TGIT with colleagues// Ali babar// Teo Heng
On last Tuesday, my colleague and I travelled far fom AMK knowing that we do not have to work on the following day. We headed to Katong to look for Priscilla as our plan went by singing K at Katong Teo Heng. Just before our K session, we decided to grab our dinner at the nearby place and we were glad to see this "Coffeeshop" along our way,
When is a hawker centre not a hawker centre? Apparently when it is a “Coffeeshop by day and hawker bar by night”. That’s hardly the best joke in the world, but it is how Ali Babar in Katong describes itself.
Located on the corner of East Coast Road and Joo Chiat Road and directly opposite Katong I12 mall, this little corner food court with just 5 stalls could easily be ignored or dismissed. To do so however would be to ignore one of the most innovative kopitiams in Singapore today. Only one of the 5 stalls serves the usual staples of Hokkien Mee and Prawn Noodles (which it does very well), instead its neighbours include a bar selling beers from all over the world, a Japanese stall, a gourmet burger shack, and a French restaurant!
While the three of us had Burger bar for our choice. Priscilla being the special one ordered their Japanese ramen. Many of the reviewer would have opted for their Hokkien Mee which cost $5 per plate but me being the Äng Moh person aiming for their western cuisine.
Each of us ordered different type of meat that was filled inside the burger. I had my streaky bacon cheese burger ($9.40) which includes one beef patty, a small slice of cheese and a slice of fatty bacon. While geraldine had her lamb burger which includes a lamb patty, tzatziki amd red pepper ( $12.90). And lastly, Ying wei had her gigantic tiger prawns with beef patty and caramelized onion ($14.10) which probably could serve a pax of 2.
What's great would be all burger set comes with 2 side dishes ( Fries + coleslaw) with no GST and service charge given (:
Alibabar - Hawker Bar
Add: 125 East Coast Road
Tel: 6440 6147
Hours: 7.30am-11pm daily
Next up, the girls were craving for desserts so we continued to walk down the lane and spotted this wonderfully old-school styled facade of the eatery! It was so unexpected that this old retro turned out to be a cafe which I once saw it from instagram which they sell their Ice Kachang ball.
Sinpopo Brand, a concept cafe by the people of Awfully Chocolate, has undergone a re-branding.
I love the logo, it was tastefully and thoughtfully designed to reminisce the old and yet looked so refreshingly new and different!
Cosy and homely, Sinpopo does bring one back to the 70s and 80s. The feel, the music, the furniture, etc all contribute to its down-to-earth vibe. You will find record covers of 70s singers, an old television set and even old-school posters.
Even the menu give out such a retro feel. I really fell in love with this seemingly humble looking restaurant, yet actually was pretty much painstakingly decorated, even before I tried out their food.
The main dishes on the menu were good but our aim was to have our desserts so these are the cakes that were sold that night, I was eyeing for their Ice kachang but the assistant told me that they have removed this item from the list. WHY!!! It was so popular back then.
So unwillingly, we got ourselves a Jackfruit pound cake and Gula Melaka cake which wasn't a bad choice uh. We thought that the Gula Melaka cake would come out VERY sweet but no, just a mild of caramelised palm sugar with a light smooth texture. It taste like honey though. The jackfruit was the winner. It was a sweet-smelling fruits that nobody could expect it to taste good too. I mean people don't actually go for Jackfruit cake if given by a choice.
Generally, Sinpopo Brand can easily be treated as a simple dining place for the elders, where they can recollect some old memories of their childhood. Of course, you need not be "that" old to enjoy the ambiance there, but certainly there are some desserts not easily found in other places, which you enjoy popping into your mouth.
Sinpopo Brand
458 Joo Chiat Road
Singapore 427671
Telephone: +65 6345 5034
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/sinpoposg
Finally to our Sing K session that ended off our night! Some songs reviewed for you but please don't judge! We were just enjoying ourselves to the max, screaming and shouting in the room.
Till then.
