From the legendary Chin Mee Chin Confectionery, to the iconic Heap Seng Leong and Tong Ah Eating House, and the under-the-radar Toast Hut and Sin Hoe Huat Cafe, here are 16 Kaya Toasts places in Singapore where you can get the best traditional Singapore-style breakfast of Kaya Toasts and local Kopi.
Nothing beats a good ol’ slice of traditional kaya butter toast and a cup of coffee for breakfast. For the uninitiated, kaya is a custard essentially derived from a mix of pandan, coconut milk, eggs and sugar to give it a creamy texture.
Toast Hut at Old Airport Road Food Centre is a stall you should make a point to travel to. Melvin Soh, the owner of Toast Hut, has been perfecting his craft of making the best kaya toast and traditional kopi since he was 23 years old.
Situated in Vanguard Campus, the newest addition to the café enclave in Kallang is Banchong Café. Contrary to its mod decor which screams hipster café food, Banchong Café serves up local fare and the classic Singaporean breakfast of kopi and toast.
Going for an al fresco concept, the café was incredibly aesthetically-pleasing—white cages for walls, with plants adorning them, high ceilings and minimalist decor—definitely instagrammable according to our books.
With such aesthetics, you wouldn’t expect it to have a name like Banchong Café. But the origins of the name can be found on the stone plague, bearing Banchong Industries on the wall right at the entrance. The previous occupants of the building, Banchong Industries was a corrugated cardboard box manufacturer. And as a tribute to them, the café has named themselves after them. READ ON
Although kopi gu you is a dying tradition, Heap Seng Leong is one of the surviving coffee shops in Singapore that still sells this old-school drink. Entering their humble space is often described as walking into a museum showcase of a 1950s kopitiam. We settled in to the throwback of a place for breakfast with kaya toast, eggs, and kopi gu you.
Everyone knows the iconic Singaporean kaya toast breakfast but have you tried it with a cup of traditional kopi that is served with a stick of butter in it? That, or steaming tea with condensed milk and a slab of yellow butter.
Kopi served with butter in it is called kopi gu you and literally translates to “coffee butter” in the Hokkien dialect. It is said to have been first found in Hainanese coffee shops in Singapore back in the 1930s. Today, instead of adding butter to coffee, coffee beans are usually first roasted in butter or margarine to achieve the same effect.