Easily one of my new favourite hangout places, Butter Studio was out to impress when they invited us over to try their new brunch menu (you should really check that one out!). The food they served were unbelievably out-of-this-world delicious, and I think that is an understatement. As soon as I’m done editing the video, I will show you exactly what went down during dinner at Butter Studio that night – we even managed to catch Adam (thehalalfoodblog.com) in tears of joy when he finally tried the desserts at the end of the meal. That was definitely one night to remember.
When I first met Shannon, the first thing that struck me was the amount care that she and her team put into getting the halal certification status for the business. From her all-knowing smile when I mentioned “halal isn’t just about not serving pork and alcohol”, I knew that she had personally taken pains to care for all the ingredients she used in her café at 147 Jalan Besar, and her 2 bakeries. She closely works with a small dedicated team that seems to have gone through thick and thin with her to ensure that every plate served at her cafe, is a plate served with high quality craftsmanship.
Butter Studio’s story started off with Shannon, who grew up in a family of home bakers. She especially mentioned both her grandmothers who were great cooks and passionate bakers, who eventually passed down recipes from which she based the beginnings of her home-baking journey from. It is then not surprising how butter has a nostalgic and a personal meaning to Shannon. During our short chat, Shannon cheerfully recalled how she used to wake up to the smell of butter in the mornings at home. This then inspired the name for her bakery and café – Butter Studio.
I implore you to step into the cafe just to see how the cafe is intricately well-adorned with timeless pieces making it warm, inviting, and cozy! Just like how her family’s fondest memories were build around the table, she wanted to create the same atmosphere for every single person who walks into Butter Studio. I especially loved how there seemed to be a personal touch to everything in the café, including the walls showing the values that they held on to. It makes the whole setting more intimate, more special.
If you were to look up right beside the cashier, you would notice the very antique metal pale yellow mug and bowl from the 1950s – kind of the ones that we have on our youtube channel videos. This was just one of the ways that heritage is being preserved in this very quaint cafe. Of course, this preservation of tradition is also reflected in their menu with the ever so popular pandan gula melaka cupcake and other locally inspired recipes. Staying true to their home-baking beginnings, everything served at Butter Studio are made in small batches, from scratch, with no short cuts. And, just like how every festivity was a huge family affair for Shannon, the team also makes it a huge deal at their Café. The kitchen team will always be working on a new menu every season for their guests to look forward to, just to keep it interesting and intriguing. The only difference? Butter Studio took a bold step towards inclusiveness, and welcoming everyone, and so they now have so many more festivities to celebrate!
That said, remember to quickly head down to Butter Studio for their (all-day) brunch menu! We don’t quite know if it’s still going to be there, when a new season comes in!
A quick word of advice: Make sure you get the Speculoos Pancakes. No questions, just get it.
After getting to know the owners, the café and their food, and loving them, we want to tell you about a little something special that Butter Studio will be having for us this Ramadan. Unique one-time only items will be launched, including cookies, pandan inspired cakes & rolls! Shannon wanted it to be a mixed cultural theme, so, think brunch, think eating-with-hands, think DULANG! Ok, that’s all we can say. If you are a fan, or a going-to-be fan of Butter Studio, then be sure to keep checking back at @butterstudio or @halalfoodhunt or @thehalalfoodblog for updates Ramadan Specials!
Before we ended our short chat, I had asked Shannon about what she saw for the future of Butter Studio. To that, she humbly replied, “From day to day, we hope to get more people aware of us. Once that is achieved, and then we will be looking at growth.”
With a team so sincere, we have no doubt that Butter Studio will be doing well in the coming years. We hope they will turn out like one of those heritage cafes 30 years down the road, with an identity so strong that it becomes almost synonymous with Singapore. We will be visiting them again (soon I hope), and we will also be telling you more about their food in our coming articles! But in the mean time, why not you check out the Café for yourselves? We promise it will be worth the trip!
Butter Studio
147 Jalan Besar
Sundays – Thursdays 10.30am to 10pm, Friday – Saturday 10.30am to 12am
Updated as of the the date of this article. For more current information about Butter Studio, please refer to www.halalfoodhunt.com >> listingsHalalfoodhunt.com is a one stop destination for all things halal. We retail halal bakes from many different bakers, halal recipe packs, and list halal food providers in Singapore. For an overview of what we do, or if you are keen on working with us, visit our home site at halalfoodhunt.com. Halal first, everything else later!
