Dutch Colony Coffee Co. (Frankel Avenue)

Three rooms, one skylight, and nobody minds if you finish the chapter.

Dutch Colony's Frankel Avenue shophouse is the east side's café for a long sit: proper coffee, a brunch that is solid rather than showy, and a back room under a glass skylight that is the seat to want on a bright morning, with a book or a laptop. Go on a weekend morning, claim the back room and order a flight. The compromise is the kitchen: the official site says its hours may vary, so don't leave brunch to mid-afternoon and expect eggs.

Why this one

Dutch Colony has been roasting speciality coffee since 2013 and has since spread out, with cafés from Fusionopolis to Tampines and a roastery and academy on Defu Lane. Frankel Avenue was where many east-siders first met it, and it is still the branch with the most character. The street suits it. Frankel Avenue is quietly residential, named after the Frankel brothers, furniture businessmen who turned Siglap's coconut plantations into the estate that still carries their name, and the café is where that estate goes when it has nowhere to be.

The coffee

Order the espresso flight if you are curious about beans; it is the easiest way to taste the roaster's range side by side. Brews can be made by V60, Chemex, AeroPress or French press, and arrive in lab-style glassware with a regular cup on a wooden tray, while the cold brew comes in a science-flask bottle. It is a lot of glass for one coffee, and slightly more fun than it needs to be.

The room

There are three zones: an outdoor front porch without air-con, a main indoor area and the back section under the skylight, with industrial fittings softened by potted plants and flowers. The back is where we would sit. The porch is fine at 8am and a test of character at noon.

The food

Brunch covers French toast, yoghurt chia pudding, a hearty eggs-and-sausages platter and a beef burger, plus a cake counter that includes a Thai milk tea cake. None of it will make the trip on its own, and none of it needs to; it is what keeps you in your seat for a second coffee.

How to do it well

Go in the morning, ideally on a weekday if you want the skylight room to yourself, and order brunch early. It suits slow weekends, solo laptop mornings and catch-ups that run longer than planned. When you are ready to move, the rest of Siglap, prata included, is a short stroll away.

Good to know 113 Frankel Avenue. The official site lists it as open daily 8am–7pm and says kitchen hours may vary, so arrive by early afternoon for brunch.

Dutch Colony Coffee Co. (Frankel Avenue) | 113 Frankel Avenue, Singapore 458230