I came across Marie’s Lapis Café while I was around Bedok North Street 3 and decided to stop in for a look. It felt like the sort of neighbourhood spot you could easily miss if you were not specifically looking for it, which made me more curious about what they were serving.
Inside, I found a menu built around familiar comfort food, with mains, side dishes, and a few things that felt especially easy to enjoy over a casual meal.
A Corner in Bedok
Tucked into a HDB block at #01-575, Marie’s Lapis sits where you’d least expect a Peranakan kitchen carrying fourth-generation recipes.
The space is small, air-conditioned, with soft music and a homely kind of hush. There’s Wi-Fi if you need it. It felt less like a cafe and more like someone’s living room, if that someone happened to cook very, very well.
The Menu: Heritage Meets the Everyday
The menu reads like a family’s memory book. Traditional Nyonya dishes sit beside desserts and coffee, old recipes wearing a slightly newer face.
What I Ate
Ayam Buah Keluak
I started with the Ayam Buah Keluak ($17). The chicken came braised deep in a rempah of turmeric, galangal and lemongrass, dark and earthy the way buah keluak should be.
Note that rice isn’t included, so I added the Blue Pea Rice with omelette ($3.50). The pale indigo grains and soft omelette soaked up every bit of that gravy.
Tok Kong Mee Siam
The Tok Kong Mee Siam ($14) came with fine vermicelli, dried shrimp and shallot rempah in an assam gravy. The gravy had a clear sourness to it, while the rempah gave the noodles more depth without making the whole bowl feel too heavy.
I liked that the flavours were easy to pick out instead of everything blending into one note.
Traditional Kueh Lapis and the Lapis Waffle
The Traditional Kueh Lapis was one of the things I was most curious to try. It was soft, buttery, and had the distinct layered texture I expected from a good lapis without feeling too heavy.
I also tried the Lapis Waffle, which was a more playful take on it. The outside had a light crispness while the inside still carried that rich lapis flavour. It worked especially well served warm with one of their Nyonya ice cream scoops.
The People
The people running Marie’s Lapis Café were friendly from the moment I sat down. Service felt personal, and there was a sense that the owners were actually involved in what was happening around the café rather than leaving everything to the staff.
There’s a handful of tables, so it stays intimate. If you’ve scrolled their Facebook posts (thats where I found them), you already know the feeling before you walk in.
What Marie’s Lapis Café Is About
I only understood the name properly after reading more about the café. Marie Yeo had been baking kueh lapis for decades before the café opened in Bedok in 2020. Her son, Chris Lim, later helped turn that home-based business into Marie’s Lapis Café.
“Lapis” means layer, which explains the cake’s thin stacked structure. The café serves Peranakan food alongside its baked lapis, with Marie still involved in parts of the cooking and preparation.
For Anyone Planning A Visit
Location: 537 Bedok North Street 3, #01-575, Singapore 460537
Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 10pm. Closed on Mondays.
Contact: 6970 8556 / WhatsApp 9441 7697
Price: Around $15 to $20 per person, depending on whether you add side dishes or dessert.
Best if you’re after: Peranakan food, lapis, waffles, and a café stop around Bedok.
If you’re starting earlier in the day, you can view this curated guide to the best breakfast places in Singapore has a few ideas for where to eat before making your way to Bedok.
Why Marie’s Feels Different
What I liked about Marie’s Lapis Café was seeing Peranakan food presented in a way that still felt connected to its roots, even when some of the dishes took a more playful direction.
Peranakan cooking carries so much history through family recipes, spice blends, and dishes that are often tied to home cooking and celebrations. At Marie’s, that cultural side of the food did not feel separate from the café experience. It was part of it.
That made the visit feel less like I was simply stopping by another café in Bedok, and more like I was getting a small look at how these flavours are still being carried forward in Singapore today.
