Glasshouse CHIJMES - a new specialty coffee and toast bar in a glass box

A new cafe, Glasshouse CHIJMES has sprouted out of nowhere in the grounds of the former CHIJ. As its name suggests, Glasshouse Specialty Coffee and Toast Bar is a petite cafe offering coffee and light food out of a glass box. It is an interesting place which we had to check it out.

The new Glasshouse CHIJMES cafe operates out of a new glass and metal structure which has been built between the buildings housing the Whitegrass and Lei Garden restaurants. Leafy plants within and without lend a refreshing touch to the cafe.

The large food and drinks preparation counter dominates the small space. With full glass walls on three sides and the reflected light from the white walls of neighbouring buildings, the small space is filled with natural light. It is a very beautiful space. The folks running the Glasshouse CHIJMES have done a good job of furnishing the place simply, letting the natural light do all the work. The air conditioner must be a very powerful one. It did a good job in removing the heat built up by the glasshouse effect.

The Glasshouse CHIJMES Menu

The Glasshouse CHIJMES Menu is a simple one – mainly beverages and a few types of toast. Some pastries are also displayed. For our short stopover, we selected a couple of pastries to go with some coffee.

The Lemon Drizzle Loaf and Cinnamon Roll ($5 each) were quite ordinary. If we were at another place, we might have felt disappointed with the taste. But in the charming environment of The Glasshouse Specialty Coffee and Toast Bar at CHIJMES, all was forgiven.

The coffee at the Glasshouse ($3.5 and $4 for black and white coffee) was very good. For this location we thought that the prices for coffee were very reasonable. They more than made up for the very normal tasting pastries that we tried that day. Overall, we think that Glasshouse is a very pleasant place to take a break from the messy real world outside. Within this serene air-conditioned glass cocoon, we are surrounded by plants and get served immaculately made coffee by nice people. We shall be back!