Best Cafes on Haji Lane and Arab Street

← Home

The best cafes on Haji Lane and Arab Street lean specialty and small-batch rather than chain coffee: Japanese-imported beans, Korean-style pastry, and a halal bakery doing gula melaka scones. None of the four takes more than a five-minute walk from the others.

Coffee Donkee: Japanese Beans, Imported Weekly

Coffee Donkee, at 51 Haji Lane, runs on specialty beans imported fresh from Japan every week rather than a fixed house blend. The rotating selection means the pour-over menu changes more often than most Singapore cafes bother with, and the small, relaxed space suits a slow solo coffee more than a group meetup.

NestCha: Tea and Box Cakes

NestCha, at 68 Haji Lane, centres its menu on specialty tea drinks paired with box cakes, cakes baked and served in small square boxes, in flavours that run well past vanilla and chocolate, yam floss among them. It’s a tea-first alternative on a street where coffee otherwise dominates.

Cafe Margaret: Korean-Style Cube Pies

Cafe Margaret, at 32 Bali Lane just off Haji Lane, specialises in Korean-style cube pies, a cube-shaped croissant built from 72 layers of laminated pastry. It’s a dessert-forward stop rather than a coffee destination, worth timing for an afternoon sugar break between boutique browsing.

All Things Delicious: Halal Bakery on Arab Street

All Things Delicious, at 34 Arab Street, is a halal bakery best known for gula melaka scones and sticky toffee pudding, both leaning on Southeast Asian palm sugar rather than the plain versions found elsewhere. It’s the pick if halal certification matters for your group, since several of the other cafes in the district don’t carry it.

Getting to the Best Cafes on Haji Lane and Arab Street

Getting to the best cafes on Haji Lane and Arab Street is straightforward: all four sit within Kampong Glam’s core blocks, a five-to-ten minute walk from Bugis MRT station (EW12/DT14). Weekday mornings are the quietest time to visit. Weekend afternoons draw the heaviest queues, especially at Coffee Donkee and NestCha. None of the four take large-group reservations, so groups above four or five should expect to split up or wait.

FAQ: Cafes in Kampong Glam

Which of these is halal-certified?
All Things Delicious is explicitly halal; check directly with the others if that’s a requirement, since certification status changes and isn’t always posted online.

Is Cafe Margaret on Haji Lane itself?
It’s on Bali Lane, a parallel side street a minute’s walk from Haji Lane, part of the same walkable cafe cluster.

Where can I find the district’s restaurants and heavier meals?
See our separate guide to the best Middle Eastern and Turkish food in Kampong Glam for that.

Bottom Line: Best Cafes on Haji Lane and Arab Street

Coffee Donkee is the pick for serious coffee, NestCha and Cafe Margaret cover dessert, and All Things Delicious is the one to know if halal certification matters. Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura, the body behind Singapore’s halal certification, publishes the current standard at muis.gov.sg if you want to verify a specific stop. Pair a cafe stop with our guide to Haji Lane’s boutiques and street art, and see the best boutique hotels in Kampong Glam if you’re staying nearby.