Popular cafe, Forty Hands is closing down both Tiong Bahru and East Coast outlets on 12 Sep 2022.

One of the pioneer cafes that started the third wave coffee trend in Singapore, Forty Hands Café has been doling out consistent cups of coffee and Aussie-Asian brunch food since October 2010.

About a decade ago, Tiong Bahru was simply a tranquil neighbourhood with old school shophouses and local eats. The opening of Forty Hands and BooksActually along Yong Siak Street led to the revival of the Tiong Bahru neighbourhood and other cafes and restaurants followed after to create the hip and trendy enclave that we know today.

Other than the classic Aussie-style brunch fare, Forty Hands is also known for their local delights including Kong Bak paired with mouth-watering Har Cheong Gai waffles and their legendary Tau Sar Paus.

With their all-day offerings, morning folks will no longer need to lament at a restricted menu; if you want a cheese-drenched burger at 9 in the morning, you get to have precisely that! The brand is vegan/vegetarian-friendly as well – if a menu item catches your eye, the kitchen is able to convert it into a version suitable for your dietary restrictions.

Forty Hands is owned by the Spa Esprit Group who is behind other popular dining concepts such as Common Man Coffee Roasters, Noka, Tiong Bahru Bakery and Tippling Club. Fans of Forty Hands’s coffee can head to Coffee Man Coffee for a cuppa.

Good bye, Forty Hands. It has been a good run!

Forty Hands
78 Yong Siak St, Singapore 163078

226 E Coast Rd, Singapore 428923

For our last coffee feature of this month, we had a chat with Harry Grover, owner of Forty Hands Cafe and Kiasu Expresso, to talk about the local coffee scene, and his plans for 2013.

What do you think of the local coffee scene?

The local coffee scene is really exciting right now. It is slowly getting its own identity. A few years back, cafes here started by copying ideas from the Australian cafes – in particular those in Melbourne – and now most of the established ones have pretty much created their own styles and sophistication.

In fact, in terms of coffee expertise, I believe Singapore is edging closer to Australia, and ahead of most Australian cities like Sydney, Brisbane and Perth – with the exception of Melbourne, of course. Consistency, however, might be the only thing lacking. A lot of the new coffee joints are not sustainable as they lack the manpower – most do not have enough talent to produce good coffee consistently.

Advice to people who want to open a café?

You must know a few things. First, you will not have a life on weekends and holidays after opening a cafe. You are probably also going to lose weight while managing the cafe. And if you are prepared to make the sacrifices, you need to have a concrete business plan and be really familiar with the day-to-day operations of running a cafe. There is no way you can jump onto the bandwagon without knowing anything about the trade.

Tell us briefly about Forty Hands

Forty Hands is more of a happy-go-lucky and youthful brand. It is a simple cafe that specialises in coffee.

Any exciting plans for 2013?

Our latest venture is Kiasu Expresso, a tiny takeaway joint at 100AM on Tanjong Pagar Road. We will also be opening Common Man Coffee Roasters at Martin Road in August. The name of the cafe is to pay tribute to the fact that coffee is grown and drank by the common men. People tend to have the misconception that only hipsters drink coffee – which is definitely not the case.

Common Man Coffee is a mature space dedicated to being more coffee-centric, and we will also be serving a restaurant-quality menu alongside coffee. It has a 7kg roaster for roasting single origin coffee beans. And we will also be looking to introduce more coffee appreciation classes.

I am impressed with Forty Hands Cafe. Despite its (ulu) location within a shop house in the Tiong Bahru area, the cafe has been doing very well since its opening.

However, I felt that the food was average. They are always crowded, though, especially for weekend brunch. Also, I didn’t fancy the narrow layout of the place. Having said that, 40 Hands Cafe is still one of the nicer cafes in Singapore.

They have a few sandwiches (prices ranging from $8-$10) on the menu, but hey, breakfast food is all about eggs! The egg items like the Eggs Benedict, Baked Eggs and Big Breakfast are priced below $20.

We had two sets of the Big Breakfast: one with scrambled eggs and the other with poached eggs. The portion was generous and it came with mushroom, grilled tomatoes, sausages, eggs, toasts and greens. The Baked Eggs, on the other hand, was extremely salty and we didn’t manage to finish it.

And of course, people go to Forty Hands Cafe for the coffee. Known amongst the array of coffee joints, 40 hands is one of the few cafes that serve up the best coffee in Singapore.

It is quite difficult to find Forty Hands Cafe. Your best bet is to take a cab and hope that the driver knows where is Yong Siak street (near Tiong Bahru market). Book lovers will also be happy to know that the popular BooksActually has relocated to the same street. I think the idea of visiting a book shop after a good Sunday brunch is very appealing.

For more recommendations, read my list of Brunch in Singapore | Best Cafes in Singapore

Singapore Food Blog Review
Forty Hands Cafe
Blk 78 Yong Siak Street
#01-12 Singapore
Tel: +65 6225 8545

Operating Hours:
Tuesdays: 8:30am – 6:30pm
Wednesdays & Thursdays: 8:30am – 10pm
Fridays and Saturdays: 8:30am – 11pm
Sundays 8:30am – 6:30pm
Closed on Monday

Featured in

icon-14