Located along Prinsep Street is a ‘bistro and tapas bar’ called Alps Cafe. It’s one of those ‘hidden gems’ for KTV that I wouldn’t know about if my friends don’t bring me there. And apparently, it’s celebrating its 10th anniversary this year! The main draws: good food and drinks, darts bar and FREE karaoke! And oh, if you watch football, there’s live EPL entertainment too!
The boss of Alps Cafe also runs a Japanese restaurant at Mohamed Sultan Road and a number of stalls in foodcourts. Alps Cafe thus has Japanese food items on their menu – I’m sure you’ll be pleasantly surprised when you visit. *wink* The place looks ‘cosy’ from outside, among a row of shophouses, but when you walk right in you’ll realize it’s a good size for a bar: there’s alfresco dining right after the entrance, followed by a darts bar in the middle where you can also watch football, get drinks and sit around the tables, and then there’s the section at the end where patrons have food, drinks, and indulge in an open karaoke session (each table gets two songs at each turn).
Located among other shophouses is Alps Cafe!
Seating area on the left where you can wait for your turn while other patrons play a game of darts!
Tip: Head to Alps Cafe before the crowd arrives every evening and you can indulge in a karaoke marathon!
When I visit a place for the first time, I’m happy to let my (experienced) pals order the food, or I’ll ask the staff for their top recommendations. My pal said the Chicken Rollato ($25) is his favorite at Alps Cafe but alas, it wasn’t available when we visited. He therefore ordered their chicken chop and I asked for recommendations for the rest of the items we ordered. I asked Jess, who works there, what she’d recommend if I’m going for a pizza (preferably Hawaiian), and she recommended a half-and-half pizza with Smoked Duck and Bacon & Egg. I thought it was a great idea, except I really wanted a Hawaiian pizza so I decided to swap the smoked duck for it. Haha!
My pal’s order of chicken chop
Also, Jess recommended Fish Fingers which was NOT on the menu (yay!) and it tasted really good – eat it immediately when it’s served. I love how it doesn’t taste oily at all, and just the sweet chili sauce dip is enough to complement the crispy-outside-tender-inside ‘fish fingers’. Actually, all of us thought it might be calamari when it was served. But it was fish, no doubt.
A portion of pizza… and the fish fingers!
I thought the Stuffed Mushrooms ($14) were delightful, mainly because there was so much cheese on top – melted cheese as well as cheese sprinkled on top. I could have eaten all 8 of them myself!
As for the drinks, I went with Jess’ recommendation of a fruity iced tea (which I loved) and I also picked Lychee Martini. The Lychee Martini at Alps Cafe comes with two lychees and tastes quite ‘strong’ – alcohol lovers (especially ladies) will like this one!
As the pizza and bar bites were delicious, with our appetites whet, we decided to share a final course of seafood aglio olio ($20) – 3 mussels, 3 prawns, and pasta with a generous amount of chili padi that’s not for the faint-hearted. Yum! It’s definitely worth ordering again.
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The next time I visit, I’ll try the Japanese food on their menu. There are 20 items including ones like Grilled Stingray Fin ($15) and Grilled Puffer Fish ($18). If you’ve tried these, drop me a note and let me know!
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I enjoyed the dining + singing experience at Alps Cafe as it’s so different from your regular karaoke hangout in which you pay for a certain number of hours and then try to sing as much as you can before the time is up. At Alps Cafe, you can stay till they close and sing your heart out each time it’s your turn (if you head there early in the evening, you might get the entire place to yourself!). And the food is good so you’ll likely have dinner there too!
As I’m an absolute newbie when it comes to darts, I was quite happy to pick some darts out of a box for some free dart ‘practice’. If you do pay, you’ll get your scores tallied on the screen above so go ahead and challenge a friend!
FYI, Alps Cafe is open daily from 5pm to 1am on weekdays but on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Public Holidays, it’s open till 3am! Time to jio your KTV kakis for a fun night out with good food and drinks assured!
You can also book the venue for events like birthdays, gatherings, and other celebrations
Address: 38 Prinsep Street
Tel: 6333 9068
