Duxton Hill, Duxton Road

We came here unintentionally. We wanted to visit Oriole, to sip one of the best specialty coffee in town, but it was closed to our surprise (apparently there was a moving out party in mid July). We roamed around the area and found Duxton Road, as well as Duxton Hill - one of the elegant conservation neighbourhood in the city.

Without one of the best coffee in town (in our opinion), a lovely afternoon no less. We took the opportunity to explore the uber-cool neighbourhood- i) Duxton Hotel looks decent to recommend for a stay; ii) Department of Caffeine was overwhelming, that we were required to wait for 40 to 45 minutes for a table at the time of 1300; iii) I was attracted very much by Flor Patisserie by Chef Yamashita; iv) Etna Italian Restaurant was not quite right to my alley to patron at at that time of an afternoon. In the end, we settled with Cafe Ergo Sum, simply because the brunches in the menu were recognisable and I was confident that it would not rejected by my fussy daughters. Well, true enough, it was awesome. Not the coffee though.

And oh, we chanced upon Littered with Books! So much so, the girls reluctant to leave.

With narrow one-way road, less traffic (both pedestrian and vehicular), most shops were closed in the afternoon, the neighbourhood was tranquil and tot-friendly to our like. The shophouses are carefully restored to keep the original colonial elements to the building, facade especially. Interestingly, the back alley is colourful and thoughtfully conserved as well. While admiring some peranakan pattern tiles on walls and floor along the kaki lima, we had great laugh and silly talk. For the first time, little Jiejie was able to piggyback Bomber and walk comfortably. It was so fun that I forgotten about my problem with the volatile tween totally.

Absolutely charming place to explore, if you intend to bring children to learn a little of the local architecture conservation, at the same time, cari makan (food adventure).

SC and I will definitely coming back here again with the girls, targeting the coffee. Maybe, one of the bar at night next. Just the two of us.

Original source: Google Map

The tangerine dashed line in the map above indicated the location of Duxton Hill and Dxuton Road, There is parallel car parking along the road, and there is a central parking as marked as 'P' in the map too. If you intend to take public transport, the nearest MRT station is Tanjong Pagar.