The newest addition to Singapore’s growing local café scene is the Working Title, a quaint place located along bustling Arab Street. Owned by the same minds behind Shophouse The Social Hostel, the café occupies the hostel’s first floor and is an extension of NUS alumnus Calvin Seah’s and Mustaffa Kamal’s aspirations of creating a “chill-out spot” for locals and foreigners alike. The name Working Title, while reminiscent of a Damien Jurado song of the same name, was quirkily born of the inability to come up with a suitable term for the joint.
The uncharacteristic dimness of the cozy café took some getting used to – so used we were to bright indoor lights. Once inside though, we were caught up in the idiosyncratic charm of the place. The café is decorated with a curious mix of crates, boxes and gunnysacks adorning ceiling overhangs. Endearingly mismatched furniture make up in appealing aesthetics what they may lack in comfort. Calvin talks about how some tables were fashioned from old wooden pallets, sanded and varnished and subsequently put to use, lending to Working Title’s palpable allure. The café extends into an open courtyard area to the back of the building, which features a projector for movie screenings, and more seating areas that would be a prime spot for balmy summer nights (though less so for the sticky heat of summer afternoons).
Working Title features all the good stuff from the bursting local confectionary scene – their display case stocked daily with slices of Windowsill pies, a selection of cupcakes from Fluff bakery, and adorable mason-jar cake creations by Little House of Dreams. A diverse mix of craft beers, ales and ciders fill a rack in the café, looking almost decorative with their startlingly colourful labels. Working Title offers an impressive range of drinks, from Japanese craft beers to the popular Brother’s Toffee Apple, in exclusively limited quantities.
The menu features familiar comfort food options, ranging from pizzas and sandwiches to soups and snacks. The margherita pizza was pretty spectacular – at $4 for a generous slice, it creates a winning combination of humble ingredients; fresh tomatoes, herbs, mozzarella cheese, on a thick crust of good dough. They have just one burger on the menu – an All-American classic – in line with keeping the food simple, stripped down, and good, at competitive prices (“We make sure this is something we would pay for ourselves.”) Rich Dutch Colony coffee, and a tea selection brimming with names like Moroccan Mint Green Tea, or Rose with French Vanilla, cap off the menu.
True to its name, the Working Title is a working project. The owners are still learning, constantly adapting and crafting a right fit for the place, in a market that appears nearly saturated with eclectic cafes and kitschy dreams. Opened in mid-August, this café is in its infant stages of carving a unique name for itself in the niche scene of local food and craft beverages. Yet, as is, Working Title is a wonderful place for a cozy afternoon, listening to hushed sounds of conversation and occasional light clinking of glasses behind the counter, idly observing people drawn in from the warm streets or tourists from the Shophouse hostel. The café aligns seamlessly with the interests of young crowds today, ever looking for a new place to sit back with cupcakes and coffee, power points and stable Wi-Fi. We can never get enough of places that provide a welcome reprieve from the rushes of living a typical Singaporean lifestyle, and Working Title is one of such places – here you can have your cake, and eat it too.
Working Title opens daily and is located at 48 Arab Street,with NUS students receiving 10% discount upon showing their matriculation cards.