Singapore Hainanese eatery Prince Coffee House to close in mid-2026
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Prince Coffee House owner Jimmy Lim plans to retire around June or July.
ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
SINGAPORE – For nearly 50 years, Prince Coffee House in Beach Road has been a bastion of tradition, slinging out plates of Hainanese pork chop in a faithfully old-school setting.
But owner Jimmy Lim, who is in his late 80s and has been manning the front of house for five decades, is finally calling time on his years of service.
He told The Straits Times that he plans to shut the eatery in the middle of 2026, around the time its lease expires in July.
“It’s time to retire,” he says, adding that he has grown too old for the 12-hour days his job demands. His children have no interest in taking over the business.
“They have office jobs that pay well. Why would they want to work here for a couple of thousand dollars each month?”
The Prince Coffee House has been at its Beach Road location for nearly 15 years.
ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
The coffee house opened in Shaw Towers in the mid-1970s, named for the now-defunct Prince Cinema, once located in the same building. Its ties to the glitz and glamour of the silver screen are still memorialised on its walls, adorned by photos of celebrities like Taiwanese actress Lin Ching-hsia, who dined at Prince in its heyday.
After 13 years, it moved to Coronation Plaza in Bukit Timah, staying there for 21 years. It then relocated to its present location, where it has remained for nearly 15 years.
According to Mr Lim, the ageing royal is still capable of commanding decent crowds. When ST visited on a Thursday afternoon, the restaurant was two-thirds full.
“Even during the F1 period, some of the tourists make it a point to visit every year,” he says of Prince Coffee House.
Grilled pork chop from Prince Coffee House, served on 50-year-old plates.
ST PHOTO: CHERIE LOK
Prices have risen in tandem with the cost of living over the years – the menu has become a palimpsest of these shifting pressures, with new prices scrawled in pen and taped over the old – but the dishes have not changed. Old favourites like oxtail stew ($34+) and beef hor fun ($10+) still reign supreme.
The plates, too, are a relic of the 1970s. “They’re 50 years old – older than many of my guests,” he quips.
When asked what he plans to do after retiring, Mr Lim says: “I suppose I’ll continue cooking. But at home, and whatever my wife needs me to do.”
