Simple Cafe has came quite a long way — having moved to from the West to a location that is fairly centralised, this is the very same Simple Cafe that carried a Taiwanese vibe previously at NeWest; they had recently moved out of their former premises, and shifted into their new digs into a shop unit at the void deck of Blk 462A Crawford Lane just a few units away from notable eateries such as Eat Three Bowls and Tolido’s Espresso Nook. Occupying the space that was recently left vacant by Olsen Bakehouse which has since moved to Joo Chiat Road, Simple Cafe’s new space is bigger than its previous premises — the cafe now boasts of an actual hot kitchen, whilst the dining hall has also seen an increase in capacity with more tables made available for dine-in guests. The overall interior design theme still remains largely similar to that of their previous space at NeWest — one that is pretty much simple with the use of white walls and parquet floors; the furnishings seemingly also featuring wooden accents and has quite a rustic feel to them. Still serving up cakes, bakes and pastries, expect favourites such as the Mont Blanc, Lemon and Donuts that were previously available at NeWest still being served here at their Crawford Lane location. That being said, Simple Cafe does offer a new hot food menu here — there are sections on the menu dedicated to soups, as well as a Simple Breakfast and bagel / croissant sandwiches as well. Beverages available at Simple Cafe includes espresso-based coffee (including a special concoction named Pineapple Tonic involving homemade pineapple jam, tonic water and espresso), matcha-related beverages and various forms of tea including Lemon Wintermelon and a Longan Jujube. Patrons can also browse through their retail section by the left of the entire space to grab some of their wares, as well as small bakes such as financiers or even the coffee beans in small bags if they wish to do so.

Visiting Simple Cafe for brunch, we decided to go for the Simple Breakfast — this is essentially Simple Cafe’s take on the big breakfast platter, and comes with bread (served with butter and jam), egg, chicken cheese sausage and salad. Patrons are able to opt between bagel, croissant, brioche or sourdough for their choice of bread, while patrons do also have the flexibility to go for either a sunny side up or scrambled eggs for the type of eggs that they wish to go for with their Simple Breakfast. For our order, we decided to go for the sourdough as our choice of bread, and scrambled eggs as for how we like our eggs to be done. Felt that the Simple Breakfast is indeed what it is named — the item being so simple considering how it comprises of just several items placed in the same plate just as a breakfast platter should, but it is also just so comforting at the same time. Piling up the scrambled eggs over the sourdough toast, the scrambled eggs were fluffy and runny as it should; not overly wet, nor was it overdone — just the consistency as it should. The sourdough toast beneath comes with a crusty exterior; the toast bearing a chewy consistency with a bit of tension as one pulls the toast apart — it also comes with a distinct tang from the fermentation process of the sourdough; one that we found to have given the entire dish some sort of complexity in terms of flavour despite being a rather simple dish. Salted butter and mixed fruit jam comes accompanied on the side for those who need it; we did feel that the jam was a little on the sweeter side somehow. The chicken cheese sausage was decent; it does come with quite a bouncy texture — the choice of chicken instead of a pork sausage being quite a good move considering how the sausage did not feel overly salty, whilst the cheese oozes out eagerly as one attempts to slice the sausage with the knife. The garden salad attempts to bring some balance to the other elements here; provides a respite to all the carbs and savoury notes going on in here.

It is a little sad how the West side has seemingly lost a quality hangout spot with Simple Cafe’s move out of NeWest and into its new premises at Crawford Lane. That being said, it is about time that Simple Cafe have to expand its operations — there are instances where there are queues forming outside their former location on weekends; it is certainly an appropriate time that they move into a unit that would be able to cater for that demand. We were looking forward to Simple Cafe serving up a larger variety of desserts and bakes with their move; despite them only offering pretty much a similar selection to what they have been doing so whilst at NeWest previously, it is still great to know that they had started to also include a hot food menu to provide patrons with a more wholesome experience overall. The vibes at Crawford Lane are, however, largely consistent to what they were at NeWest. Simple Cafe had been, and still is spot that is worth checking out — yet another spot to add to the list for avid cafehoppers if they have yet to check them out whilst they were at NeWest!