but we would not be informed. Thanks for telling!
Its not awesome at all. The food are damn expensive and the portion is way too little. The free flow bread took more than 15mins and it never arrived. Goodness.