The café culture in Singapore is booming. It is a love-hate relationship for me. While I wish to slow things down by lingering in cafes with some cakes and a good cup of coffee, it is really difficult to do so in Singapore. Reason being, the cafes are wayyyyyyyy tooooo crowded. You can’t really have a proper meal without people staring at you.

Having said that, I am happy that there are a few cafes popping up in smaller suburbs, which means there are higher chances of truly enjoying the entire cafe experience. When I first heard about Backstage, a cafe located in the industrial estate in Kallang way, my expression was,”What? Industrial estate? Why so ulu?” Kallang Way is the least place you would expect a café to sprout up.

But when I arrived at the cafe, I really appreciate the tranquility. Opened for only a few months, the cafe is very spacious with tall ceiling and I won’t feel claustrophobic like other cafes. Its name is inspired on their location, being at the ground floor of Safekeep Building, housing large studio spaces and filming productions. Despite its locations, there’s always a stream of customers coming in during the lunch hour.

What I like about this cafe is, they are very generous with their food portions. A unpretentious plate of Seafood Marinara ($13), the tomato consistency is delicate and nicely paired with prawns, squids and mussels.

A favourite brunch choice, the Smoked Salmon Benedict ($15) has two poached egg on toasted brioche, served with smoked salmon and homemade hollandaise sauce. Cut into the centre to reveal the perfect runny yolk. Pairing it with the hollandaise sauce, the creaminess contrasts very nicely with the savoriness of well-smoked salmon slivers.

Being a new cafe, they are still gathering feedback from customers and fine tuning the menu along the way. They probably still need to work on it more besides serving the usual suspect café offerings so as to stand out. Its Backstage Signature Grilled Pork Chop ($18) served with sauteed mixed vegetables, gratin potato is an acquired taste because of its unique asian style sauce. While the pork chop was nicely grilled to a tender meat, they probably can consider fine tuning the sauce to appeal more to the masses.

A beautiful slice of Tiramisu ($4.80) with a hefty portion of mascarpone layered with properly-soaked lady finger biscuits, very delicious. They also have Cheese Cake ($4).

Papa Palheta supplies the coffee beans so the quality of your coffee is assured. With a passionate barista who is trained locally and in Korea, my cup of Cappucino ($4)has a harmonious balance of espresso, steamed milk and frothed milk. It feels dense and creamy in your mouth, yet light and airy at the same time.

Because I went to Backstage Cafe after the lunch crowd, barista of the cafe, Alan, has some time to spare. So he let me out latte art. I think I wasted four cups of coffee to achieve a okay-looking heart shape.

With Alan & Chin Hock, thank you for the hospitality!

Backstage cafe is definitely for people who love to have their coffee and enjoy book reading in this cosy hideout. There’s free wifi and this is probably the most spacious cafe I have seen in Singapore. It is a pity that they do not operate on Sunday at the time of publication but I hope they will do so in near future.

BACKSTAGE CAFE

Address: 158 Kallang Way #01-06
Tel: 6743 6893
Website: http://www.backstage-projects.com
Opening Hours: Mon – Sat 10am to 9pm

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