When asked about my fondest memories/ flashback about Al-Majlis, one that stands out is definitely the “Arab Heritage Week”.

When we had the whole street closed and barricaded, and for that few days, the usually busy street became an extansion of the shop. The crowds and pace of business was one that as a staff, I have never experienced before.

Still, amidst all the happenings and performances of the event, the best time was after business hours where staff and friends of the café alike played soccer in the middle of Arab Street.

Muhamad Afiq

The year was 2001 and I was walking with a friend along Arab Street to visit a Fishing Shop. I noticed a café in the midst of textile and fishing shops named, “Café Le Caire @ Al-Majlis. We went in and took a seat behind, along Haji Lane.

We ordered “Hummus” and some of the drinks. At that time, a Malay lady who was serving us said that they serve “Shisha”. So we had a try and found it very interesting.

I found the waiter & waitress very friendly and quick to respond and follow up. We were talking among ourselves that this café have a potential to expand…simply due to the fact that its food is “unique”. Interestingly, they call Shisha here “smoke on the water”. They also introduce us a nice dessert called Sahlab and I found out that it’s very nice.

I started to tell to all my friends & relatives that in the middle of Arab Street, there’s a new café called Al-Majlis, and they are serve all kinds of Arabic food and of course, “smoke on the water” (shisha).

They came down to give a try and I got feedback that the food was nice and the service staffs were good, friendly and served them with a smile.

I started to come down more often to smoke shisha and to have some food here. I enjoyed the place because of its atmosphere and environment. The surrounding is very relaxed and it released my work tension! Sometimes, this place becomes my meeting point with my customers in my business on Oil Field Trading.

From day one I stepped into this café, all the waiters and waitresses were all very friendly and well trained by the management. Although some of the waiters and waitresses change over time, but their service attitude have not changed. I think they are well trained.

After number of years of coming here, the number of the cafés in Arab Street & Haji Lane have increased. I ever tried at other café to smoke shisha but the atmosphere is not the same like Café Le Caire – on the service, the very friendly staff and the café boss, Mr Ameen & his wife. Both are very kind and caring to ALL their customers, regulars or new ones.

I still remember Faisal from his young age working here making shisha and other staff like Khusma, and Miskiah who played a major role in this café. Makcik who also very hardworking, friendly and behave a good attitude.

Today, I’m very happy to see that Café Le Caire is expanding. I’ll always be there to support them by having my dose of shisha.

Always “Smoking on the water”,

Osman

Breaking something is rarely a good start to any relationship, even more so after having to pay for the damages. So if anyone had told me that night after I had broken a sisha bottle that nine years on, Ameen, the boss of Café le Caire, would give me a sisha set as a birthday present, I would have probably laughed.

But that somewhat unpleasant earliest memory of Café Le Caire or as I know it, Al-Majlis, was the start of an interesting journey during which I made new friends who became good friends, celebrated special occasions, initiated new special occasions and more.

“If only the Café could speak, or better yet project a video montage of the past nine years….”

I would love to see the 20-year-old me and friends sitting on a carpet across the road at AC Collections playing cards and talking about life and National Service.I would love to see the 21-year-old me with some of the regulars sitting down with Ameen and talking about history, current affairs and relationships as well as fantasizing about doing Master’s in Arabic Studies in Cairo till the muezzin says the morning prayer call. All these while studying and doing tutorials too. I would love to see the 22-year-old me frantically trying to finish the props for Arab Festival which saw the whole section of Arab Street from the junction of Beach Road till the junction of Baghdad Street closed and a stage set up in the middle for belly dancing. I would like to soak in that atmosphere again, seeing a showcase of Arabic culture for the first time up close and personal.

As I was growing up, Al-Majlis was always one of the constants. But it did not lay idle either. It too developed over the years. From a single storey shop house with multiple stalls (Can anyone remember the excellent fish soup?) to a double storey shop house with a fine dining venue to a lounge that was originally meant to be a members’ corner and to the strategic expansion across the road.

It has come to a point that I would feel odd if I did not go to Al-Majlis at least 2-3 times a week. It has become my “default hang out place” and I know that there will always be one of the regulars around to sit and have a drink and sisha with. Even so, this is the only place where I am very comfortable with having a meal alone or even just sitting by myself because the members of the staff have become my friends too.

