Chye Seng Huat Hardware {Foodee}

I met up with my friends Yves and Arlyn last June 29. Yves suggested going to a place called Chye Seng Huat Hardware, which, despite the name, is not a hardware but a restaurant. She said she was curious about it because a lot of people she knew went there. It was our first time to be in the area, so Arlyn and I met at Lavender MRT and took a cab from there.

Our cab driver was an incredibly chatty one who asked where we were going and when we said it was a restaurant he asked what kind of food they served and we said we didn’t know, and he said he wanted to come too. As we coasted down the road looking for it, Arlyn spotted the name and told him to stop. He said “But that’s not a restaurant!” We told him that it only looked like a hardware store but really it was a restaurant, but he was pretty incredulous. In fact he was so incredulous that even after we had already gotten off and I was taking a photo of the building, he backed his car in our direction, rolled down the window, and said, “Really, that’s a restaurant??” Yes, uncle. Geez.

Yves had arrived first and said she had a table outside. We wondered where the outside was. Turns out you need to walk inside first to get outside. The inside looks really lovely, something that reminds me of pictures I’ve seen of bars in Sydney. Soft music playing over the speakers lends a relaxed vibe to the atmosphere, making it an ideal place for hanging out.

Looks so pretty, no? It was just too bad we couldn’t find a free table indoors because I couldn’t say the same for outside, which resembled a cheap cafeteria. They really should do something about that.

Here is their menu.

At first we all decided to order the huat breakfast, but at the last minute my adventurous side couldn’t forgive me if I didn’t try the spring onion pancake which is something I had never tried before.

It was pretty good, I must say, but not the best pancakes I have ever tried or anything. But you pretty much can’t be disappointed with any breakfast dish that has bacon in it, am I right?

My friends were pretty happy with their orders, though they were not able to finish everything on their plates because of the size of it.

We were VERY happy with our additional order of truffle popcorn with snow parmesan. We love truffle everything, and this was really good! You can really taste the truffle oil.

What we were NOT happy about was their apparently famous cold coffee on nitro tap.

We each ordered one mug and each only took a maximum of 2 sips because we really could NOT take the stuff. It’s bitter and sour and strong, something like a cross between unfiltered coffee and beer, and definitely like no other. 7 bucks wasted. You have been warned.

We stayed for a while and had to leave because it was ridiculously hot outdoors. I went back inside where it was aircodnditioned and tried to look for another table a couple of times, but had no luck. I guess the place really is that popular. I’m glad I had a chance to check it out and catch up with my two favorite food adventurers or COCOL (coffee-coffee lang, it’s a Filipino slang) buddies. Excited for next time, Yves already has a suggestion up her sleeve.

CHYE SENG HUAT HARDWARE
150 Tyrwhitt Road Singapore 207563
Website: http://www.cshhcoffee.com/
Tel No: 6396 0609