Unity Coffee

Hougang isn’t a neighbourhood that is particularly synonymous with cafe culture; that being said, there is one location of which that we have been pretty aware of within the Kovan area that we had wanted to visit for quite some time. Unity Coffee had opened their doors at The Promenade @ Pelikat for quite a while; located at a corner unit of the shopping mall at the ground level, Unity Coffee isn’t too difficult a find —the cafe can be found closer towards the side of the shopping mall facing the private housing estate located along Jalan Samarinda. Unity Coffee had opened its doors officially for more than a year at the point of time where we had made our visit; there hasn’t been much of a change to the interior though the interior does evoke some form of a hipster vibe — think a monochromatic interior design scheme where there is a large use of black and white elements in an interior that is decked much like a living room. The dine-in furnishings mainly comprises of sofas and stools with small side tables that doubles up as dining tables — this is considering the compact space that the cafe is operating out of. Despite the lack of an actual hot kitchen, the menu does look pretty extensive — apart from just some bakes and pastries that are being stocked up in the display shelf located at the counter, Unity Coffee also serves up other more substantial dishes such as bagel sandwiches and pasta as well. For its specialty coffee offerings, Unity Coffee offers various forms of espresso-based specialty coffee, hand brews, cold brews as well as some non-caffeinated offerings such as the Babyccino, Honey Yuzu, Kyoto Uji Matcha Latte and drinking chocolate.

Since we headed to Unity Coffee for lunch, it is needles to say that we were looking for an item that is deemed to be a little bit more substantial to have. Considering how bagel sandwiches are still a little bit of a tougher find than pasta all around the island, we decided to settle for the S.E.C. Bagel. The S.E.C. Bagel is described to be an item that comes with elements such as Homemade Bagel, Chicken Sausage, Scrambled Eggs, Mozzarella and Cheddar Cheese based on what is being listed on the menu. With all that being said, it is interesting to note that our S.E.C. Bagel seems to have come with an actual chicken patty instead of chicken sausage that was being mentioned in the description of the item on the menu — something which we were not informed of when we made our order. We could understand the entire composition of how they had intended the S.E.C. Bagel to be — one that comes with elements that would probably make for a comforting breakfast item to have. We note that the folks have apparently even toasted the bagels on a panini grill; the result of this was the crispness of the bagel as one chews into it — quite a multi-dimensional affair considering there is also some chew from the slightly dense texture of the bagel. One thing we did note about this bagel was how the elements seem to fell apart fairly easily; there isn’t one element that could effectively bind them together. That being said, the melted cheese were gooey and stretchy, while the slab of chicken gave the dish a good meaty bite that it needs; the scrambled eggs being soft and fluffy without being too heavy on cream or milk. It does seem that the folks here also added a bit of sriracha just to bring a little bit of a flavour contrast and some hint of spiciness to further bring out the flavours the scrambled eggs and the meat — a detail that was well-appreciated.

Unity Coffee had been a spot that we long wanted to give a visit for quite some time now, and we are glad that we did so. One thing which we made us wait out in visiting the location was the small size of the cafe itself — given how there are only two tables that seats five pax in total, it does seem that it would be a challenge for those whom intend to dine-in at the location itself. With all that being said, Unity Coffee does seem to have gone beyond what one would usually expect out of such hole-in-the-wall cafes; they do serve up quite a considerable number of hot food items on their menu — we also noticed that they do seem to have a decently-sized following with a constant stream of patrons streaming in either to have a cuppa within its premises, or to do a quick takeaway. Most would be pretty familiar with the Spanish Latte in recent times — an item that is popularised with the opening of the multiple outlets of %Arabica all over the island. Whilst %Arabica’s rendition of the Spanish Latte would be what most would consider the most definitive form of Spanish Latte around, the rendition which is served at Unity Coffee is one that we found to be quite close to that. If anything, the Spanish Latte at Unity Coffee is only a touch sweeter than what we would have expected — a variant which we found to be pretty commendable on its own. The Promenade @ Pelikat may not be a location that is easy to get to or even to navigate around; that being said, Unity Coffee is definitely an establishment that is worth checking out if one is around the area.

Tucked away at the corner of a mall is Unity Coffee, a small coffee stand with just a few seats.

We tried the Iced BLCK latte ($6) , which was like a latte dressed with charcoal powder. Their coffee is alright, but I'm not too fond of the addition of charcoal powder as it was grainy and hence did not give a good texture to the coffee.

Their mocha ($6) may be smooth, but I'm afraid it may be too sweet for my liking.

Perhaps getting their latte would be a better option!