Chee Soon Juan to open cafe in Queenstown called Orange & Teal
SINGAPORE — Opposition politician Chee Soon Juan has announced that he is opening a café together with his wife.
Called Orange & Teal, the café is located in Rochester Mall in Queenstown near the Buona Vista MRT station. It will open to visitors this Friday (25 June).
Writing on his Facebook page yesterday, Dr Chee, who is secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), said, "Dear all, I have big and exciting news to share with you. Mei and I are opening a café. It’s called Orange & Teal and it’s at the Rochester Mall. We’ve been working on it for the past several months and it’s finally coming to fruition.
"It’s been a long-term dream of ours to have a place where Singaporeans come together to not just have a great meal or have that heart warming cuppa, but a place where we get together with our loved ones and friends and get to know each other all over again. A place where intelligent discussion, even impassioned debate, takes place. A place where the conversation's even better.
"'Where the conversation's even better' – I've got that engraved above the doorway."
Here is Orange & Teal's address:
Orange & Teal
#02-12 Rochester Mall
35 Rochester Drive
Singapore 138639
Dr Chee said he looked forward to hosting the first guests on Friday with his wife, Dr Huang Chih Mei.
"To be perfectly honest, I’m not a businessman," wrote Dr Chee. "I never was and I don’t think I will ever be. But I’ve always wanted to start a social enterprise of sorts to support causes close to my heart. I'll talk about this including the vision of this venture another day."
Dr Chee said that to achieve his dream, the cafe must be viable as a business, and that he and his wife hoped to have public support. "We hope you’ll share this excitement with us and tell everybody about the place."
He added that the cafe was unable to be halal-certified at the moment, but it would not serve pork, lard or pork-related items. Wine and beer would be served but the glassware for alcohol would be kept separate.
The veteran SDP leader had contested in a number of elections over the years. In the 2020 General Election (GE), he was a candidate in Bukit Batok, losing to the People's Action Party's Murali Pillai. Dr Chee garnered 45.2 per cent of the vote versus Murali's 54.8 per cent. During the GE, Dr Chee pledged that he would become a full-time Member of Parliament if he were to win.
Dr Chee had previously published and sold a number of books about his thoughts on politics in Singapore.
