JUwei 聚味老南洋咖啡店

JUwei, located at SAFRA@29 Carpenter Street, is a retro Nanyang-inspired coffee shop that celebrates the golden era of sight and sound. While classics like Kaya Toast, KL Hokkien Mee, and Penang Char Kuey Teow are staples, JUwei elevates the experience with their crispy toast and the option to add a sunny-side-up to their fried kuey teow—a must-try addition.

Beyond the usual fare, JUwei offers unique comfort food like Pork Trotter Bee Hoon, a nostalgic dish reminiscent of special occasions with grandma’s cooking. The “One Tray Meal” features nasi lemak rice with crispy pork knuckle, while the Roasted Pork Curry Cheong Fun comes in a hearty portion. Don’t miss the XO Sauce Fried Carrot Cake, packed with big chunks of flavor.

For snacks, try the Mini Youtiao, inspired by Thailand’s pa thong ko, served with kaya dip. Wash it all down with their signature Hor Ka Sai, a MILO-coffee blend said to give the strength of a tiger. JUwei’s creative menu makes it a must-visit spot for modern Nanyang cuisine lovers.

There really has been pretty much a slew of Nanyang Kopitiam-themed establishments that are opening all over the island in recent times; apart from the opening of new outlets of The Hainan Story and Nan Yang Dao, the recent months also saw the opening of several other new brand names of a similar concept in the local F&B scene here — this includes the likes of Kopi 1930, Ipoh Town Kopitiam and WangLee Cafe. Located in the Clarke Quay area in one of the smaller roads within that neighbourhood is the new JUwei Old Nanyang Coffee Shop 聚味老南洋咖啡店 — these folks are situated at the SAFRA Town Club at 29 Carpenter Street which is a short walk away from Clarke Quay MRT Station on the North-East Line. For those whom find the JUwei branding familiar — this is because JUwei Old Nanyang Coffee is essentially a revamp from JUwei Sichuan Cuisine 聚味-江湖菜馆 which used to be located within the same premises. With the change of the branding and concept of the space, there is also an updated interior that came along with it — the interior now boasts of old-school wooden dining furniture and fittings, with lthe tables even featuring a marble-esque accent to further evoke nostalgic vibes of old-school coffeeshops around. Some of its lighting features have also been updated to reflect the Chinese names of local cuisine to align with the theme of the establishment. With that being said, the work done on the exterior does still seem rather haphazard during our visit; one thing being especially noticeable being the lack of signages of the dining establishment. The menu at JUwei Old Nanyang Coffee features dishes that are split into categories such as JU’s Toast, Snacks, Cheong Fun, Handmade Fried Delights, Mama’s Pot, Wok-Fried, One Tray Meals, Ala-Carte and Oriental Dessert. Beverages available at JUwei Old Nanyang Coffee in the meanwhile comprises of Nanyang-style Kopi & Teh, some unique concoctions featuring Kopi that has an entire section dedicated to it named “Free-Style Kopi”, Home-Made Quenchers, canned beverages and beer.

JUwei Old Nanyang Coffee does actually offer quite a wide variety of food items on their menu which needless to say got us really eager to try out several items all at one go — one of the items that initially caught our attention was the Charsiew Curry Cheong Fun, though all Cheong Fun items were sadly out of stock during the day when we made our visit there. Thankfully, JUwei Old Nanyang Coffee does also offer the Charsiew Curry Mee on their menu in the “Mama’s Pot” section — something which we gladly went for. JUwei Old Nanyang Coffee does not describe on the elements that comes with their Charsiew Curry Mee; that being said, the elements that are featured in our order of the dish comprises of yellow noodles, long beans, beansprouts, potatoes pig skin, tofu puff, tofu skin and Char Siew that came in the bowl of curry gravy — rather than serving it with a spoonful of sambal chili sitting on top of the bowl as most other establishments would, JUwei Old Nanyang Coffee serves the sambal chili on the side in a separate saucer instead. One thing that worked for us here was to add the sambal chili into the entire bowl and giving it a good mix — the savouriness of the sambal chili actually provided an additional depth to the curry gravy that definitely suit our tastebud way better (not to say that the curry gravy wasn’t flavourful without though). Whilst being folks whom do not necessarily like yellow noodles usually, we found that the yellow noodles had a good texture that carried a bit of bite; all that while the tofu puff and the pig skin did soak up all of the goodness of the curry gravy that provided a flavour burst as one chews into it. The beansprouts added a crunch factor to the entire bowl as with the long beans, while the potatoes seemed to have been cooked in the curry for long enough to achieve a soft, melt-in-the-mouth texture that did not require much effort to chew through. The slices of Char Siew despite generic came with an apt hint of sweetness that provides a flavour contrast; itself also coming with a decent texture that wasn’t too dry or tough as well.

