Chin Mee Chin Confectionery

In 2021, to some comfort, the doors to CMC reopened. This is my first time back and as an old friend, I can report that CMC, its charmingly cold owners and the era they represented ended in 2018. It's well and truly dead. Same brand, same menu, but populated with robotic staff with no interest in the history. To be fair, this cream horn was okay, but cream horns are never great anyway. A trip to simply meet an old friend became a wistful memorial service at its grave.

In 2021, to some comfort, the doors to CMC reopened. This is my first time back and as an old friend, I can report that CMC, its charmingly cold owners and the era they represented ended in 2018. It's well and truly dead. Same brand, same menu, but populated with robotic staff with no interest in the history, and food and drinks with little soul. A trip to simply meet an old friend became a wistful memorial service at its grave.

In 2021, to some comfort, the doors to CMC reopened. This is my first time back and as an old friend, I can report that CMC, its charmingly cold owners and the era they represented ended in 2018. It's well and truly dead. Same brand, same menu, but populated with robotic staff with no interest in the history. This iconic item tries to imitate its inspiration, but remains an imitation. The bun, the toast, the kaya, the butter all feel repurposed. A trip to simply meet an old friend became a wistful memorial service at its grave.

We arrived at the place at around 3.30pm, made our order and asked what time they were closing since there were just a few occupied tables. The waitress did not bother to open her mouth but gave a begrudging sign on her fingers to indicate they are closing at 4pm. Fine, we thought as 30 mins is plenty of time for a quick drink and a Kaya roll.

We noticed that another staff was starting to stack and pushed the tables very roughly and loudly 5 mins later, trying to make it very clear they want to close.

At around, 3.45pm, the waitress came and forcefully try to take away our drinks even though I have 80% of the drinks left in my cup. Being in a good mood, I told her that I will be done soon as I understood that she and their other stuff are probably in a hurry to get off work. She came 30 seconds later and try the same thing. Again, In good mood, I told her give me another 2 mins and I should be done and I said I do not want to hold her and her other teammates from their weekend plans. Despite that, she came 30 secs later and just grabbed my unfinished drink away in a most unpleasant manner. It was around 3.48pm when I overcome the shocking treatment.

Whilst I do not care about this place or ever visiting it again ( I was only there because my friend wanted local coffee in a clean environment in the vicinity) , I think this is something that the management should really look into.

I have experienced similar atrocious service at one of the other group’s establishment Tigerlily, that resulted in my regular dining buddy has seared off that place, even though I am a lot more forgiving.

For this experience, I am writing off Chin Mee Chin for good. There are plenty of good coffee places in the neighbourhood and we really do not need to put up with the lowest tier of service

with soft-boiled eggs and milk tea

While it is newly renovated, the store maintains its rustic interior design - with old school floor and wall tiles, thick marble slab and traditional tables and wooden chairs. The cafe serves up nostalgic Kaya Toast with soft boiled eggs, and also old school savoury and sweet treats such as Luncheon Meat Buns and Chiffon Cakes. There are traditional Eurasian confections such as Cream Horns too!

Read more at: kopiwaffles.com/chin-mee-chin-confectionery/