Sando Bar Manpuku Closes, Japanese Chef Now Sells Sarnies At Loyal Customer’s Coffee Kiosk
Last year, 8days.sg discovered Manpuku Sando, a charming under-the-radar sando joint at Cuppage Plaza run by a perky 35-year-old Japanese lady. At the time, the sando shop operated out of Dosukoi x Donpachi’s bar area at lunchtime, making use of the space there before the izakaya officially opened for business at 5pm.
However, despite some initial hype, the sando joint has closed down in just six months. However, you can still find some of its fluffy offerings at a fancier kiosk in food-centric mall Taste Orchard next door, within a Japanese coffee kiosk called Bon Bon Coffee.
Ed’s note: 8days.sg has just been informed that Bon Bon Coffee’s sandos will not be available from 15 to 24 Oct. From 25 Oct, the first 100 customers who present a screenshot of this article will receive a free steak sando or Hokkaido sweets at the shop.
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Reason for closure of previous sando joint
When Manpuku Sando first opened in November 2023, it was co-owned by Hokkaido-born ‘sando artisan’ Ayumi Sawaya, who used to manage the depachika (food hall) of a Japanese department store in Tokyo. She relocated to Singapore in 2019 to work as a communications manager at a now-defunct Japanese restaurant-bar, where she dabbled in selling sandos before the eatery shut down in 2020.
After Yakan Hikou closed down, Ayumi began working at Dosukoi x Donpachi in Cuppage, and later proposed the idea of using the izakaya’s bar area to sell moedan (thick sarnies typically filled with cream and fruit, sliced to show off their colourful cross-sections) in the daytime. The sandwich bar ran for roughly six months, before it closed in May this year (the izakaya is still in biz).
What’s the reason for the closure? “Operating hours were limited and there wasn’t much of a crowd in that area either,” Ayumi says simply. We guess the initial buzz died down quickly after a series of TikTok videos on the shop. At Dosukoi x Donpachi, she only sold her sandwiches for four hours daily, from 11am to 3pm.
Now works with former customer-turned-boss
After a four-month hiatus, the millennial now sells her sarnies at month-old Bon Bon Coffee, a small but cosy kiosk tucked in a corner of a retail space at Taste Orchard. There are communal tables around the area for customers to dine at.
Compared to her previous shop at Dosukoi x Donpachi - a no-frills 14-seat counter - the new space at Bon Bon Coffee has a clean, modern look.
Ayumi says the owner of the cafe is a Japanese lady who was her former customer at Manpuku: “She was my regular customer and said I should continue selling the sandos at a different place, as it's a waste to totally discontinue,” she explains.
Straddles between sandwich and sister ramen kiosk
Ayumi currently works as an operations manager alongside two staff at Bon Bon Coffee, and is mostly in charge of making the sarnies here. Bon Bon Coffee’s owner has also recently launched a ramen concept a few units away called Bon Ramen (also with free seating around the area), so Ayumi shuttles between both shops to help with the cooking as well.
Two types of sandos offered here
While she used to offer seven types of sandos at Manpuku (our favourites included the Karijuwa Pork Ginger Sando and Anko Cream Butter Sando), Ayumi now only sells two: a Tamago Sando ($15.90), and Steak Sando ($24.80), the latter will only be available in November. She assures us that the ingredients used here are “the same as at Manpuku Sando”.
More sarnie options will be offered eventually
Will she be re-introducing more of her other sarnies here? “Yes I will, and not only sandos. I'm thinking of making some other kinds of toast too,” she says. She cannot confirm a date yet, though.
Pair your thick sandwich with a cuppa. Light to dark Arabica beans roasted in Japan are used at Bon Bon Coffee. A cup of pour-over coffee starts at $6.90, and goes up to $8.90 for a Matcha Affogato.
Bon Bon Coffee is at #01-16 Taste Orchard, 160 Orchard Rd, S238842. Open Tue - Thu 11am - 5pm & Fri - Sat 11am - 2pm; 6pm - 9pm. Closed on Sun & Mon. Tel: 8223 6725.
Photos: Kelvin Chia, Bon Bon Coffee
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