Habitat Coffee - brunch cafe in Upper Thomson (Moved)

[Relocated to 803 King George’s Ave #01-242/244, Singapore 200803]

Habitat Coffee is a small cafe along Upper Thomson Road, near the junction with Sin Ming Road, on the side going northwards towards Sembawang. It is one of the many food outlets and restaurants situated in shophouses along the road in this part of Singapore. We were there for brunch recently.

This picture of Sin Min Clinic two doors away from Habitat has nothing to do with our brunch. We just think that it looks so simple and retro. Restaurants seem to fit in so well in neighbourhoods of old shophouses. Other places like Keong Saik and Telok Ayer come to mind. Maybe it is the interesting neighbours that make the atmosphere special.

The interior of Habitat Coffee is practical and rather spartan. But there is a certain beauty in its light industrial style. At least it is not pretentious. We placed our order at the counter which was manned by two ladies.

Habitat Coffee Menu

Here are pictures of the Habitat Coffee Menu. Food is listed on one side, drinks on the other. Breakfast items, rice bowls, pasta and sandwiches are the main items. It is the type of food menu that is popular these days. More than just breakfast but lighter than dinner food. Among ourselves we call them brunch cafes because they are perfect for brunch at any time of the day. We decided on a Salmon Sesame bowl ($17) and Stuffed Berries Hotcake ($15) and coffee.

The Food at Habitat Coffee

The salmon sesame rice bowl was attractively presented. The lotus root chips added crunch and visual appeal to the dish. The chunks of salmon and the sauce went very well with the rice. A thought did cross my mind whether this was a pricey and beautiful version of economy rice. Would a more ‘upmarket’ type of grain such as couscous or quinoa make this a more ‘correct’ dish?

There were no such doubts when the hotcake arrived. It was a wonderfully baked hotcake covered with lots of berries and a scoop of cream cheese. It was moderately heavy and so we were glad we only ordered two items for sharing.

Another reason we would want to make another visit to Habitat Coffee is the coffee. The cappuccino that we had that day was very good. I have been keeping mental notes of coffee recently. This must be the second best that I can recall. The best so far was the one at Bread Yard. We shall write about that in another post shortly. With all the talk about dementia in then news recently, perhaps we should also start listing out our coffee preferences before we forget.