Chin Mee Chin Confectionery

Chin Mee Chin Confectionery is a traditional coffee shop and bakery on East Coast Road in Katong. It dates to 1925 and is known for kaya toast on soft round buns, kopi and old-style cakes.

Tan Hui Dong, a Hainanese man who delivered bread to Peranakan homes, set up the kopitiam on this road in 1925. The shop closed in 2018 and reopened under a new restaurant group in September 2021, with the old look kept in place. It marked its 100th year in 2025 and now has a second outlet at NEX in Serangoon. If the word is new to you, read what a kopitiam is.

What to order

Come for breakfast or a mid-morning snack.

• Kaya toast: buns toasted over charcoal and filled with coconut jam and butter. Sets built around the toast are on the menu, and you can add soft-boiled eggs.
• Savoury buns: luncheon meat, hae bee hiam (spicy dried shrimp), otah and laksa versions.
• Cream horn: light, flaky pastry filled with buttercream.
• Sugee cake: a Eurasian cake made with semolina and almonds.
• Kaya French toast: a newer item, added for the shop's centenary.

There are also cupcakes, pang susi and chiffon cakes in flavours such as pandan and gula melaka coffee. If you come later in the day, the menu includes rice plates such as curry chicken rice, Hainanese pork chop rice and nasi lemak.

Drinks are the coffee shop standards, including kopi, teh and yuan yang, a mix of the two. Our guides explain what kaya toast is and how to order kopi.

The setting

The pale blue shopfront with its red Chinese lettering stands at the corner of East Coast Road and Chapel Road. Inside are mosaic tiles, marble-topped tables and bentwood chairs, much as older customers will remember. A small outdoor patio looks across Chapel Road towards the Church of the Holy Family.

The shop is not large, so it can feel busy at breakfast. It suits a quick, simple meal more than a long stay.

Good to know before you go

• Queues: lines do form, and popular items can sell out. Arrive early for the widest choice.
• Pre-orders: Chin Mee Chin's website takes online orders for its kaya and sugee cake, so you can skip the queue for those.
• Food notes: pork appears on the menu, so check with staff if you avoid it.

Getting there

Marine Parade is the nearest MRT station, about a 10-minute walk away. Head north to East Coast Road, and look for the shop on the corner where Chapel Road meets it.

Nearby

Katong is good for a slow walk after breakfast. See the colourful Koon Seng Road shophouses, then buy rice dumplings and Peranakan sweets at Kim Choo Kueh Chang. Our guide to Katong and Joo Chiat has more ideas. You can also browse restaurants in Katong and Joo Chiat, cafes and bakeries in Singapore or hotels in Katong and Joo Chiat.