Singapore 2014 - Potato Head Folk

Having been just branded the "Most Expensive City In The World", everyone with an F&B franchise seems to be rushing into the gold mine that is Singapore. One of the latest additions is Potato Head Folk in the up-and-coming Keong Seik Street enclave. Potato Head hails from Indonesia and they have outlets in Jakarta and Bali, with the Potato Head Beach Club in Seminyak Bali being their flagship. The Beach Club in Bali is a really unique and chic work of architecture, and it is interesting to see what they have come up within Singapore.

Potato Head Folk is housed in a 3-storey old shophouse which occupies the very prominent junction of Keong Seik Road and Teck Lim Road. This was formerly the famous Tong Ah Kopitiam which had been operating for 75 years and you can still see the original name in Chinese characters on the shopfront. It is a bit sad that new ventures are pushing out local institutions, but I guess that is the price of development and "progress".

There is a kitchen and burger bar on the ground floor, dining room on the 1st floor, lounge bar on the 2nd floor and a rooftop garden above. The concept behind the outlet - according to their web site - is based on the theme of "fun, whimsy and childhood". I have to say that this has been quite literally translated into the actual spaces.

Compared to Potato Head Beach Club which is very expansive, this Singapore outpost is outright petite. The dining room on the 1st floor would fit probably 30 people and no more. The walls are covered in beautiful paintings of butterflies, birds and flowers. 

I would really like to know where they source all the quirky knick-knacks and objet d'art. They are what gave the space its unique character.

The menu at Potato Head Folk is heavy on burgers and fries, which is not my kind of food. But I like the ambiance, and I think it is a nice place for a drink or two.