ReStore

Cute and cozy café. Friendly staff. I’ve only dropped by a few times but my wife is a fan. It’s a café with lots of tasty desserts and pastries but they also restore and sell vintage furniture.
My wife mentioned a chart she liked so I thought I’d surprise her with it. One word: pricey!
The chair is well restored with a purdy fabric. Happy with the purchase. They also have unofficial lifetime warranty as the shopkeeper said to just bring it by anytime if there’s something that needs fixing.
Word is bond, good enough for me!

Where do you take a date for an afternoon sojourn and yet want a cozy ambiance to get to know him/​her better? ReStore that is. Better yet, they might be impressed with the theme of the place.
Walked past this café many-​a-​time and never found the right time or opportunity to actually dine in. However, a cold rainy Friday afternoon seemed liked a good time to try this place. Coming straight from Drury Lane Café next door, I had enough of coffee and wanted to have more desserts.
I am a girl who likes to get quick service and be served fast if I know what I want and place my order upon walking in (without looking at the menu). I also have certain favourites that I like to try at different cafes and than I’ll mentally rank them on my Top 10 list of my favourite café with my favourite food. As I was still in search of the perfect Lemon Meringue Tart, I made a beeline straight to the cake counter. Well, no sight of my tart that’s for sure but what caught my eye was the enormous, fluffy, topped-​with-​icing Bundt Cake. Upon confirming that it is a Lemon Bundt Cake, I told the lady that I’l have that. I sounded pretty sure of my choice but nonetheless the lady told us to take a seat and she will come around and take my order. After waiting for 5 minutes, I saw her behind the counter busying herself and she didn’t seem in a hurry to take my order. At that time, there was only another table besides ours and they had their orders served already. Puzzled, my partner walked over to the counter and placed our order again, more decisively this time.
Verdict:
–Lemon Bundt Cake — Moist, Soft, Fluffy with just the right intensity of lemon flavour. The icing capped the entire ensemble nicely and added a gentle sugary aftertaste.
The store was having a book sale at the time we were there and the piles of used books gave a nice touch to the antique-​shop vibe that the owner wanted to achieve. Not sure if anyone will actually buy any of the furniture but it makes for a unique café experience.
If you want to impress your overseas guest with a one-​of-​a-​kind café experience with chairs on the wall, or do some antique shopping at the same time, this place comes highly recommended.
Tip: Not recommended for big groups as it can get squeezy, maximum of 4 pax is fine.

Accidentally stumbled on this place with my dad while we were on our way to Drury Lane (
)
Here’s why it has 4 stars:
AMAZING AMBIENCE. I was a little iffy at first because… chairs on walls, okay. Not meant to be. BUT after giving my overly OCD brain some time to adjust, I began to enjoy the strange gravity defying, mismatched atmosphere.
INSANE COFFEE. I loved their latte. LOVED. They served them in retro mugs, okay. MUGS. How adorable?! I have small hands, but I really loathe those small latte cups that I have to gingerly pick up with three fingers. Hurrhurrhurr. (stop judging my neanderthal ways, okay. Sometimes a girl likes a cup big enough to hug.)
SERVICE. Realllyyyy great and attentive service, calm lowkey people who don’t make you feel rushed or stressed. Super patient with my questions too. :)
MUSIC. Cute as fudge music. I approve.
Why it has 4 stars???
I found the food portions rather small, but maybe it’s just what I ordered?
PS: TRY THE EARL GREY COOKIESSS ALHDNLAINIWUNOLEO soooooo good.

I simply love the décor of this place and it makes people really feel comfortable to enjoy a nice tea break. It is one of those shop houses but it was decorated with vintage furniture and a modern concept.
The waffles there are really fantastic, warm and fluffy and wholesome. The ice tea goes along very well with the waffles too, especially in our Singapore climate. Another item that i really enjoy from that stall is the bagels! Simply lovely and hard to find a good one in Singapore, crispy on the outside but chewy and wholesome on the inside.
The service was prompt and i would definitely go back to satisfy my cravings for bagels. A really nice place to chill out and have a nice break from work.

Tuesdays are for tea because we all need one to get through the longest day of the week and i would head over to ReStore Living, a shop-​cum-​café nestled in the historic district of Tanjong Pagar to get some. What’s awesome is that ReStore has all my loves in 1 quaint venue: Shophouses, quirky reupholstered chairs, vintage furniture and tea. I wasn’t disappointed. Colourful chairs of all shapes and sizes were hung on the walls for all to admire. Relaxing vibe with french music playing softly in the background. This feel is what i want to come home to every night after a long day at work.
The store was conceived by Meg Wettstein and Liew Hwee Min, who share a passion for all things upholstered. The concept is simple really, pick out some vintage furniture that people are ready to discard (yes silly us) and add a little modern twist to it to make it all the rave. Then people are oh so willing to pay for them. Why not take a closer look at the things around you? Appreciate them a little more. Your trash could be someone else’s treasure. Why not make them your own?
I had the Chocolate, Almond and Banana half waffles (S$ 9.80) which was quite delightful. The batter was a little salty and went perfectly with the sweet toppings. Just the way i like it. The whipped cream is a lot denser than the usual airy sort and had an ice cream like texture which was lovely. Would love some ice cream on this one though.
Head over to ReStore Living for a très European lazy afternoon. If not, at least make yourself an iced tea this afternoon. :)

Not just another delicious coffee venture in the Tanjong Pagar area, ReStore’s uniqueness lies in the ‘patchwork’ of eclectic chairs and chests (some even dangling by a thread on the walls!). One can only dream of owning of one of those pretty things…
But that aside, ReStore is like the Interior Designer sister to The Plain, and the quality of their coffee is excellent — just the right acidity and nuttiness to it — and it doesn’t require a heaping spoon of sugar dumped into it to make it drinkable (the taste test for most coffees for me).
And their coffee makes for a lovely affogato — though coffee purists might scoff (bleurgh!). Other must tries (that I have yet to) are their waffles and bagels that smell (and look, respectively) divine. A worthy dessert and brunch place as well!

Taking a seat at Restore is uniquely apt for this café because it is also a haunt for vintage furnitures — chairs especially. Half of this spot is dedicated solely to restored chairs displayed in an array of bright colours and styles.
M picked Honey Wholewheat Bagel with Walnut Cream Cheese which was served on the most adorable wooden board. The bagel was well-​toasted and the walnut cream cheese was in a little pot that just spells out «Homemade». She loved it and enjoyed it tremendously. She also had a cup of Latte ($ 4.50) to go with the bagel.
I had the Waffles with Sliced Bananas and Homemade Caramel Syrup that came with a dusting of icing sugar too. I really liked the syrup which was sweet without being cloying. I paired it with Pearl of the Orient Tea which was really fragrant, light and comforting.
ML had the Waffles with Strawberries and Blueberries coupled with Freshly Whipped Cream ($ 9.80). Thought it might be a pointer to note that the charming thing about servings at Restore was its daintiness — meaning that you should expect to be just nicely filled up, for the ladies that is. It is probably telling that one of the ladybosses is a Japanese.