Tian Kee & Co

I really love this place! It’s tucked into an HDB and looks like it could be plucked from a Brooklyn, NY corner. The service is friendly always, and the coffee is on point. It’s well brewed, good beans, and served in style. I have had the pancakes and the half breakfast. The eggs are good, however the pancakes are pretty standard. They also serve some bottled craft beer. No wi-​fi that I am aware of, and no aircon. However high power fans take care of the 2^nd issue. I could go every week and be happy.

If there ever was a coffee joint that epitomizes «Singaporean Hipster», Tian Kee & Co. would be it! Located in the HDB Block of 12 Dakota Crescent, the Coffee shop is located in what looks like an old shop house. It’s inviting and not pretentious at all! A true local gem. In fact, the place keeps its old world charm with its no frills tables and open concept (sorry no air conditioning) :D
The food and coffee offerings are simple yet fantastically good. Artisanal coffee is their specialty with the Salted-​Caramel Latte as my absolute fave. Their ever popular Gula-​Melaka Cheese Cake is a must have. As a true New Yorker with an affinity for cheesecakes, I would never think that a cheesecake would ever have a Singapore/​Malaysian flare to it.
A must visit if you are in the area. Use the Unilocal map to find this place since it’s a little bit off the main drag.

My friends and I just had dinner at Old Aiport Road Hawker centre and decided to walk over here to try out the infamous rainbow cheesecake that has been gaining fame over Instagram! Facing the main road, is this lone shop.
All the HDB flats in that area were vacant and waiting to be enbloced. My grandaunt used to live in this area and I remember it being quite busy and full of life. Now, it is just a quie place that has quite an erie feel to it at night.
Everything about this shop screams «Old School». I love that they pretty much kept everything original. Hurray! For the shop owners, lower renovation costs and HEY! CRAZY HIPSTERs will love this place even more. It seems like Gen Z is always willing to pay more for less aka (Old school) They have seating for about 20 odd customers, even though there was no air conditioning, it was pretty cool and breezy with their massively powerful ceiling fans.
THE CAKES! I wanted I try them all, but I only had so much space in my tummy, and my calories had exceeded the limit for the day and the following day as well!
1. Root Beer Float (2 for $ 8)
We decided to get a drink even though our waistlines were exploding. The ice cream was very creamy and quite hard, it took awhile for it to melt and blend into the root beer. We thoroughly enjoyed it and the straws had a little spoon on the end much like the ones you get a 7 – 11 slurpee, to help scoop the vanilla ice cream.
2. Rainbow Cheesecake $ 7.50
The main star of the cake display, check out the videos of this cake wobling on a plate. It is a pretty quirky cake that seems to be gelatin filled! It is alot lighter than most cheesecake, woohoo! lesser calories I hope? Additionally, it is alot less gerlat and filling, so you can keep going at it! The colours are very pastel like, unlike the one at NOM Bistro @MacPherson CC. I like this alot better too!
3. Yuan Yang Cheesecake $ 6.50
This is one of the best cheesecakes I’ve ever had! Probably because I am a yuan yang fan. Yuan Yang is basically a mix of coffee and tea, so think of that and a heavenly cheesecake. This beats the Godiva cheesecake I love with a passion at The Cheesecake Factory. THIS IS A MUST TRY!
If you’re grabbing cheap hawker food from old airport road, don’t forget to hit up Tian Kee & Co for their desserts. They have main courses too, but everyone just keeps Instagraming their desserts, no one actually knows that they serve brunch.

Tian Kee & Co. used to be a 54-​year old provision shop that was operated by an old couple. The current owner immediately wanted to take over the shop when the previous owners decided to retire. The current shop, a café, retains the original name of the provision shop it previous occupies and part of the original décor.
There is a small selection of bakes and cakes here. Unfortunately, the ice cream section was not fully set-​up and the brunch menu was not up on the day of the visit.
The drinks menu here is mainly focused on coffee, with a small selection of tea.
The coffee here uses blends from Dutch Colony Coffee. The Flat White ($ 5) is full-​bodied and has a low acidity but is slightly burnt and resulted in a slight bitter taste, a taste that is less apparent in their blends.
All of the cakes here are supplied by popular online bakery Cat & The Fiddle. The Mao Shan Wang ($ 6.50) cheesecake comes with generous amount of Mao Shan Wang durian meat, and tasted creamy and indulging! This is a must recommend for durian lovers!
The Banana Chocolate Muffin ($ 3.50) is heated up when it was served. It is fluffy and moist with a rich banana taste. The chocolate bits complemented the banana taste as well.
Although currently most of the food there are pre-​made from other places, they have a brunch menu coming up soon and the nostalgic environment and the humble service here will definitely attract people to visit. If you are around the Dakota /​Old Airport area, don’t give this place a miss!

Apparently it seems like these days it’s no longer hipster unless your café is in a remodeled old store (think My Awesome Café) operating from a mature HDB estate (think Tiong Bahru, Jalan Besar and the likes). Well, in that case, Tian Kee & Co. may be leading the pack on the hipster quotient. They are keeping it real in their 65-​year-​old provision-​shop-​turned-​artisan-​café which does not even have AC. But how do they really fare in the café test?
The vibe is petty much old provision shop with really sparse furniture and food offerings. Coffee is made using Dutch Colony beans. My Latte ($ 5) was a little acidic and not as full bodied as I like my coffee to be. Decent nonetheless.
You can bet that I’d order anything with coffee (and in this case tea included) in it and so it was the Yuan yang cheesecake ($ 6.50) that kept me company for a bit. The 2 layer cake consists of a lighter creamy top which had a citrusy taste (maybe there’s earl grey) and the bottom half is the rich and dense coffee tea cheesecake. Flavor wise, I felt that it could be more intense. I tried to give them some credit because I thought my tastes buds were contaminated by the latte but S couldn’t taste much of the YY as welll. It would have been better if there was more of that rich cheese though. The biscuit crust could also be improved.
The owners must really love cheesecake because that’s all they offer for cakes now, but I LOVE! I had a tough time deciding because the toffee caramel salted cheesecake ($ 6.50) looked so amazingly rich and smooth. There’s also the Mao Shan Wang durian cheesecake and milo dinosaur cheesecake!
Muffins are available for $ 3.50 a pop but they looked very much homemade cupcakes instead of the rich NYC style I prefer so I skipped it. Savory black pepper chicken pies ($ 7.90) are also available. I heard rumors of a brunch menu coming up but I think it may be hard to compete with the Old Airport Road offerings that are way more old school.
I’m not sure how long Tian Kee would last in the café scene unless it really ups its game in the food department. I hope they really do it fast and soon. Hipsters can only provide you with that much initial publicity. Believe many would head to Maple & Market or Brawn & Brains for little bites with more variety and also a more comfortable dining environment. Well I would.