Trendier spots may spring up and customer preference may change. But for me, Al-Majlis has something that these places lack – strong kinship. And this is its appeal. Here’s wishing that Café Le Caire will prosper for many more years to come and continue being a part of my life. Special mention goes out to Ameen ‘El Jefe’ Talib for the foresight and desire for Arabic flavour in Arab Street for making all these possible.

Dkay Dzulkarnae

Café Le Caire (more affectionately known as ‘Al-Majlis’ to us) is a special place for us. It is the place we met, the place we dated and the place we got married in.

Al-Majlis is our second home. I essentially grew up in Al-Majlis having started coming since 2001 and Nura has easily assimilated into the Al-Majlis culture and easily accepted into Al-Majlis family in her own right. Safe to say, We both feel as part of the Al-Majlis family.

We had our wedding anniversary, birthday celebrations, and every possible special occasion here. One reason we hold all our celebrations here, not only for the great special food but also because of the ambience and its our comfort zone.

We are glad the place is open 364 days a year as when we do not come to Al-Majlis and see our friends and family here. it seems an essential part of our life is missing.

We have seen a lot of changes in this place throughout the years and enjoyed watching how much Al-Majlis have grown. Here, we meet people from all over the world and I have learnt to say "charcoal" in 5 different languages!

We are honoured to have been part of every Café Le Caire special events and especially enjoy "The World Cup" screenings.

Café Le Caire has had an a lasting impression in our life and we are sure on many others as the influence Café le Caire had on Kampong Glam is very clear.

Thank you Café Le Caire & all its service staffs for making our day… everyday.

Hyder & Hura

"It’s been nine years now since we opened on 23rd July 2001; it has indeed been an enjoyable decade."

The story of Café Le Caire goes back to the early 90s. On my return to Singapore in 1990 (after 15 years overseas) I was disappointed at the lack of Arabic flavor in Arab St. I felt an Arabic café/restaurant was required. I did a business plan for a restaurant and a chef spoke to few investors, all declined saying, “… no one comes Arab Street at night”!

I left Singapore again in 1996 for my PhD studies and on a visit back in 2000, the current premises (39 Arab Street) was being renovated, so I decided to do the café myself. Our objective from day one has been to promote Arab Street and re-establish it as the Arabic Quarters of Singapore. Alhamdulillah, that objective has been achieved.

For me the most cherished moments since opening the café has been meeting the customers who have become friends and family. I have seen customers grew up at the café; from their student days and graduating into professionals, getting married and having children. In particular, there are two young ladies who are teachers now. Whenever I see them marking their students’ papers at the café, I smile as I can still recall the days they used to study here! I have attended a number of weddings of regular customers and in some of these weddings I had felt like the father of the bride/groom. We even had customers holding their wedding at the café. These are priceless memories that will always be cherished.

I obtained considerable pleasure from meeting up with café customers in far off cities such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Cairo, Bangkok, KL and Jakarta. Some of these meeting were planned and some were by accident. There were 3 incidents that stuck in my mind. The first was in Jakarta. I was in a restaurant and a regular customer was there and after chatting we found out he is an old friend of my brother. The other was on board a plane from Amsterdam. A fellow passenger taps my shoulder after landing and says “Boss, you going straight to Arab Street?” (which is quite a common practice for me arriving Arab St with my luggage). The third was in Kuwait. A Kuwaiti comes up to me and says “Ameen Talib! How are you?” It was a customer who I have not seen for 3 years. He was a Kuwaiti who was a regular during his trip to Singapore.

I am glad that I took the decision to open the café in 2001 for two main reasons. The first is the revival of Arab Street and re-establishing it as the Arabic Quarters of Singapore. The second is for meeting all the customers and staff who became friends and I regard them as the “Majlis Family”(including all my godchildren).

It has been such a pleasure that I would like to thank ALL our customers. As a gesture of appreciation we have decided that the best way to mark our anniversary month is to have a one month period of offering selected items from the menu at the original prices of 2001 (btw, the SMW and BMW are still at 2001 prices). The items selected will definitely include our signature lifestyle product that we introduced to Singapore.

I always regarded customers as friends and family and to all regular customers who have not been around for long time I say please keep in touch and do drop by to say hello! ALL of you are integral part of my life!

