Small Wonder

Who says the small plates restaurant trend is over? These two quirky joints serve easy-to appreciate dishes at affordable prices.

- Annette Tan

1. Scissors Paper Stove

9 TECK CHYE TERRACE, S545720. TEL: [phone].

Open Mon-Sun noon to midnight. Last orders at 11.15pm. www.facebook.com/ scissorspaperstove/

This cutesy café along Teck Chye Terrace in Upper Serangoon is an Instagram princess’s dream. With rainbow-hued chevron stripes adorning one wall, another painted lilac, and brightly coloured cushions and chairs lending a cheerful Etsy-esque vibe, Scissors Paper Stove looks like it was designed to appeal to the early twentysomething set. Its owners — engaged couple Chomel Yang and Januver Chow — both 27 — describe it as a having a “two-in-one feel.”

“By day, it’s a café. At night, we turn down the lights so it’s moodier, like a bar,” said Chomel. It’s still pretty cutesy for a bar, though.

The young couple, who also own Fratini Italian Trattoria in Greenwood Avenue, conceived the idea for this “fusion tapas” establishment while on a trip to Melbourne last year where they enjoyed “fusion concepts, unusual ingredients, and quirky interiors”. When they returned, they set about translating that experience into a menu of sharing plates that marry Singaporean flavours and Western influences.

If the restaurant’s name sounds familiar, it’s probably because it caused controversy online over un- tagging less-than-stellar reviews on their social media platforms. But that seems to have blown over now and the restaurant is back to regular business.