Kafe Utu

Kafe Utu is an African café and lounge in a three-storey shophouse at 12 Jiak Chuan Road, near Keong Saik Road in Tanjong Pagar. It opened in 2019 and calls itself Singapore's first African café. The food draws on dishes from across the continent, from Swahili curries to West African stews.

The owner, Kurt Wagner, spent much of his childhood in Liberia, South Sudan and Kenya. He brought the colours, crafts and flavours of those years to the café. In 2023, travel site Big 7 Travel named Kafe Utu one of the 50 most Instagrammable cafés in the world.

What to order

Brunch and dinner have separate menus. At brunch, try the Ugandan Rolex: a chapati rolled with scrambled egg and your choice of minced lamb, pulled pork or a vegetarian bean stew. Mayai Mombasa pairs poached eggs with smoked pork belly, spiced tamarind sauce and flatbread.

The dinner menu leans on stews and curries served with rice:

• Zanzibar curry goat, cooked with cardamom, cinnamon and star anise.
• Swahili fish curry with red snapper, tamarind and coconut cream.
• Groundnut stew of chicken thigh in a peanut sauce with smoked fish and greens.
• Kondre, a Cameroonian dish of plantain and beef brisket.
• Matoke, a vegetarian Ugandan plantain stew.

Small plates, listed as "Kidogo", include fried plantain with Liberian spice, lamb samosas and buttermilk fried chicken. Several dishes use habanero chilli, so ask which ones are milder. For dessert, Nakupenda is Swahili fried dough topped with soft serve.

Coffee and drinks

The coffee list covers espresso drinks and bottled cold brew. House specials include a Zanzibar chai, a Malindi latte with seven-spice syrup and the Karanga. That one is an iced white coffee topped with peanut butter mascarpone cream. The bar also serves cocktails, South African wines and Tusker lager from Kenya.

The setting

Each floor has its own mood. The ground-floor café is built around an eight-metre banquette carved by hand from a single tree. The second-floor lounge has deep sofas and a long banquet table with a projector and sound system, so it suits private parties. Carved African doors lead up to the third-floor bar and an open-air terrace for evening drinks.

Many of the carved doors, panels and mirrors were made by a craftsman from Malindi, on the Kenyan coast.

Good to know before you go

• Bookings: reserve online through SevenRooms, linked from the official website.
• Payment: the café is cashless. Visa, Mastercard, Amex and PayNow are accepted.
• Dietary needs: the menus mark vegetarian, gluten-free and dairy-free dishes, plus those with nuts or alcohol.

Nearby

There is plenty more to eat around Keong Saik and Tanjong Pagar. For a special night out, book the Nordic tasting menu at Zén on Bukit Pasoh Road. Coffee fans can also try Nylon Coffee Roasters at Everton Park. For a stay in the area, look at Mondrian Singapore Duxton.

See more cafés and bakeries, all restaurants in Chinatown and Tanjong Pagar, or our Tanjong Pagar and Keong Saik guide.