My fellow PhD student, D, at Rochester Park in search of coffee! [Review] A slow afternoon at Jimmy Monkey cafe
Cafes! I love me a nice cafe. Although Asian countries aren’t known to be full of coffee drinkers, but Singapore has more hip cafes every time I go back. Singapore cafes I like have to have a really nice vibe to it. This one does, and I would return!
It was a hot, hot day. I thought I could collapse on the walk to Jimmy Monkey, and it was only about 450 meters from where I started out for lunch just before.
It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but on the inside there were good vibes all around. They had a nice big communal table in the center of the room, with plenty of books and magazines around to browse through. The ceiling was high, with exposed fixtures. One large corner had a few windows and a few couches for lounging. Most of the other tables were small round or rectangular tables for a few people at a time. We took seats at the end of the big table, smack in the middle of the room.
My fellow cafe lover friend was with me, whom I’ve explored other Singapore cafes with, and the moment we sipped our coffee we felt relief. She asked me, “How can good things like this change your mood entirely?” or something along those lines, and I totally agreed. A nice cup of coffee can change a person! And in good company, it’s even better!
The coffee isn’t cheap here (5 SGD, about 3 USD, for a small cup), but it’s good. The food menu looked really nice too, but we didn’t have anything. Most food seemed to be Western style. Brunch items were in the 15+ SGD range if I remember correctly.
The inside of Jimmy Monkey was a little dark for my liking. It seems it turns into a bar of sorts in the evenings, and serves a nice brunch menu, but for daytime goers I felt that it could be a little brighter inside.
Other than that, I don’t have any real complaints! We went on National Day, so it might have been a little quieter than normal, but we were able to chill there for a few hours and not feel like we were taking up space. It did seem like they had WiFi, but we didn’t ask for the password.
If you are looking for a nice place to have a good coffee or splurge on Western food (when those cravings hit!), then this is a nice place that is tucked away from the main malls and busy streets.
