Butter Bean: Cute Nanyang coffee cafe in Singapore

Butter Bean is a chain of bright yellow cafes serving up halal-certified Nanyang coffee, toasts and baked goods, and small set meals. What is nanyang coffee?

(From Wikipedia): Kopi, also known as Nanyang coffee, is a traditional coffee beverage found in several Maritime Southeast Asian nations. Often brewed to be highly caffeinated in strength, it is commonly served with sugar and/or milk-based condiments. This drink originated from the British Malaya era, with Hainanese cultural roots.

They have 3 locations across Singapore and their Funan location was located inside the mall/hotel we were staying at, so we came here for a quick breakfast during our last trip to Singapore.

Interior

I really like the branding and the look & feel of the Butter Bean locations. All the yellow made the space very bright and cute, making me feel like I am off to a good day. They have a very inviting counter where you can see all their baked goods displayed (lots of croissants, cakes, etc.).

The menu is also fun with lots of options to choose from. They have their signature toasts, value set meals, sandwiches and more.

They can seat quite a lot of people even in a not-so-big space. In general, I would say the furniture and decor feels like a children’s room (think Ikea style). Some seating are stools and do not have back support, and most of the chairs were hard and did not have any sort of cushion or plush texture (this is at the Funan location).

Atmosphere is bright and casual. Seat yourself and you should be done your meal pretty quickly! They give you a tray and you pick it up from the counter yourself after you order your food and drinks.

Food and drinks review

Here is everything we ordered for brunch between 2 adults. Prices are SGD, but to CAD it’s almost 1:1. Prices are also rounded to the nearest dollar.

BFF – Battered fish filet sandwich set ($8)

I got a BFF (cute 😊) – the battered fish filet sandwich set for $7.70. The sandwich is actually smaller than I expected because it’s like 1 regular toast but folded in half. Inside, there is deep fried battered fish and for the sauce, I went with their recommendation of the Thousand Island sauce. There’s a slice of cheese and some lettuce as well.

The sandwich set also comes with a free drink. You can choose between a iced kopi (iced coffee), teh latte, or a lemon-lime tea. I went with the lemon-lime tea because I wanted something fruity and refreshing. The lemon tea was also pretty small, but good enough amount for me.

Curry on sunshine ($9)

My fiance, Kelvin, ordered a main set and he chose the curry on sunshine set (such a cute name 😊). It came with a little bowl of curry that had potatoes inside. The plate had an omelette rice and some fried chicken pieces.

We found the curry to be actually a little spicy! We cannot eat too spicy so it may be nothing for the spice lovers, but it was a little spicy for us. It was still good and it has that Malaysian/laksa type of taste to it so it still has the sweetness in the curry broth. I also like that they separate the curry with the rice and the fried chicken so it doesn’t get soggy and you can pour as you go.

Portion is bigger than the sandwich, but still not that big. One person can easily finish it all.

The main set also comes with a free drink (the same choices as the sandwich set). But we upgraded our drink for $0.70 to get the BBrulee kopi. It is advertised as a creme brulee inspired coffee drink. The result is that it is quite sweet! And it did actually taste like creme brulee so they got that right, it was just too sweet for me!

Final thoughts

Loewe’s rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

3 stars seems a little low, but I did really like my meal at Butter Bean. I liked the atmosphere and their menu selection – I even liked their prices even though the portions are small! I thought it made a very nice and simple first meal.

The only reason I deducted some stars is because nothing was extraordinary. The curry wasn’t super flavourful or full of depth, the sandwich was similar to a filet-o-fish (hey I love filet-o-fish just fyi). Their website boasts that they use butter from New Zealand (? ok 😅) and Japanese-milled flour for their toasts (we didn’t order the toasts), and that their coffee is a blend of quality Arabica and Robusta beans. To me, Butter Bean really seems more like a fast-food chain type of place, a nice grab-and-go option.

Sincerely, Loewe