Selfish Gene Cafe (40 Craig Road)

Selfish Gene Cafe is housed at 40 Craig Road on the edge of the Tanjong Pagar Conservation Area. Opened in Dec 2011, this cafe provides an ideal setting for customers like you to be yourselves and enjoy yourselves whichever way you want it.

According to the owner, Gene, the name of the cafe originated from a book which he came across called 'The Selfish Gene' by Richard Dawkins. This book talks about how human beings have a 'selfish-gene', not to a point that they are self-centered, but the fact that there is an innate nature in us to do things to perpetuate our survival - To help each other and to get along with life. Thus, Gene decided to look at the term in a different angle - 'Self-ish'. By advocating the word 'self', he hopes to express himself by doing things that he likes and creating a cafe environment that he wants.

I visited the place on a weekday afternoon. The entire cafe was pretty quiet. I find it very spacious and cosy, a great place for brunch and catching up with friends, or for spending some alone time with a book and one's thoughts.

I decided to try their Matcha Latte ($5.00) which tasted pretty good. Strong matcha taste that's not too overwhelming, thick and creamy, a great drink to spend the afternoon. Besides, I also had their Smoked Salmon Sandwich ($12.80). With the addition of a thin layer of cream cheese, it makes the sandwich smoother and tastier. I love the ciabatta (means "slipper" in Italian) bread! It may seem a bit hard and rough on the outside but it's really soft and chewy on the inside! Tastes a little sour, but it goes well with the smoked salmon.

I really enjoy spending time in this cafe. Besides, they also provide free WiFi Services for you to surf the internet over your laptop/mobile devices. If you didn't know, this is a self-service cafe. It may be a little troublesome, but on the bright side, you can actually save a couple of bucks! Will come back again to try out other dishes.

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