Ameen Talib

My first encounter with Café Le Caire was in 2002. Since its opening, I have yet to find time to dine there despite hearing a lot about this restaurant. I received a voucher at one of our community hotel function, and finally had the opportunity to patron the restaurant with a friend. I immediately fell in love with the food they served as they are very authentic Arabic cuisine; this is because many of the spices, ingredients, pastries and sweets were specially flown in from Middle East. My personal favourites are the Karkadeh drink (Hibiscus drink), the Mande rice with grilled lamb and salad sauce (one of our Hadrami main dish served during special occasion – only to be found in Café Le Caire), the Arabic sweets and the Bubor Gandum (Hadrami wheat porridge)served only during the Ramadan month. My circle of friend and relatives and I became a regular customers from that day on.

Over the years, Café Le Caire grew with its community of customers and expanded its premises. They are one of strong advocators in the introduction and promotion of the Arabic culture in Singapore. During their 4th year in operation, they had the biggest event – Arab Cultural Night, where the road in front of the restaurant were cordoned off, stage and tentage were put up by the roadside for a week to showcase performances by bands and singers specially flown in from Egypt, along with Arabic folk music and dance performed by men from Arab Association. As an event organizer, I had the honor to be a working team with Café Le Caire in promoting the Arab wedding customs on this event. With the expansion, the ambience at Café was further enhanced with the inclusion of the ShiSha Corner on the 1st level and what I like most on the 2nd level, are the “Majlis” (Room with Arabic sitting arrangement) and the cozy fine dining area.

Impressed by the setup and the ambience of the 2 rooms on the 2nd level, I decided to collaborate with Café Le Caire to promote my events for the ladies functions as well as their food and ambience.
At very reasonable cost, the generous buffet spread prepared by the Café was sumptuous and full of variety. The attendees for the night were impressed with ambience presented and the food served. Many of them too, became regular customers.

After so many years, my relatives, friends and I still dined regularly at the Café, especially on special occasions and eve of Public holidays where they have special promotions and celebrations with belly dancing performances as well as the launch of new food items like Baklava Cheesecake.

We never fail to show our support during each of the Café’s anniversary celebrations, as the Café enters its 10th year, we wish Café Le Caire – Happy 10th Anniversary and may many more years to come.

Memories shared by Fathiya Awad Abdat

“A home is a place of residence or a place to seek refuge or comfort. It is usually a place in which an individual or a family can rest and be able to store personal property. Most modern-day homes contain sanitary facilities and means of preparing food.”

While Man U was playing Liverpool on the big screen, the big boss turned to me and said, “Shyamira, we are celebrating our 10th year anniversary this year and we would like some of our regulars to share their thoughts and feelings of Al-Majlis. Would you like to do a write-up for me?” Of course, I would, was my reply albeit my many questions because days of essay writing were long gone and honestly, I did not think I was capable of doing justice to Al-Majlis in my write-up. After assuring me that it was an informal piece and very much just to share my personal feelings and experience, I agreed and instantly these questions came to mind,” How would I describe Al-Majlis? How do I feel about Al-Majlis? Which experience would I want to share?”

The first thing which came to mind was the statement which my friends always say each time we go to Al-Majlis for our gatherings. It would be somewhere along the line of how “Al-Majlis is like my second home.” I guess this statement came about after they saw how at ease and familiar I am with the place, the menu, staff and even some of the other “regulars”. They are surprised at how most of the staff affectionately addressed me by name. If one of the definitions of a “home” is a place to seek comfort and a place where I am able to store personal property, then it is true what my friends said, it is like a second home to me. I feel very comfortable and yes, many a times, I accidentally left my laptop cable and other things only to be kept safely by the staff. I would have no worries parking heavy bag there, while I do a quick shopping at the nearby shops along Arab Street. And, needless to say, it surpasses the definition of having the means to provide food; it provides probably the best food around here (a mental image of ½ roasted chicken with wedges and brown sauce by the side is floating around in my mind right now).

Over the years, Al-majlis has been a venue of choice for multi-purpose activities. I have celebrated birthdays and have had a surprise for mine. I have spent hours studying for examinations with other NUS muggers. I have had meetings with wedding planners. I have sat for hours with my best friends who are teachers too, to attempt completing endless amount of markings. I have spent many times with my fiancé and friends here watching his favourite team play along other crazy fans who would not mind sitting on the floor even, just to bask in the atmosphere while watching soccer when they could have watched it elsewhere.

I am very sure the “regular” status attached to my name has contributed to a large extent to the wonderful memories I have at Al-Majlis. I do not think that anywhere else can I find the boss himself giving up his specially reserved couch in front of the TV to make way for his customers while he sat on a shaky, foldable (maybe too small) a chair for him or making sure that I could be seated somewhere in the already full place just because I complained that the seats given blocked my view of the television. There is no other place I can find the lady boss who would gamely collaborate with my fiancé to surprise me on my birthday and became so excited when I told her about my wedding.

