The Holqa Cafe @ East Coast Road

The Holqa Cafe is one bus stop away from Katong Shopping Centre. This small shop is without a proper door, and situated just right behind the bus stop. The cafe serves up mostly western fares that's heavy on asian influenced flavours. Curiosity and an invitation from a fellow blogger friend brought me there, and travelling to this 'remote' place was via bus #14 from Dhoby Ghaut Station.

signboard

you might have noticed this plastered on the cafe's glass window

The Holqa is a small cosy cafe, a place where a group of student friends first banded together to realize their dreams of owning a business. Having met Welson, Simple and Desmond in the cafe that day, I found their enterprising spirit admirable.

meaning of Holqa

interior

The cafe is setup simply and without frills, and exudes a quiet charm. This was the sort of place where one could drop by either for a snack, or to simply sit by the window and read a book quietly while sipping on a latte.

for the young adults

If you like fried chicken wings as much as I do, then the wings at Holqa will pique your interest. The wings are prepared almost similarly, with the difference in its sauce. Only mid-wings are used here. The young bosses shared that the sauces are prepared fresh upon order, and hence, the waiting time for these wings could go up to 15 minutes.

But fret not, an order of their mini-sliders would help to appease the growling stomach while waiting for the freshly cooked wings.

(left to right) Holqa Pulled Pork mini-burger and the Open Sesame mini-burger

Both are priced at $12 for 3 mini-burgers and served with fries. All mini burgers have lettuce, mayo and cheese in it. The pulled pork was leaning on the sweeter side of things, while the homemade pork and prawn patty in the Open Sesame mini burger were very homely tasting. The patty has a ngor-hiong (五香) flavour with very likeable texture. Both were tasty and moist but I like the Open Sesame patty more. Was asking for a bigger version!

Soon, the much awaited wings made their appearances. That night we sampled five different flavours; Ninja, Peanut Butter, Salted Egg Yolk, SNS-ji and Pineapple Buffalo Wings. The wings are served in sets of 6, or 9 pieces.

Peanut Butter Space Jam Wings @$9 (6 pieces) | $12 (9 pieces)

Yallow Yallow Dirty Fella (Salted Egg Yolk Sauce) @$12 (6 pieces)

Having the peanut butter wings really felt like biting into a thick spread of peanut butter. For people who seriously love their peanut butter jams. Much preferred the salted egg yolk version that was lusciously thick, golden and with a bit of spice from the chili. Yums.

HOLQA SNS-ji @$9 (6 pieces) | $12 (9 pieces)

Ninja Wings @$9 (6 pieces) | $12 (9 pieces)

The SNS-ji is Holqa's signature dish and probably Korean inspired, judging from its name while the Ninja Wings is sort-of like a variant of the SNS-ji dish. The Ninja was created to cater to the non-spice eaters aka young children.

Hmm, I must confess. I do like the Ninja Wings better! Crispy wings, coated in soy-based savoury and caramelized sweetness. The sauce was sticky and reminiscent of malt sugar.

If all these are too mild for you, no worries, you just need to get your hands on the Pineapple Buffalo Wings. As individual spice level tolerance differs from person to person, I'd give this a level 5 out of 10. Just enough heat to feel a slow burn on the tongue and some tingling on the scalp but not enough to make you sweat.

Pineapple Buffalo Wings @$11 (6 pieces) | $16 (9 pieces)

Of course, it helps if there is an icy cold drink on-hand to help douse some of the fire. Had the Crabbies alcoholic ginger beer of the strawberry and lime flavour. Nice and cooling. Sweet~

Crabbies Strawberry and Lime (Alcoholic Ginger Beer) @$9

Thank you Welson, Simple and Desmond for having us at the Holqa Cafe, and Kris for jio'ing us there.