The moment I walk into the Hands Cafe, I’m immediately greeted by a young waiter who sits me down, and asks me what I’d like. I’m surprised.
I’d known that The Helping Hand was a halfway house, rehabilitating those with drug offenses. That shaded my thinking towards assuming that most of them were unfriendly, and scary.
But what I saw was something different. They were friendly, and really wanted to serve me with their best food.
Going to a cafe these days can be a real crowd pusher
With social media drawing more crowds to everything that’s popular, you might find it hard to ever find something quiet and cozy to share a deeper conversation with your friend.
If you’ve ever found yourself leaning into your friend, asking him to repeat himself, or finding yourself irked by the loud guffaws around you, welcome to Singapore’s great miracle: fitting 6 million people into a small 744 square kilometers space.
But that also means that you hardly ever get the space to unwind, even on a quiet weekend. So… here comes the quieter and better ones - the social enterprise ones.
The social enterprise cafes are often a missed opportunity, because they often have poor resources to market themselves, and end up being unable to draw enough crowds to cover their overheads. But that also means that they are usually empty and quiet, and might be a great spot to enjoy your friendship in.
Remember the last time you enjoyed a cafe experience? You felt connected.
That is something hard to achieve in today’s environment. Which is why we’ve gathered this list.
Hands Cafe, for the quality of waitering (Upper Serangoon)
If you’ve ever gone to a restaurant, and been greeted by a surly, grumpy, waitress that just takes your order, you know how that can damage the dining experience. Add to the fact the times when you ask the waiter,
what would you recommend?
I don’t know,
says the waiter. You wonder why the waiter is even there.
But with The Helping Hand, the service staff try their best to do the Japanese custom of explaining what they’d recommend, and when they bring out the food, explaining what they’ve baked, out of pride and the love of baking. There is also a glass window so you can see the other bakers kneading and making other bakes.
Hands Cafe is the cafe by The Helping Hand, which rehabilitates ex-offenders. Many people think ex-offenders deserve their sentence, but many of us often forget that they too come to such ‘mistakes’ because of the context they have grown up in.
Come to the Hands Cafe, and you’d slowly realise the small details make it a homely, cozy cafe you won’t want to miss. For example, rather than pushing you with prices and food to buy, all you have to see there is a display, which naturally invites you into a conversation with the waiter, to ask what’s for sale. This is a deliberate move to encourage conversation with the ex-offenders who are manning the cafe, and to give them greater dignity in their work.
Secondly, you’d also see an open glass that peers into the bakers’ work, allowing you to even learn how the baker moves flour, into food.
All this is a terrific experience, and why you should probably try out this cafe.
Professor Brawn Cafe (Bishan)
Another one you should probably try is Professor Brawn, started by Mayor Denise Phua. When she first started it, she simply wanted to create a good, dignified job for her son, who had special needs. She’d seen the gap in the market.
When one graduated from a special needs school, there was often no ready employment for them to move into, resulting in them slowly deteriorating.
She went to buy over the cafe’s brand from the previous owner, and tried to redo it to make it more suitable for those with special needs. You could say that over time, she has succeeded.
I love eating at this cafe because of how you can see the trainees doing their best to serve you. Yes, there might sometimes be confusion, but you could never fault them for their heart. For example, when we were there, the trainee kept recommending us the roast chicken, telling us that it was a specialty. We got it, and weren’t disappointed.
Crossings Cafe (Bencoolen)
Another cafe I’ve come to love is the one from Willie Cheng, who’s the author behind multiple bestsellers in Singapore. When you walk in, there’s food, and regular activities that you’d enjoy.
Foreword Coffee (Dhoby Ghaut)
Another favorite here is Foreword, which is hidden behind the beautifully designed Temasek Shophouse. One would know that Temasek manages nearly $300b of Singapore’s sovereign wealth funds, but you probably wouldn’t think about how much money went into the private renovation of this antique shophouse. Walk in, and you’d be immediately taken aback at how comforting the entire space looks.
Sit with Foreword Coffee, and you’d be served with people of differing abilities. You might just find them quite a joy to interact with, as they delight you with recommendations.
Besides, you start feeling great at the personal touch you’re having in each person’s life!
Y Cafe, by YMCA (Dhoby Ghaut)
Another place I love is the Y Cafe, run by the folks at YMCA. This is located just 5 minutes away from Dhoby Ghaut.
During the time I went, I was struck by how quiet the space was, which was perfect if you wanted a cozy space to work, in the heart of town, or to meet clients, whilst showing that CSR is important to you.
Roti Kari (Bedok)
Giving second chances to ex-offenders is not just talk. It’s backed with real action. The first time I met Victor, he was tending the popup at IRAS, trying his best to encourage people to visit his store. He then told me that he would train these ex-offenders to bake, and to find their own dignity through selling items.
This is probably the best change one can bring to the lives of these ex-offenders, especially when you know the stigma that exists against them in society.
When you’ve been incarcerated for years, employers will ask you why you have an odd gap in your CV.
Following that, they might not give you the job.
Thus, supporting ex-offenders through Roti Kari can be a big step forward in helping them.