This goes beyond customer relations. It is a bond built over the years; ties which resemble that of a family. A restaurant or café is a place people go to eat. Al-Majlis is not just a restaurant or a cafe. It is a place of shared experience, a place full of memories for many and obviously, a “home” to me. The 10th year mark is definitely a milestone for Al-Majlis and I am very sure it will continue to grow and prosper years down the road.

It has definitely been an honour to be part of this celebration. My experience is just one of the many wonderful stories which customers have of this place.

To my Al-Majlis “family”; the boss, lady boss and staff, Happy 10th year anniversary!

To many more years of success… (and more benefits for regulars).

Shyamira

The first time I set foot at Café Le Caire, it was a stall occupying what is now the part of the kitchen for drinks preparation and what had been till fairly recently, the cashier. That first time in the food court, I remember Ameen whom we’d met at the only Alwehda party in 2001, took out chairs for my company & I and we used one of the wooden chairs typically found at any Ahwa (café) in Egypt, as a make shift table for our drinks. We had Roti John & Sheesha that night and you will find out why the memory of our first time still remains attached in my memory in a few minutes

Over the years, Café Le Caire or as is better known to us regulars, Al-Majlis, expanded, renovated & innovated. With the expansion of the café, our Al-Majlis shella (group) of regulars also continued to accommodate any who came often enough to be a familiar face. The many different celebrations that Al-Majlis held such as Valentine’s Day, New Year’s & Ramadhan Iftars as well as the elaborate Arab Heritage Week organized by the café in 2004, brought many of us further closer & throw us constantly in one another’s path that without being aware of it or choosing, we found ourselves friends.

Al-Majlis has always felt like home to me. From day one, Ameen has been a dependable figure, someone we came to for advice & discussion and more often that not, gossip! Al-Majlis is the place where I am completely comfortable enough to be myself. I’ve written my best essays on its couches, took naps in between appointments and now, as a teacher, I still come to mark, reflect, make friends, kick back & relax.

It’s been 10 years. Al-Majlis has seen me grow & I’m proud to say I’ve been here from day one to see the menu evolve and expand, the café facelifts & expand to accommodate different customers & tastes. I have to say Al-Majlis has come a long way & in lieu of its 10th Anniversary, I’d like to wish the Al-Majlis family countless more milestones & celebrations.

With Love,

Yasmin Mohamed

Proud Member & Friend of 10 years.

I remember a long time ago the premises undergoing renovation and out came a food court. A food court? In the middle of Arab street? Most of the textile traders here never imagined it possible they would succeed. The food court underwent many changes and out came Café Le Caire as the only tenant for the first year and the introduction of Shisha. Pretty soon, Arab Street became known as the “Bohemian” corner of Singapore where the original first stop would be Café Le Caire for it’s laid back Mediterranean atmosphere. Before, Arab Street was not known to the hip and trendy. After Café Le Caire entered the area, it has grown to be a bustling hub for nightlife and rustic shops.

Well done to the management of Café Le Caire, you have founded an entire nightlife trend in Singapore. Me, I love coming down to Café Le Caire. The ambience is wonderful, the food superb and it has always been a great place to chill out, meet friends and interact with the staff. The staff are always friendly and warm, giving me this feeling of always being welcome anytime of the day. Lovely and looking forward to more great years of joy at Café Le Caire!

Jay Khialani

I still remembered the day we opened. The place was called ‘Al Majlis Foodcourt’ and we were one of the foodstalls then. The entire place was small – less than 15 tables (I think), all arranged in front of the stalls.

There were less than 10 staff and so we were very close. But almost all from that first day of operations are not around today, either they got married, have kids, better job elsewhere…

We operated from 8am till 10pm. Back then, closing at 10pm was considered very very late as Arab Street was “quite dead” at night!

On the first day, Boss’s friends and ‘supporters’ came to dine. Other than that, there were not that many walk-ins… but quite a number of gawking passer-bys.

Our menu is also a far cry from what you see today… not much to shout about.

But almost 10 years on, we have come a long way since being just a stallholder. One thing that has never changed though… I’m still around. And I like to say, that is a good thing!

Miskiah Jumahat
General Manager,
Cafe Le Caire