The year is 2019, and Singapore’s first African café and lounge just landed on the scene. These days, founder Kurt Wagner is more known for his West African restaurant Tamba, which offers a reasonable $138 dinner tasting menu, but before that, Kafe Utu was where curious diners would flock to for a taste of African cuisine.
My first visit to the café was in 2022. It didn’t accept reservations back then so a crowd was pooling outside during dinner time, but what turned out to be a 90-minute wait proved to be worth it. The three-storey building was impressive at every corner – stunning portraits of African women on the first floor, large leather couches on the second floor for lounging around and mingling with strangers, and a charming alfresco area overlooking the neighbourhood. Tasteful decor aside, the vibe was lively and communal, and the service warm and friendly.
Kafe Utu’s dinner offerings consist of a pan-African spread of curries paired with rice and condiments, and it also serves brunch and an extensive list of specialty coffee, all roasted in-house. The recent brunch menu refresh sees returns of fan-favourite dishes as well as a couple of additions to keep things fresh. We’re told that the previous version leaned more towards stews, rice and curries, while the updated features more bread – think chapati and batbout (a kind of Moroccan pita).
Back by popular demand is the pulled pork breakfast ($27), a vibrant platter of spiced shredded pork shoulder topped with a poached egg and smoked barbecue sauce. On the side: refreshing kachumbari, fried plantains and viazi karai (deep-fried potatoes). Get a bit of everything and roll it all up in freshly baked chapati sheets. Or try the Mbuzi Mbaya ‘Bad Goat’ ($34), highly recommended by my dining companion. Think of it as an African version of the English big breakfast, with homemade goat sausages, marinated goat cheese, smoked pepper sauce, and the same fixings of kachumbari and chapati.
We couldn’t pass up the Yaba ‘Wise Chief’ Burger ($42), another much-anticipated comeback on the brunch menu. This towering burger was a mainstay at the café back in 2020, available only in limited quantities each day. At its heart is a thick, juicy slab of Angus brisket and chuck patty, stacked with another layer of smoked ox tongue. Yes, ox tongue – it appears intimidating at first, with a glossy, deep-red sheen, but don’t be fooled. It’s remarkably tender, richly beefy and completely free of any funky aftertaste. Smoky melted pepper jack cheese adds depth, while house-made pickles cut through the fattiness.
Everything we try is spot-on so far and the portions are far from paltry – it’s just a tad heavy for brunch. You get your fair share of deep-fried, spicy, smoky and meaty flavours here, so if that’s not quite your idea of breakfast, it might be wiser to pop by later in the day before the café closes at 4.30pm for the dinner service.
That said, coffee and desserts are a hit with our table. The alcoholic Utu Dome dessert is a classic – and quite the showstopper – with melted dark chocolate poured over a thin chocolate shell encasing crème de pâtissière, pink peppercorns, raspberry liqueur and seasonal berries ($24). New desserts include the sour cream cheesecake with peanut butter ($12) and tapioca fritters with coconut cream and an accompanying chocolate dip ($18).
There are over six coffee options on the menu and eight specialty drinks under the Utu Specials section. Hatsu-Koi ($12) is the café’s answer to the recently trending strawberry matcha latte, blending jasmine tea with matcha for added florality and using homemade strawberry purée. Meanwhile, classic beverages include the Bidibado ($8) – mocha with a peanut butter rim laced with roasted almonds and pink peppercorn; Malindi Latte ($8) – latte with a secret seven spice syrup; and The Karanga ($12) for sweet tooths, where iced white coffee is topped with peanut butter mascarpone cream.
Find out more about Kafe Utu here.
Kafe Utu is open from Tuesday to Sunday for breakfast, lunch and dinner at 12 Jiak Chuan Rd, Singapore 089265.
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