Nos Bakehouse’s New Menu Marries Singaporean, Japanese and Thai Flavours

As Nos Bakehouse gears up to celebrate its first anniversary, the Dutton Park cafe has released a new menu that showcases just how far it’s come.

First-time cafe owner Susan Koh went through an ordeal in the lead up to her opening: the site flooded right before opening day, and three months later Cyclone Alfred passed through, prompting an almost week-long closure.

Despite having worked in many cafes and bakeries across Brisbane and Singapore, Koh says opening her own business brought a new kind of imposter syndrome. “Initially, I was a bit scared. Like, what if nobody comes? With the help of the media and the customers, it’s moving along smoothly. Hopefully it will continue to do so,” she says.

The new menu is a big step up from the early days of sandos and a few mains. Although when it opened Nos was billed as a Japanese bakehouse, the new menu incorporates new influences, namely Koh’s Singaporean heritage and her head chef’s Thai roots.

The extended menu includes karaage French toast made with Nos’s signature shokupan; Korean shakshuka in a gochujang sauce; tom yum pasta with mussels and king prawns; panang curry with pork katsu; and a khao soi squid ink pasta with prawn and scallop.

Koh says constant reinvention is vital to a neighbourhood cafe. “Owning a cafe is all about innovating. To attract more customers, you need to keep coming up with new things.”

Everything is grounded in house-made elements, including brown sugar caramel kaya, which is served with an onsen egg for kaya toast.

Koh is intent on incorporating shokupan throughout the entire menu. “I’m trying to use the shokupan in as many things as I can, and not just in its original shape.” She’s recently developed a round shokupan for a Singapore staple, a pillow curry bun: a bread roll with Singaporean chicken curry inside.

Desserts now include a vanilla and strawberry parfait, a matcha parfait and a matcha-yaki purin. The drinks list has expanded too, with cold brew and an iced matcha cloud made with coconut water, whipped matcha and house-made coconut jellies. Christmas cakes are also on the way.

Nos Bakehouse celebrates its first birthday on December 7 with $1 cold brew and $1 cakes with any morning purchase.

@nos.bakehouse