The buzz: The second generation of the longstanding Sifa decoupage art school has redesigned its whole building under the paper-art concept, with the addition of a café, Thai restaurant and gift shop. The art school proper and shop have moved to the second and third floors.       

The décor: The homey café has all the feel of eating at your friend’s house. The central entrance separates the room in two. On the right, coffee tables face the barista’s set-up while a large cake-table sat in the middle displays cute bars of soap from the B.gentle brand that come in the shape of cakes and macarons. The left-hand side, meanwhile, is all set up for meals with a bunch of dining tables. As you’d expect, decoupage works are scattered around the place with some paintings on the wall that are also for sale.           

Food & drinks: Bakery treats include donuts (B50) and the newly added warm vanilla & cranberry muffin paired in set with choices of hot or cold dink (B125 for hot/B135 for cold drink), while the sweet-toothed can also order vanilla ice-cream (B30) or affagato (vanila ice cream topped with coffee, B85). Hot espresso starts from B55, iced from B65 and frappes from B75. Hot latte and cappuccino are B60. The food menu sticks to home-cooked dishes like fried mushroom (B45), fried chicken drumstick (B35), spicy soup with pork ribs (B75) and tom yum kung (B85). Single dishes include choices of fried rice with chicken (B75) and omelets with mince pork with rice (B55).

The classes: For starters, there’s the one-day trial decoupage course from B1,500 with materials included. If you want to enhance your skills further, there are three levels of training consisting six classes each (B6,000 per level) held Tuesday-Saturday from 10am-3pm. Booking required. 

Why you’ll come back: With the festive season on the horizon, it’s not a bad idea to give your friends some nicely presented soap or decoupage products—or you could use them to decorate your own place. The owner says they will soon be selling kitchenware, too. Aside from that, the café is a pretty chill place to while away a couple of hours with coffee and laptop while enjoying a cheap, simple bite.