Cuisine: Western / cafe
Address: 11 – 12 Stanley Street, Singapore 068730
Nearest MRT: Telok Ayer station (Downtown line) / Tanjong Pagar station (East-West line)

Common Man Stan is the CBD sibling of Common Man Coffee Roasters at Martin Road. In their efforts to champion specialty coffee, they decided to bring their famous cafe to a new neighbourhood in Telok Ayer.

When it comes to the food and ambiance, you can expect all of your favourites from 22 Martin, all set amidst a sleek backdrop, combining natural textures of wood and rattan, marble and raw cement, brought together with a touch of gold. The perfect spot for your morning brew, working lunch or afternoon sweet treat!

If you are looking for a place for brunch during the weekend around the CBD, look no further than Common Man Stan. We were doing a staycation at Westin Singapore, and after searching for cafes that open early on a Sunday, we decided to come here for breakfast.

Since they have their own roasted coffee, I decided to try one of their filtered coffees ($6.50). I ordered the one from Nicaragua at first, but was told that it was not available for that day. So I settled for Tangwen, Uganda. This coffee by the small community of Tangwen, located above the magnificent Sipi Falls in Uganda. It has notes of passionfruit, rum and marmalade.

For her, she ordered an iced chocolate ($7.50) as she does not take coffee. It had a lot of milk in it, and some decadent chocolate at the bottom of the glass, after mixing it was chocolatey and yummy.

For the mains, I ordered the Croissant croque monsieur ($18). It comes in a crispy croissant, provolone cheese, a slice of ham, mustard and bechamel sauce. It is quite pricey for a breakfast item, if it was served in a pair then it would have been more filling for me. I enjoyed the combination of the ingredients. For those looking to add an egg, top up $2 to make it a croque madame.

For her, she ordered the Common Man Full Breakfast ($28), which came with two free-range organic eggs in any style, bacon, sausage, herbed tomato, hash browns, portobello mushroom, chorizo baked beans with artisanal sourdough toast. The eggs were chosen to be cooked in scrambled style. This was really a hearty dish, with lots of artery-clogging ingredients. She only ordered this dish due to some favourite items such as the eggs, hashbrown, mushrooms and bacons. The hash browns were unfortunately too overfried, so they appeared black. The baked beans were huge and not like those canned Heinz baked beans.

Overall, the ambience of the cafe was very beautiful as much thought was put into the decor. The source of coffee was unique, coming from different regions such as Colombia, Nicaragua and Uganda. The coffee on the menu changes quite regularly. However, the food is definitely overpriced in this cafe and even with organic ingredients, the portions are not big enough to justify the costs. I guess I would just settle for coffee or drinks next time if I were to come back here again.