TikTok brought me here.
I was scrolling through my TikTok page one day and chanced upon this lady who introducing this cafe called SweeTea Caffe 一杯夏日 at Chinatown. What struck me the most is this ‘Instagrammable’ spot in the cafe where you can get a picturesque view of Chinatown. Even though this cafe has been around for some time in Singapore, I haven’t or heard about this hidden gem in Chinatown. It led me to think if there are more ‘hidden gems’ in Singapore.
SweeTea Caffe is a two-storey cafe with a view of Chinatown.
This quaint little cafe is located along Trengganu Street. It is quite difficult to locate the doorway leading up to the cafe because it is tucked away in a quiet corner of the street, close to a durian stall.
Many of us may have walked past this cafe while we are at Chinatown but little did we know that this cafe actually allows you have tea against the beautiful backdrop of Chinatown.
We went there on a Saturday and it was pretty quiet. I guess not many people know about this cafe spot. It is a cafe probably run by a Chinese owner from China as their staff are spoke with a strong Chinese accent. But they were pretty friendly and polite.
What do SweeTea Caffe offer?
They offer quite a variety of food from cakes, Chinese teas to savoury dishes like noodles. There’s also a high tea set menu served in a fancy three-tier high tea stand for about $28.
We ordered their tea set which costs $9.60. The tea set includes a slice of cake and a cup of Chinese tea of your choice. GST and service charges are all included into their menu prices. So there are no additional charges.
The Best Instagrammable Spot in the Cafe
The best seating spot is none other than the balcony area facing People’s Park Complex, an iconic building at the heart of Chinatown. The striking yellow and green building is not hard to miss. And on the right hand side, there’s this beautiful old heritage shophouse in red which added another form of vibrancy to the cafe backdrop. How could anyone not discover this beautiful photo spot in Chinatown?
And if I’m not wrong, this cafe has been around since 2019 or perhaps even earlier. When I shared this on my TikTok page, everyone was tagging their friends and asking people to go check out this spot with them. I am pretty sure this cafe would be less of a hidden gem by the time you read this post.
Ondeh-ondeh Cake
I ordered a local-inspired cake, ondeh-ondeh. It tasted pretty alright – a nice spongy cake infused with pandan and gula melaka flavours. It’s light and not too overly sweet.
Durian Crumble
The durian crumble was quite a treat because I have not tasted durian crumble before. It’s delightful but like any durian desserts, it can get quite ‘jelat’. The durian filling is creamy, gooey and sweet. If you’ve a sweet tooth, you will enjoy this durian crumble very much.
Chinese teas (Oolong and Long Jing)
They offer mainly Chinese teas which are serve in a cup. You can also ask them to refill the cups with more hot water if you would like to drink more tea.
They use loose Chinese tea leaves so the tea instead of a teabag so the tea flavours are more intense.
Overall, it is a nice quaint cafe to have some tea and desserts after exploring Chinatown. Now that we can only stay within our home grounds, I guess we can always revisit our own heritage spots and make the best out of our ‘Singapoliday‘.
SweeTea Caffe
15A & 15B Trengganu St
Singapore 058469
