Katong | Banana Pie and Coffee | theMOOSE | makan travel 画画 * a Singapore food and travel blog

July 2014.

Katong Bakery and Confectionery may be gone, but if one wants to have a taste of the former Red House Bakery, I was directed to Chin Mee Chin Confectionery, a bakery with at least 70 years of history, dating back to the 1940s. It was also featured by local filmmaker, Royston Tan in a documentary. The bakery is being operated by Madam Valerie Tan who took over the bakery from her father in 2007.

This Katong institution is a favourite of a friend of mine and one day fine day, we decided to have coffee there since we were around the area. Both of us had the kopi gao (thick coffee) which was very rich and heavy. Unsurprisingly, the coffeeshop was quite packed when we visited with tourists and locals alike.

Furthermore down the road is another long-time bakery of Katong hidden in the basement of Katong Shopping Centre, an old mall designed by local architect Low Boon Liang (during his time in DP Architects) dating back to the 1970s and Singapore’s first air-conditioned shopping mall. Dona Manis Cake Shop has a more recently history, opened in 1993 by the couple team, Madam Soh Tho Lang and Tan Keng Eng. The bakery is known for its “life-changing” Banana Pie but also sells scones and classic, neighbourhood pastries like chocolate tarts etc. The Banana Pie does live up to its name, excellent pastry and generous amounts of banana.

Here is a series of photographs taken by my friend who introduced me to Chin Mee Chin Confectionery and Dona Manis Cake Shop, Kwok Kenji.