Whale and Cloud

Ok guys, I don’t get it. I know there is some appeal in going to a «secret» location and grabbing your cup of joe and cake, but this is taking the novelty of secrecy a little too far… First off, finding this coffee shop is more annoying than fun. The cab will drop you in front of the said location, but only after some confusion do you realize you have to walk down the street and turn into a back alley to find the shop.
Once you find the «secret» door, you knock and a host greets you and immediately asks how many people do you have. You say «two» and immediately shuts the door to see if she has room. Talk about a rude awakening!
When you enter, you begin to realize that you’ve walked into someone’s refurbished garage. It actually got me thinking whether I should open up a coffee shop in my apartment. :D
The coffee they serve Blue Bottle Coffee, which has it’s roots in Oakland, CA and Brooklyn, NY. Other than the coffee, they serve cake for which there is a limited selection.
To summarize, going to Whale & Cloud is like finding really good coffee at a friend of a friend’s house and within that house is a secret hiding place where all the cool toys are kept.
I don’t know how 1920s prohibition in the US turned into secret coffee shops in someone garage 90 years later, but here you go.

Whale & Cloud: where a potentially good concept crashes against the rocks of the owner’s pretention.
The café publishes its erratic opening hours on its Instagram only. But even if you manage to zero in on a time when its convenient for you to visit, and then manage to find the place, which is down an alley behind Niven Rd, you have to hope they have a free chair inside.
Because if they don’t, the owner will not even let you set foot inside the shop and then will proceed to give you attitude about your wish to simply see what the café looks like.
Guys, here’s when you know modern society is going nuts. It’s just coffee. I didn’t manage to try it — due to the lack of hospitality and outright rudeness exhibited by the owner. But unless this place houses a rare collection of precious art or a live dinosaur it just isn’t worth the fuss.
There are plenty of cafes in Singapore that serve excellent coffee, look nice, have regular opening hours and won’t treat you like crap for wanting to give them your business. Don’t bother with pretention — it serves none of us to encourage this nonsense.
PS. In case you’re wondering what the owner’s explanation was for not letting me see his café: «It’s my shop and I do what I want.» Nice eh?

As one blogger mentioned, «This is so secret, it hurts.»
I will admit that this place is just a tad bit pretentious. First of all, you won’t find the shopfront on Niven Road itself. You’ll have to go behind the strip of houses with the even number addresses. Once you’re walking down the alleyway behind the row of houses, you’ll see the entrance (48 ¾ Niven Road… technically.)
And yes, you’re seeing the hours correctly: at the moment, they are only open one day a week, Saturdays from 9 AM to 4 PM.
Once you find the entrance and try to open the door, don’t be surprised if it’s locked. Knock, and someone will attend to you shortly.
If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to come in immediately; if there’s too many people inside, you’ll have to wait outside. Fortunately, a couple of people were leaving when we arrived, so we were able to be seated after a 5 minute wait.
The interior is quite lovely; it’s basically the patio of someone’s house. And not to worry, it’s covered and air conditioned.
They only do 2 brews: black and white. You won’t find any fancy latte art here. I’m not sure how often they change up their brews, but this time around they were serving Blue Bottle coffee from California. I had it black and I won’t lie… it was delicious and perfect for me.
I don’t know where they get their cakes from, but they were good and went perfectly with our coffees. For 2 slices of cake and 2 cups of coffee, we paid $ 24.
Is this place worth queueing for a cup of coffee and some cake? If you’re really hungry or thirsty, I’d say no. However, I happened to like the quaintness of the space, the natural lighting, and the feeling of being a guest in someone’s home. My husband, on the other hand, thought it was too pretentious and complicated. It’s a good place to visit just once; if the wait’s more than 10 minutes, I’d just move on to the next trendy coffee spot.