Today la kopi with Lim Eng Lam owner of Nanyang Old Coffee 南洋老咖啡, thanks to link up by buddy Victor. ("La kopi" literally means "stir coffee" is Singlish for casual meet up over coffee ☕ )
When I am abroad for extended periods, I miss many things about home. One of the things I missed most was Nanyang kopi. It's the same aching, longing, yearning every morning as there is nothing like it except in Singapore, Malaysia and parts of Indonesia.
Lim Eng Lam has been a Nanyang old coffee lover for a long time but only got into the coffee business by chance or fate recently. His uncle has a small coffee roasting business in Admiralty industrial estate in Singapore. In 2010, Eng Lam's uncle was diagnosed with cancer and planned to end his business.
Eng Lam seeing that it was a waste for his uncle's legacy to end like that, decided to take over the business. Coming from the events and marketing profession, Eng Lam grew the business to a well established brand of Nanyang coffee within 10 years.
There's a Nanyang Old Coffee outlet in Singapore's Chinatown at the intersection of Smith Street and South Bridge Road where I stopped for my Nanyang coffee fix many times.
Today, we met at Eng Lam's outlet at 208, Geylang Road known as Nanyang Old Taste 南洋老味道.
Eng Lam uses a proprietary blend of Robusta, Arabica and Liberica coffee beans to make his own brew. Each type of coffee beans bring their respective qualities to the brew giving it body, aroma and flavour.
Nanyang Old Coffee is brewed the old way with a thick cotton kopi sock in a long neck coffee kettle. The coffee grounds are steeped in the kettle till the boiling water is well infused with coffee body, flavour and aroma.
Nanyang Old Coffee's brew has nice smooth medium body. It has nice coffee aroma from Arabica in the blend. On the palate, the coffee felt smooth and has a likable gentle bittersweet taste balanced with subtle sweetness from caramelised sugar.
Nanyang Old Coffee's beans are pure coffee roasted with a bit of sugar to sweeten it slightly and more importantly to slow down oxidation of the roasted beans. Eng Lam never use bulk fillers like corn, sesame seed or wheat grain in his coffee.
(You will know a coffee has bulk fillers when you taste harshly bitter ash in your kopi as bulk fillers get burnt when roasted. You also have less kick, simply because there is less coffee and therefore less caffeine in adulterated kopi.)
Nanyang Old Coffee won the best Singapore traditional coffee competition and was nominated Singapore's Ambassador of Nanyang Coffee in 2013.
Eng Lam is a passionate heritage enthusiast, so his outlets are set up like mini Nanyang kopi museums.
At Nanyang Old Taste, there is a steam boat section where Eng Lam also has other artefacts on display.
Eng Lam has artefacts like this intricate wooden kueh mould which I have never seen before.
The most detailed pineapple tart mould that I have ever seen.
A medicine chest with lots of small drawers for herbs, including a rotating drawer hub. First time I am seeing something like this. Amazing contraption.
Information for you 👉 Addictive cuppa old school Nanyang kopi - roasted pure coffee beans with body, aroma and flavour packing a solid caffeine kick. One of the few places left to get the real thing in Singapore. Check out the mini Nanyang kopi museums too at both of Eng Lam's coffee shops ☕
Restaurant name: Nanyang Old Coffee 南洋老咖啡
Address: 268 South Bridge Rd, Singapore 058817
GPS: 1°16'54.6"N 103°50'41.8"E 🌐 1.281843, 103.844937
Nearest MRT: Chinatown
Tel: 6221 6973
Hours: 7:00am - 9:45pm
Restaurant name: Nanyang Old Taste 南洋老味道
Address: 208 Geylang Rd, Singapore 389269
GPS: 1°18'42.7"N 103°52'35.1"E 🌐 1.311870, 103.876403
Nearest MRT: Kallang
Tel: 6634 0901
Hours: 7:30am - 11:00pm
Non Halal
Date visited: 18 May 2019
I went to your koi team twice today and I must say I found the experience very disappointing. Your cashier who speaks with a heavy Vietnamese accent very hard to understand. But I also find her very rude and aggressive. She talked about me in my face to the other 2 helping her. I had asked about getting a drink without sugar and she was not patient or helpful at all. She did not even give me a chance to put my money away and basically told me to move on, out of there. Total lack of patience for an older person. Disappointing to say the least.
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