The Owl has flown to the Courtyard. The Owl Cafe operated as a pop up store of sort along a narrow corridor in the National Gallery Singapore. Earlier this year it moved into the space vacated by the Padang Cafe and took on a new name. Courtyard Café National Gallery Singapore located on the ground level of Supreme Court Wing is a casual diner serving Straits Asian food, good coffee and a selection of traditional kuehs.
Courtyard Café National Gallery Singapore has 2 dining sections. The main dining section is quite nicely decorated. There is a mix of seating arrangements including a bar counter. The other section is an “al fresco” courtyard area which is under a glass roof. It gets plenty of natural light so there you will feel like you are dining outdoor but with the comfort of air-conditioning – an ideal setup for sunny and humid Singapore.
Menu of Courtyard Café National Gallery
Courtyard Cafe serves a range of local food, like mee rebus, laksa and horfun, as well as dim sum, salad and sandwiches. It is also the place for local kopi and other hot beverages and local desserts and kuehs.
Here are photos of the Courtyard Cafe Menu.
Lunch at Courtyard Cafe
Courtyard Cafe operates on a system where you order and pay at the counter and wait for your buzzer to prompt you to pick up the food.
We went there for lunch and ordered the Seafood Peranakan Laksa ($10.80) and Courtyard Hainanese Club Sandwich (10.80). A cup of coffee was $2.80. The prices included GST and there was no service charge.
The Seafood Peranakan Laksa looked good and it had lots of ingredients, including prawns, mussels and egg. The noodles had a good texture. We found the laksa broth to be a tad too sweet. On the whole the dish was not bad but not our favourite version of laksa.
The Courtyard Hainanese Club was not quite what we expected. It came nicely presented with the sandwich sitting on a big square plate topped with a fried egg. A chicken patty was between 2 slices of white bread which was not well toasted. The sauce on the patty was a sweet and sour sauce, like those used for Hainanese pork chop. It was a tasty and enjoyable dish. It would have been even better if the bread was not soft and limp.
Courtyard Cafe Kuehs
On the glass shelves next to the cashier’s counter were tempting nyonya kuehs on display.
Being creatures of habit we ordered Seri Muka Pulut Hitam ($1.50) and Ondeh Ondeh Gula Melaka ($2.70 for 3 pieces). When we saw the Seri Muka Pulut Hitam it dawned on us that the Owl Cafe which was operating as a pop up store down the corridor (see our post The Owl Cafe National Gallery Singapore) must have reinvented itself as the Courtyard Cafe.
The Ondeh Ondeh were a little disappointing. They were small and the gula melaka inside the glutinous rice balls was not as thick and rich as we would have liked. The Seri Muka Pulut Hitam was fragrant, luscious and very enjoyable.
Courtyard Café National Gallery Singapore is a good place to rest tired feet and enjoy good local coffee and traditional kuehs. There are very nice restaurants in National Gallery Singapore but Courtyard Café is the ordinary patrons’ kind of place for coffee and snacks or a reasonably priced decent meal in a comfortable setting.
Ratings:
Food : 3
Service : 3
Value : 3
Atmosphere : 3
Overall Rating: 3 TOPs 
Courtyard Café National Gallery Singapore
Supreme Court Wing, #01-02A
1 St. Andrew’s Road
Singapore 178957
Opening Hours:
Sun–Thu 9am–7pm
Fri–Sat 9am–8pm
Nearby MRT Station : City Hall
The Ordinary Patrons
Singapore Food Blog by Ordinary People looking for Places to Eat
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