The ultimate guide to Holland Village

If popular Toa Payoh ice cream café Creamier’s too inaccessible for your dessert fix, you’ll find an alternative in Sunday Folks, the brand’s breezier dessert bar at Chip Bee Garden. Bestsellers include earl grey lavender and sea salt gula melaka, which you can finish with toppings such as sea salt chocolate honeycomb and honey-toasted granola. 

Anyone who says you can’t have dessert for supper clearly hasn’t been proselytised to by this late-night Holland Village sweets bar. And it's not just sweets on the menu. There are savouries like pork croquettes ($18), and night cap-appropriate cocktails ($19-$24).

The OG of acai bowls in Singapore, Project Acai’s berry superfood bowls remain a cut above the rest. While we are not fans of their Supergreens Acai Bowl, we do swear by their beautifully decorated Original Flower Bowl and the Acai Sundae Bowl that comes with lashings of fresh fruit and a layer of chai seed pudding, before its topped with goji berries and a choice of butters (cookie, almond, peanut or cashew).  

Opened by self-professed ramen king, chef Keisuke Takeda’s duck ramen is a lovely departure from the usual pork-centric bowls. Using fatty, flavourful Irish ducks, there are five ramen choices and two broths (rich and clear) to choose from. The rich broth that’s been simmered for eight hours with duck bones and herbs packs quite a punch, while the clear soup (cooked over low heat for five hours) holds a light but full flavoured taste.

There are egg tarts, then there are Tai Cheong egg tarts that are worth every calorie for its eggy, buttery goodness. The beauty lies in the biscuit-like crust that crumbles on first bite. The outlet also offers a cha cha tang-style menu with the signature Tai Cheong HK Noodle made with sausage, curry fishball and cuttlefish and thick-cut French toast served with a liberal amount of maple syrup.

A stalwart of the neighbourhood, its new location at the corner of the new Raffles V building with its floor-to-ceiling facade offers a great view of the action. A one-stop gourmet deli and dine-in café, all the usual suspects are still available: their moorish take home lasagna, the buttery blueberry and white chocolate scone, and slices of crusty pizza. What’s new is their Greens & Grains, a build-your-own bowl concept that offers a number of lean proteins, gluten and dairy-free options. Also, the creamy, artisanal gelato from Milan’s Chocolat is a must.

Haakon, pronounced  ‘haw-coon’, is a Scandinavian-inspired café that brings superfoods from Norway to your plate. It only uses premium Norwegian smoked salmon – it’s rich in protein, Omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants – to make dishes like salad bowls ($11.90) and eggs Benedict ($15.90). For those with a sweet tooth, go for Haakon’s classic acai bowl (from $7.90), topped with coconut flakes, banana, strawberries and blueberries for a quick and guilt-free energy boost.

A Holland Village institution, its second-floor space is still the spot to listen to local musicians live and loud. There are sessions running every night from 7pm onwards and chilled-out acoustic sets on Thursday and Friday. In-between, knock back some ice cold beer (they’ve got seven beers on tap, including Dunkel, San Miguel and London Pride) or catch up a live match screening on one of their TVs.

There are a few good things going on for this humble café. For one, the second-floor area features warm wooden fixings and a swing seat that makes for a great spot to grab a cuppa. And it helps that d’Good Café takes its brew seriously. Beans are blended and roasted in-house, with a wide variety ranging from espresso-based concoctions to manual drip options. Want to beat the heat? Its selection of cold brew coffee is also worth a try, alongside a selection of hearty brunch plates.

What started as a pop-up concept has found a permanent home at Holland Village Shopping Centre. Sharing space with an upholstery shop, the front part of the store is crammed with cheeky Singapore-themed items like Merlion plushies, pillows and doormats emblazoned with Singlish phrases and local hawker favourites, and other cute knick-knacks like a multi-colour kueh doorstop and a variety of ang ku kueh (red tortoise cakes) accessories. 

Offering everything from botanical painting to long-stitch bookbinding and basic leather crafting workshops, Bynd Artisan offers a series of handicraft classes – taught by its own craftsmen or artist collaborators – as an add-on to their atelier space. The store also stocks a range of its leather goods (leather bound notebooks, photo frames, bag fobs, tote bags) that can be personalised on-site with your name, initials, or anything that comes to mind.

In the era of eco and organic everything, it's refreshing to find unique, contemporary pieces done the old-fashioned way. The ceramics sold in this Holland Village shop are all made in the Chinese town of Jingdezhen, birthplace of porcelain.