Living Room at Leng Kee is a café eatery serving Singapore hawker staples. It is situated in the Leng Kee district inside Leng Kee Community Center. Notably, eateries setting shop right inside public community centres are quite the in-thing now. Such establishments are one of the fast growing establishments in these government-managed heartland community centers all around Singapore.
Examples includes Bliss Restaurant @ Cheng San Community Club in Ang Mo Kio Park and Daily Affairs at Cairnhill Community Club. Notably, this establishment at Leng Kee opened over a couple of years.
The outlet is tucked in a HDB estate. On getting there, the nearest MRT station is Redhill MRT and is about a 10 minute walk away. If you are driving, there are two HDB carparks serving the community center. One is a sheltered multi-storey carpark located right next to the community center and the other in a HDB estate across the road.
Chill ambience
The Living Room at Leng Kee eatery is not one exception in the scene. There is great attention to detail, down to the black board sign boards and hand-written menu placed outside it entrance welcoming you in. The air-conditioned eatery has a nice chill ambience which resembles a hipster café more than a cookhouse like eatery cafeteria. A waff of cafeteria food smells lingers in the air-conditioning upon entering the establishment.
There is a mini library shelf located just left of the entrance. There is a combination of long and round table seating on stools scattered all about the establishment. You can also find a small sofa seating area on the far end of the cafeteria. Also, there is only one kitchen and a centrally placed counter to order and collect your food.
Local Favourites on offer
On the menu is a small selection of local dishes, such as vegetable rice, noodles and toasts. Your food options are all laid out in pictorial format on the signage above the ordering and serving counter. The food quality in a nutshell is not something to shout about. It is ok, but not overly fantastic.
A notable recommendation will be their Prawn noodles with Pork ribs. It costs a pricey $8 a bowl and goes up to $11 if you upsize to their premium large prawns. You get pretty large prawns on the standard bowl. Henceforth, I see little need to upgrade to the larger ones. The prawn soup broth is rich and creamy, it is nicely tasty and takes a shade or orange, presumably from the prawn stock used in the broth preparations.
One gripe however, during my visits, the freshness of their prawns vary and was often pretty mushy and not as fresh as I was expecting it to be.
Additionally, their regular Prawn noodles good enough, costing about $6 per bowl. Another recommendation would be their Nasi Lemak. It is served in a large sizable plate with clear spacing between each of the ingredients on offer.
Other notable menu items
Also on the menu are other hot meal offerings such as economical Bee Hoon. Pork Rib soup, as well as Curry Rice. It is essentially, rice with a standard set of vegetable and pork chop meat sides doused in curry. It is quote reminiscent of the “Scissors cut” Hainanese curry pork chop rice at Farrer Park. However, on my visit, the dish was cold when served. Their pork rib soup is similar to the ones offered if you order their Prawn noodles with them.
Furthermore, cashless payments such as Favepay and Grab pay are accepted as well as cash and Visa Paywave (allowing you to clock your credit card dining rebates). Also, the Living room gets noticeably crowded during lunchtimes. The establishment does not serve dinner and opens till the late afternoon. It is closed Mondays. Mid-day you can see students and retirees often sitting around doing homework or chatting over coffee, just before the places closes for the day at 5.30pm.
Notably, the community centre location situated a distance away from other nearby food and hawker centers like Redhill hawker center and Tiong Bahru market, making it one of the few eating places in the neighbourhood.
All in all, I would shortlist the Living Room eatery for their food offerings. Do note that meals served are not exactly value for money. But, I will recommend the establishment for their chill and relaxing atmosphere, especially if you want to have an afternoon tea-break with friends together with coffee and toast.
Now that is something worth-wide doing.
Verdict:
Must Go! | Worth Trying | Shortlist Optionally | Should Avoid
Living room at Leng Kee Community center
Leng Kee Community Club
400 Lengkok Bahru, #01-01
Singapore 159049
Opens daily: 7:30am–5:30pm
Closed on Mondays.
