Birds of a Feather Cafe, start of a post industrial revolution?

Our lunch at newly opened Birds of a Feather Cafe on Amoy Street Singapore was a remarkable experience on many fronts. Another new hip cafe in Singapore? Perhaps, but this is a new cafe with a difference – the accommodations. We have been conditioned to accept uncomfortable dining conditions in Singapore. Under the guise of “industrial chic”, we are used to bare concrete floors, rickety stools, hard surfaces and crowded spaces. The Birds of a Feather Cafe looks as trendy as any recent new cafe but there was none of those inconveniences. In fact many of the seats were plush and we were far enough away not to smell the neighbours’ food. Hopefully, this is a start of a post industrial revolution in our cafe designs.

According to a Straits Times article, the 90-seat cafe was started by Mr Liu Bin, owner of the Good Wood Cafe chain in Chengdu, China. A large, well-stocked bar welcomes diners at the entrance to the Birds of a Feather Cafe. There were some small tables here. The main seating areas can be found deeper inside. Plants, comfortable seating and soft overhead lighting from two skylights combine to produce a cozy ambience. Where are the birds? Our cheeky server’s reply was that they were the birds!

Birds of a Feather serves the usual cafe food, but with some twists that reflect their Chinese origins. Here are pictures of the lunch, small plates and dinner menus. We ordered a tofu burger with mapo sauce ($22), fried potato and sweet potato ($8) and crispy gyoza in truffles soy vinaigrette ($16).

The fried potato dish was a mixture of sweet potato crisps and some chunks of fried potatoes. A nice change from the usual French fries.

The gyoza was the best dish of the day. The skins were thin but resilient, giving them a nice chewy texture but with a crispness on the browned surfaces. The vinaigrette sauce was very good.

The last time we had a tofu burger was at PS cafe sometime back where the tofu was used as the bun. In the Birds cafe, the buns were made of man tou material. The tofu served as the burger patty, with mapo mince pork sauce topping. The sauce has a ma la spiciness that leaves a tingling feel on the tongue. Quite an unusual blend of east meets west.

The expresso was nice and strong, but had too much sourness for our liking. The cappuccino was very good as the milk arrested most of the sour taste.

Overall, the folks at the Birds of a Feather Cafe have done a good job in setting up another trendy cafe in Singapore, but with some differences. The fusion of east and west in the menu items was successfully executed. The best thing is the departure from the edgy industrial design that is starting to get tiring. We certainly like this post industrial style. To the designers of the Birds of a Feather restaurant, we thank you from the bottom of our bottoms!