A MELTING POT OF DUXTON HILL AND BEYOND
“THINK OF MISS MOLLY’S AS A PERSON,” our host Jeremiah – restauranteer by day, musician by night – tells us. “She’s travelled a lot and seen the world and she’s come back home – she’s brought back her favourite food and remembered it with a local flavour. In a sense, she is the melting pot.”
If this characterisation of Miss Molly resonates at all, perhaps it’s because it reminds us of someone we know – a friend, ourselves. I would hazard a guess, that it really resonates because it’s summative of the direction in which Singapore is heading, to which Singaporeans are looking, and have looked for some time.
Miss Molly’s is a café and bistro serving up the dishes that most Singaporeans celebrate as the best of the West, while simultaneously repackaging local Singaporean food in a Western format. A gastronomical manifestation that feeds your imagination (no pun intended): Har Jeong Kai sandwiches, laksa pasta, spam fries. All of this is on the menu next to some of the modern day staple comfort foods of our generation: truffle fries, fish and chips, pasta carbonara.
There’s something about Miss Molly’s that makes you feel like you should be celebrating something. It must be something about the décor – fairy lights, polaroids, greeting cards and a bicycle hanging on the wall – and something about the food as well – from the cheery man who wears the chef’s hat to the fact that, here you can have a milkshake with your slice of rainbow cake or a beer with your fries. It must be something to do with the wide windows from which you can watch the mostly happy comings and goings of people outside who have managed to leave the confines of the Central Business District, just a stone’s throw away.
If you haven’t yet paid Miss Molly’s a visit, this place is probably best described or imagined as a person, like Jeremiah initially mentioned. More than that, Miss Molly’s is like a friend – the kind of friend you’re always excited to meet, and who’s always excited when she meets you because she always has new stories to feed you and something to share.