Five minutes is all you need to hop from an insta-famous café in Bali to a local coffee shop in Tokyo. As part of the four-day-long Cafe Culture (August 29 to September 1), you can now explore ten of the world’s most exciting café concepts in one convenient space.
Highlights include Copenhagen’s Coffee Collective, a specialty cafe and micro-roastery; Tokyo’s Switch Coffee, a cult-favourite neighbourhood coffee joint; Bali’s Sisterfields, one of the island’s most famous brunch places; and Bangkok’s Roast, an all-day casual eatery.
But, like us, you’re probably dreaming of the flaky croissants from Lune Croissanterie. Here’s what you need to know: get ready to wait. The queue sitch on a late Thursday morning was an hour and a half, so you can imagine how that’s going to compound with the weekend crowd. Baked fresh on-ground, the plain croissants come sold in a box of two ($22), with only 250 boxes available daily.
Resist the pull of these buttery treats if you can, and drop by The Coffee Collective for a coffee soft serve ($6) made with a Colombian-Brazillian coffee blend, or head to Switch Coffee Tokyo for its signature latte ($9). But it’s not all about the beans; Shanghai-based Pushers and its sparkling craft tea beverages are also worth a try. We like MOMO ($9), made with fermented oolong and peach that settles into a bittersweet aftertaste, and PEPE ($9) for its floral, fruity notes of chrysanthemum, elderflower, and pears.
Of course, no cafe-hopping experience is complete without brunch items. If you need to feed your camera, head straight to Sisterfields for its smashed avocado ($19), or get the fluffy blueberry ricotta pancakes ($19) from Roast. Then get in line at KOI Dessert Bar for Gardens by the Bay ($15) – the dessert, not the location, is made up of a chocolate tree filled with tropical ingredients of jackfruit, mango, coconut pandan ganache, passionfruit curd, and palm sugar genoa.
But a word of caution for those planning to head down for the event: seating is a scarce resource. And expect queues – lots of them. Prices start from $45 for a one-day pass, with only Friday and Sunday left. Get yours from cafeculture.sg.