Founded by the now-defunct baker-owner of Carpenter & Cook, Neighbourly Café is a European-style artisanal café, built on the belief that meaningful human connection still matters and that neighbourhood cafés can serve as gathering places where people slow down, connect, and enjoy each other’s company.
Thus far, many had assumed that Neighbourly is a bakery-café as they are related to Carpenter and Cook – however I learnt that they are in fact a food-first café. The kitchen is led by Chef Jayden Yeo, whose experience includes Singapore’s three-Michelin-starred Odette and one-Michelin-starred Terra.
The café is spread across two storeys, with an indoor large communal table and an outdoor pet-friendly seating area on the first storey surrounded by greenery. Ascending through the distinctive spiral staircase, the second storey resembled a cosy loft, with cushioned benches, terrazzo-topped tables and herringbone floor tiles. Large windows flood the space with natural light especially in the morning, creating a bright and airy atmosphere for a leisurely breakfast and brunch.
Despite being a food-focused café, the drinks were not shabby. They are using coffee beans from Liberty Coffee. I had the regular Oat Latte ($7, +$1 for oat milk) and the recommended Iced Pistachio Cream Latte ($9.5), both of which were smooth and well-balanced. The pistachio cream was subtly nutty, not overpowering the coffee.
They also have a special Orange Latte ($9.5) made by hand-pounding fresh orange peels with sugar to extract the orange oil, which was unfortunately not available when I went.
I was also curious about their matcha, so I had the Iced Oat Matcha Latte ($8, +$1 for oat milk), made with matcha powder from Niko Neko matcha. It was bold, intense and earthy.
While simple breakfast items, pastries and drinks are served from 8am, the pastas, sandwiches and open toasts are available from 10am.
Their English Muffin Breakfast ($16) was highly memorable. Stuffed with whole-muscle ham, 4-hour house-made bacon jam, cheddar, and a sunny side up, it felt like an elevated, unprocessed, Michelin version of the sausage McMuffin with egg, and I meant that in a good way.
The other sandwich featured here is the Rosette de Lyon & Stracciatella ($24), made with a combination of two types of pork – Rosette de Lyon (France) and Chorizo (Italy), with stracciatella, house made artichoke cream, house-made pesto, and focaccia.
A Japanese-inspired open toast dish, the Avocado & Smoked Salmon ($24) was a visual delight with contrasting colours from the Norwegian smoked salmon, torched avocado, cream cheese, house-made pickled red onions, ikura, furikake, and dill.
Possibly my favourite item from the spread, the Tiger Prawn Pesto ($22) was striking thanks to the generous portion of freshly made basil pesto which the fusilli pasta was doused in. Due to the limited supply of fresh basil leaves, there are just limited portions of the dish available per day.
We ended our brunch on a high note with the Banana Loaf ($10) as a dessert. The warm and toasty homemade banana bread was crusty outside and moist inside, paired with a dollop of house-made Chantilly cream and passionfruit compote.
Even though I had known about the café since its opening days, I was hesitant to visit due to its remote location in Pandan Valley estate. Now that I’ve savoured their wholesome and nutritious fare in a relaxing space away from the bustle of the city, I would say that the experience was well worth the commute.
2 Pandan Valley, #01-213, Singapore 597626
Mon to Thu 8am – 6pm
Fri to Sun 8am – 9pm
Foodography: A Singapore Food Blog 