We popped into Chye Seng Huat Hardware Coffee Bar when we were staying in Little India as it’s just a short walk from where we were staying. And boy are happy we did.
The concept of the coffee shop is to have a coffee experience where you can watch the baristas make your coffee because they’re working at a bar which is completely surrounded by customers. In other words, a 360º bar. It’s really cool.
Of course, the fit out of this cafe is incredible — world class. It has a bit of an industrial look which has been all the rage for almost a decade now, but it’s more modern and classy than that. Lighting is fantastic and seating is very cool. We loved our seat against the wall.
We had coffee and cake here and both were fab. The coffee is as good as any we’ve had in Singapore and the cake was an interesting sticky fig pudding. We’re guessing it’s a take on sticky date pudding.
Prices for food here are reasonable for the quality you get and slightly cheaper than some other high end Singapore cafes. Coffee is the same as most other upmarket coffee shops in Singapore — overpriced! $5.50 for a cappuccino or latte.
We really love Chye Seng Huat Hardware Coffee Bar and we highly recommend coming here if you love coffee, cafe food or even if you are just in the area and feel like some cake. Awesome.
Chye Seng Huat Hardware Coffee Bar
150 Tyrwhitt Rd, Lavender, Singapore
www.cshhcoffee.com
Opening Hours: 09:00 – 22:00 (Friday/Saturday until 24:00)
Closest MRT: Lavender (green EW11) or Farrer (purple NE8)
Main meals: $18-20
Cappuccino: $5.50
But we just can’t go past that butter chicken. It’s so tender!
Some of the food here is spicy, but on the whole the food is more flavoursome rather than spicy. The mixed rice dishes are wide and varied, but we can safely say that the standard “rice meal” is awesome. Cauliflower, potato, beans, okra and dhal all in their own Indian sauces. The chutneys and sauces on the side are really interesting and full of flavour as well.
The ordering process is quite simple. Go to the counter where they have menus. Select the dishes you want and pay straight away. Take your receipt and give it to one of the waiters and your meal will arrive about 5 minutes later.