Joo Chiat’s heritage neighbourhood thrives with unique F&B businesses

FROM being a fledgling F&B hotspot, the Joo Chiat area has firmly sealed its position as the trendiest enclave in the East with a wave of unique concepts opening up in just the past year alone. Along with the likes of La Bottega and Asador, the rows of charming heritage shophouses in the neighbourhood have been filled recently with newcomers that food fashionistas would ordinarily expect to find in town.

May, for example, saw openings such as Café Natsu by Lewis Barker of the one Michelin-starred Sommer - part of the Ebb & Flow Group; and Forma - a collaboration between pasta artisan Ben Fatto and The Cicheti Group. Ebb & Flow also has the trendy Tigerlily Patisserie on Joo Chiat Road, and the heritage bakery Chin Mee Chin close by on East Coast Road.

Housed in coveted corner units, Cafe Natsu and Forma add to the ‘towners’ who’ve fallen in love with the charm of the area, including Spa Esprit group founder Cynthia Chua who snapped up another corner shophouse late last year for her new gastrobar Drunken Farmer. The laid-back vibe, architecture - especially the dragon motifs on the building - were what drew her, she says.

Casual food seekers would also have lined up at Dickson Nasi Lemak, inspired by the Kuala Lumpur version, which opened in March but closed temporarily in June thanks to Malaysia’s chicken export ban. There’s also Kohi, which serves coffee from single-origin Thai-grown beans roasted at its original Bangkok branch, indie bakeries Kamome and Petit Pain, and chocolate shop Embrace.

Adding new life to the neighbourhood

Cicheti Group’s owner Liling Ong started paying close attention to Joo Chiat a few years ago. She says: “What resonated strongly with me was not just the geography and architecture of the neighbourhood but the diverse cultural representation of businesses along Joo Chiat Road, ranging from South African produce to a local durian shop, while still not losing its colloquial integrity and vibe. I wanted to bring something fresh to the area that would enhance the colourful variety of existing businesses.”

She adds that the idea of the area gentrifying, however, isn’t exactly a positive one to her. “I hope that other tenants entering the neighbourhood keep at the back of their minds the importance of preserving parts of original Joo Chiat rather than just doing away with the old and in with the new.”

Meanwhile, Cafe Natsu’s Barker chose this area because “it’s up and coming, and many young professionals live here now”. He adds that there’s also lots of interest in this place. “People do travel here to eat and it’s always busy. It’s got a great neighbourhood vibe especially with all the beautiful Peranakan shophouses. And we were offered this place, which is a nice, airy corner unit with beautiful light.” Main tenant Crane runs a co-working space upstairs and a lifestyle shop next door. 

The British chef, who’s lived and worked in Melbourne, Sydney and Barcelona, has always loved the vibrant café culture in those cities. Although he’s always worked in fine dining, Barker would visit cafes on his days off. “I enjoy spending Sundays having a nice brunch and coffee.” 

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At Café Natsu, the quality of ingredients is key. “We use (Japanese) ingredients from our sister brand Supafresh. So it’s Western brunch and lunch classics with some Japanese flair. For example, we have a classic benedict of toasted English muffin with ham glazed with sansho pepper caramel, poached eggs, wasabi spinach and miso hollandaise.” The more condensed dinner menu features sharing plates of oysters with negi ponzu, wagyu tartare with umeboshi, buttermilk and wasabi, and a selection of Australian wagyu steaks. Desserts are also made with a slight twist, such as the kurozato brown sugar tart, and yuzu sudachi meringue pie. 

Artisanal concepts

Café Natsu’s coffees come from the adjacent Kohi coffee, which officially opened in March this year, brought in by its Bangkok founder Namthep Sachathep and local partner Angeles Ong. Crane’s owners, Teo Jia En and Federico Folcia, were looking to create a coffee corner within their co-working space, so they approached Kohi. “The idea of a coffee corner with direct access and service to the alley [by the side of the shophouse] was reminiscent of walking streets in Kyoto, Melbourne and many cities in Europe; we wanted to cultivate that in Singapore,” says Sachathep. 

Over at Dickson Nasi Lemak, founder Hoh Loyi - whose other brainchild is the hipster Champion Bolo Bun café at Tanjong Pagar - says that she wanted her nasi lemak to be available in a neighbourhood area. Joo Chiat is also a very special place for the Malaysian-born entrepreneur who grew up in Marine Parade.

“A lot of the pubs and clubs closed during the Covid period. So that gave new tenants a chance to take over,” she says. “There are a lot of up-and-coming brands who choose to open here. It brings a whole new vibe to Joo Chiat, and I love that. I feel very lucky that we got the space, and it’s the right time to open in this thriving area.” 

Everything is freshly prepared and cooked at this small Joo Chiat shophouse. Hoh works closely with a Malaysia-based chef who had 15 years’ experience at Village Park, the famous nasi lemak eatery in Damansara, Petaling Jaya.  

Embrace Chocolate shop, which opened in December 2021, is a little store by chocolate-maker Namita Gupta who has a background in consumer marketing. This small batch bean-to-bar chocolate shop makes all its chocolate on-site, using traceable and sustainably-grown single-origin cacao beans. Gupta offers a range of dark chocolate bars that are vegan and gluten-free, and products made with chocolate like gelato, spreads and baked goods. 

After her first taste of pure single-origin chocolate, Gupta wanted nothing else. “I began to feel strongly about eating chocolate that was traceable, where farmers were adequately compensated for their efforts and no child labour was involved at any stage. The more I learnt about the science and chemistry of chocolate and the complexities and inequalities in the supply chain, the more I was drawn to the bean-to-bar movement,” she says.

As for opening in Joo Chiat, Gupta calls it a “lovely” neighbourhood. “It is a charming combination of history and modernity. And that’s also reflected in the range of retail stores in the area. There are many small owner-run businesses and bigger brands that draw in the consumer traffic. A lot of them focus on the provenance of the produce and sustainable production. And there is a growing market for premium products that are vegan, organic and gluten-free. Joo Chiat felt like a perfect fit for my small batch and vegan chocolate,” she says. 

Sense of community 

Ong believes that there is a strong sense of community in Joo Chiat. “It’s stronger than other areas that our other existing restaurants occupy,” she says. “Every afternoon, we get a big group of schoolgirls crowding around to watch our pasta being hand-rolled as they wait for the bus. The same elderly couples will stroll by on a daily basis. We even had neighbours stop by before we opened, asking if we were a modern-day dim sum restaurant! In the evenings, we get many residents walking by inquiring about dinner seating. It’s wonderful to be able to witness the diversity of people and feel like we are contributing something special to the place.”

She adds: “Occupying prime space right at the entrance is our glass-encased pasta production facility — I wanted to give something back to the neighbourhood first and foremost — to give people going about their daily lives an interesting thing to look at. In many ways, it’s also a peek into a different form of culinary craft from another culture. This idea of contributing to the surrounding community was very important to us. We could have easily saved the space that the pasta production room occupies, for more restaurant seating.”

The serial entrepreneur feels that “community first” didn’t just stop there. Forma also reached out to surrounding businesses like Butcher Box to provide them with daily meats, and Fin Crafted Goods to manufacture parts of their staff’s uniform.

Sachathep says that the neighbouring businesses often help each other out. “We have already collaborated with Embrace to create our signature dark chocolate/mocha with one of their single-origin Vietnamese chocolates. There is definitely a bustling cohesive vibe growing in Joo Chiat and we plan to participate fully.”