We also managed to give a number of their other dishes a go. One thing that we were initially wasn’t expecting too much of would be their Red Fried Pork Belly. The Red Fried Pork Belly at JUwei Old Nanyang Coffee Shop was sliced surprisingly thin as compared to what we are used to seeing at most zi-char establishments that also serve the same dish — that being said, we did feel that this helped to refrain the dish from being overly jelak since the meat itself does seem to be a little bit more on the fattier side to achieve a tender and juicy texture that didn’t require much bite to chew apart. The slightly red hue in its deep-fried batter is from its marination with fermented beancurd; this itself adds a distinctively umami note to the pork itself — the pork here also does not carry any undesirable porky stench as well; a dish that we had found to be really easy to have despite the portion size that it came in. Another dish that we had went for was the Penang Char Kuay Teow; this came with the rice noodles being all slurpy whilst carrying a savoury note with a slight tang that was quite appetising — those looking for a smoky note from the wok-frying may be left a little disappointed but the other flavours do come off pretty well in this rendition nonetheless. Included in the version of the Penang Char Kuay Teow here would also be the crispy fried pork lard, XO sausage that carried a sweet-savoury bite, fish cakes and a pair of pretty fresh prawns that comes naturally sweet with a good bite. The Kaya Butter Toast at JUwei Old Nanyang Coffee Shop is a dish that is available only till 7pm from Monday to Saturday, and all day on Sunday — the variant here does come with crisp toast and a cold slab of butter in between. There is sufficient Kaya that is spread in between as well, with the amount of Kaya just about enough so that the entire Kaya Butter Toast does not get too sweet overall.

Where it comes to the Chendol, it does seem that the Chendol here is more tuned towards the aroma of coconut milk more than the other elements that came with it — this would include the Gula Melaka, red bean and the Chendol jelly; we did find that the flavours of the coconut milk to be stronger than that of the Gula Melaka as well. That being said, we weren’t too big of a fan of the Chendol jelly that came with a neon green appearance that seemed a little artificial and was carried little pandan aroma if any at all. The Kopi Tarik (Iced) and the Hor Ka Sai (Iced) both came with the overflow aesthetic that would typically come with such iced beverages at other Nanyang Kopitiam-themed establishments — both were pretty well-executed with the Kopi Tarik (Iced) coming pretty thick and rich with a good caffeinated punch without being overly sweet; the Hor Ka Sai having an added hint of malty, chocolatey and slightly sweeter note due to the addition of Milo that balanced well with the Kopi within. We came to JUwei Old Nanyang Coffee Shop being fairly sceptical on wha they have to offer considering how they were previously a restaurant specialising in mainland Chinese cuisine; that being said, their Nanyang Kopitiam-style offerings do seem to come at a pretty decent quality comparable to other establishments of its type around. Prices of the individually-sized main dishes range from $8.90 to $15.90 — the lowest priced being the Chicken Soto Noodles and the Mama’s Shrimp Dumpling Soup; both from the Mama’s Pot section of the menu, while the priciest would be the Yummy Beef / Mutton Rendang Combo listed in the One Tray Meals section of the menu. With prices being kept rather competitive to other establishments of its type, JUwei Old Nanyang Coffee Shop is a destination worth considering if craving for some Nanyang Kopitiam-style dishes in an air-conditioned and decently-decorated space till late!