Into the ruins
I stepped into a little rustic, ancestral time capsule the other day and it just took me back a decade or two. This place reminds me of the house my kung-kung and popo made their home in and the home in which my mum was raised. I've seen pictures and it kinda looks alot like this.
When I think about the home my mum grew up in, I think of a huge pot of soup by the stove, as it's steam whafts through the air; tiny squared tiles covering every inch of the floor they walked on; wooden Chinese coffee shop dining tables and chairs all around. I've seen pictures to know the resemblance.
I was so fascinated by the whole interior and their ambition to go above and beyond what is required of a usual food/coffee shop. This place is not just a foodstore, as it's given name but is also a wine lounge, a coffee bar, a co-working space, a newsagent and a bicycle-rental shop. Talk about 'venturing-out'.
It was lunchtime and although it was a little too early for coffee, I was hoping to get a cuppa anyway. However, all we could choose from was a long list of tea selections. If you're a tea connoisseur or just fancy a wide range of teas, then this is the place for you. As for clueless me, I just chose the Sencha Green Tea cause it sounded familiar.
I didn't want this to be another Cafe Review because first of all, there's nothing much to shout about other than it's affable interior or the intricacy of it's design as a whole.
To me, what was memorable from the two times I've been here in the span of two weeks, was the company I was with.
The first time I came here, I was on a date and the now bae initially wanted to take me to Merchant's Lane but because it was a Wednesday and it was closed, he took me here instead - Chocha Foodstore. I was seeing him for the second time and I was still a bundle of nerves. I was too shy to do all the things I usually do at cafes - whip out my camera, take flatlays of our food before we eat and ootds before we leave. I wasn't ready to show him that side of me yet, although I knew he wouldn't mind (or would he?) But I got to spend time with him anyway, albeit over a meal that didn't satisfy me as much his smiles did.
In that moment, I knew what I liked (and wanted) - I liked having someone I could share a pot of green tea with because he genuinely liked it and not cause there was nothing else to drink; I liked having someone who looked at me the way he did from across the table - with small squinty eyes from laughing too much or googly-eyes because he's being cheesy; I liked having sweaty palms to hold that meet in the middle of our table and legs that brush against mine, by accident or on purpose; I liked that we agree to disagree on certain things, like how tasteless that Bang Bang Chicken was. But perhaps most of all, I knew I liked having someone to do all these stuff with even if I usually do them alone anyways.
The second time I visited this place, I was with Adeline - a fiesty red-head who has a knack for knowing and dining at almost all the cafes I can think of. We met though a friend, Melodie and just after a day, we became girlfriends of a 'Day-drinking club' (only cause Leela is in it too) This is what I like about 'the click'; like you just know when you get along really well with someone and to be honest, I sometimes get along so much better with people whom I've just met than the ones I've known for donkey years.
Things are just the way they are - as simple and as easy as that. And I'd like nothing more than to embrace it.
I like heart-to-heart talks over coffee and having deep conversations most people are not comfortable engaging themselves in. It's the only way you get to reach deep down into the soul of another human being and getting to know their true self, no? Well, someone once told me that. And with Adeline, it was as simple and as easy as that.
Love, Krissy.