The Holqa Cafe

The Holqa (prounounced Ho-L-Kah) Café is located East Coast Road and its name means “link” in maltese language as they hope to serve as a platform to link people together at the café. We were greeted with a simple and homely interior when we first stepped into the café on a weekday afternoon. The café could sits about 20 pax and has a minimalist feel with its white interior and wooden furniture.

Interior of Café

I was rather impressed when I took a look at their menu as it was rather extensive, coming from a small cafe. They serve mains like Asian Pulled Pork with 3 Cheeses Sandwich, Three little Pigs and Big Black Wolf (Cute name hor, its actually pork burger), Eggs Benedict, Carbonara, Croissants, Light Bites such as breaded shiitake mushrooms and home-baked cakes such as red velvet and earl grey pound cake.



Coffee, Tea, Croissant





Menu - Savoury



We had sparkle of the day and iced mocha. The strawberry sparkle was really refreshing on a hot weather and the iced mocha strikes a good balance of bittersweet with a pleasant nutty flavour.

Iced Mocha

 

Strawberry Sparkle

 

For mains, we had the Asian Pulled Pork with 3 Cheeses, Almost Carbonara and SnS-Ji as bite for sharing.

SnS-Ji $9.90

SnS-Ji

Quite a unique name I would say, I am guessing the inspiration of its name comes from the combination of SNSD and its famous song Gee with the “Ji ji ji … “ in its chorus; and thus the name of this (korean-style) mid-joints. The wings are coated with home-made sweet and spicy sauce, fried to a crispy exterior yet retaining its juiciness within. It makes for a perfect dish as sides for sharing. It would be wise to eat the wings early as it tends to get sticky after some time.

Asian Pulled Pork with Three Cheeses $15.90

 

The Three Cheeses (Mozzarella, gruyere and cheddar) comes together with the gingered mayonnaise, marinated pull pork on the thick buttery brioche. The buttered fried brioche was large, soft and fluffy, a very generous portion I would say and the marinated pulled pork was flavourful, made even more amazing by the magical touch of the cheeses. Another dish that I would like to have anyday!

Almost Carbonara $14.90

 

Creamy Spaghetti with shiitake mushrooms and bacon. This is a comforting pasta with its rich, creamy bacon and mushroom sauce. I am not a usual fan of pasta, but I definitely enjoyed this creamy pasta that I mopped clean the whole plate of creamy sauce till the last drop. Slurps~

Monkey Funkey Toast $10.90

 

We were wowed by its big size when served. The brioche (moist and crispy), banana (sweet) and peanut buttercream (salty) together with the scoop of vanilla ice cream (Super Impressed at how long it could withstand melting, at least a good 15 minutes). I wished for some chocolate sauce to go with my bananas, guess it has to do with my chocolate fondue addiction. Nevertheless, it still makes a great dessert (must share with more people!)

In all, Holqa Café serves really decent and affordable food (nett prices) at a strategic location. (Just located behind the bus stop). It is located near to Chin Mee Chin Confectionary, Carvers and Co, Ice Queen. So next time, when you are in Marine Parade/East Coast Park, why not head here for a cosy brunch after cycling?

On the table

Thank you to The Holqa Café for the invitation and your warm hospitality and service. 

 

Opening Hours: Mon-Tues: 12 – 9pm; Thurs- Fri: 12-9pm; Sat-Sun: 9-9pm

Address: 37 East Coast Road

Instagram: holqacafe

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/theholqacafe