It’s easy to have a love-hate relationship with the Alexandra area—in terms of food. There’s IKEA with its meatballs and vanilla cones, but Anchorpoint opposite is basically a foodie ghost town. Then there’s the well-loved Alexandra Village Food Center; but once the sun goes down you’re left with a handful of stalls that simply won’t do for late-night feasting.
Enter Salute Coffeeshop, a complete hidden gem and our latest find in Alexandra. Located directly behind Alexandra Village Food Center, it’s essentially a coffeeshop serving up restaurant-quality food, at prices that meet reasonably in the middle.
Picture a food enclave of international cuisines, ranging from Spanish to German to classic American diner food. As first-timers stumbling upon it, we shared a generously portioned meat platter from the German vendor, Stew Kuche, for $45. On the platter: a whole pork knuckle, four bratwurst sausages, smaller slabs of chicken chop and beef steak, salad, a couple of clams and prawns, and fries. It also came with dipping sauces and two beers.
While there are many other cuisines worth trying from the other stalls, Stew Kuche stands out for the simple reason that it offers authentic craft beer on tap (averaging $13 a pint, $9 during happy hour)—including brews from local brewery Archipelago. If you’d like to make the trip down more worth your while, choose from the sizeable list of imported beers. The six stalls run like a little family; order from any of them and sit where you please, but there is strictly no outside food allowed.
Closing at 10pm, Salute is a welcome addition to the area, for when you want to unwind after the workday with a no-frills, excellent beer. Next up on our list to try: Mediterranean-style kebab and hummus from Indian stall Naan Wali.
Salute Coffeeshop is located at 119 Bukit Merah Lane 1, #01-40, and is open Tues-Sun from 11am-10pm.
