In Singapore, one of our favourite past times is to hang out or stopover at an eatery selling kaya toast, coffee / tea and whatnots.
I have a pet peeve over a particular such eatery of late. It is Toast Box. They are sprouting everywhere in shopping malls. Ugh. The Ya Kun Kaya Toast at Hougang Mall was recently replaced by Toast Box. Maybe it’s just me but I don’t understand why so many folks are still camping at their outlets. To be fair, their coffee and tea are decent. But I have also tried their curry, mee rebus, laksa, kaya toast, thick toast with floss, nasi lemak, etc. and didn’t like any of them. The new Hougang Mall outlet couldn’t even get their soft boiled eggs right when I was there – I was served with rather raw eggs – argh.
On the contrary, I prefer Ya Kun’s fare. Their kaya-butter toast is delectable and goes down well with a cup of thick coffee. Check out their soft boiled eggs. They are perfect and beautiful. The whole egg slides out elegantly as one entity onto the saucer after cracking it open. Don’t you underestimate the finesse that goes into preparing such a simple dish. It’s awesome. :D
Besides Ya Kun, Qiji is another favourite. We only discovered this neat little coffee place very recently. I tried almost everything on their menu and should conclude that they don’t disappoint. Their beverages are good with delicious local dishes such as mee rebus, mee siam, laksa and nasi lemak. I noticed that Qiji is popular with our Malay folks too. Yang and Hannah love their yam cakes drizzled with sweet sauce and never fail to order a plate whenever we have our breakfast hangout there. :)
Go, Ka Yun!
Go, Qiji!
Shoo, Toast Box. Hee hee :)
p.s. Just my 2 cents’ worth. Chill if you’re a Toast Box fan k? :)
I was sad to see the Ya Kun in the basement level of Hougang Mall go away, and I too have to question why we need another Toast Box in the area.
Any other toast in the world and the very idea would turn my stomach, but for whatever reason I enjoy dipping the kaya toast into the coffee at Ya Kun. I’m not so sure about their ice cream toast, though. Maybe next time. :)
Ling probably will faint when she hears this; but a new Toast Box outlet is opening at my institution tomorrow.=)
Dear, I knew it already. :( That’s terrible!
Oh my, that yam cake looks delicious! I can’t believe I missed that this time.
That steamed yam cake is common fare here, Matt. It falls under the same category as zui kueh (steamed rice cakes with preserved raddish toppings) that is often sold as a breakfast item at hawker centres. Do you still remember that zui kueh you ate at the Bedok hawker centre?
Oh yes, definitely. (Now I only regret not eating it every day!) Wasn’t there a particular type or brand of yam cake that Yang ate semi-regularly a couple years back?
I thought i was the only person that felt the same way as Ling! Great to know that i’m not alone. :-) Very dismay when i saw the reno going on at first and total disappointment when it turned out that yakun was never gonna come back and to be toast box. Argh :’-(
Hi Candy, nice to know that I’m not alone in this too :D Hee hee.