When in Rome, be a Roman; when in Singapore, have a Singapore breakfast!

Forget Starbucks, local is definitely the way to go; the question is—which Singapore breakfast??!

You see, there is no one Singapore breakfast. The breakfast here is as different as its people. A light but energizing (and surprisingly not boring) meal of toast, coffee, and eggs for the Chinese; a hearty meal of rice, eggs, sambal, and fish or chicken for the Malays; and pratas, dosas, lassis, and other exotic-sounding food for the Indians. For the Eurasians? I guess that depends on which part of Asia and Europe the parents came from!

With all the different and uncommon choices available, breakfast in Singapore can be an event in itself to guests of the island. To get you started in the right direction, this article lists the more popular breakfast choices in Singapore.


Kaya toast set
A great fave of mine. It's not your usual set of toast, egg, and coffee. For starters, you get kaya--a delicious concoction of coconut milk, eggs, and sugar--instead of the usual berries as jam. Layer that with butter and voila! You might just go to health-hell for eating something so sinful! But, hey, you're on vacation, you'll walk it off.

Anyway, leave the guilt for a second because I'm sure that by the time you've said "kaya toast, please" the person tending the shop would have gotten back with "kopi? kopi?" That was pronounced correct alright. Kopitiams¹ have kopi not coffee. Actually, you'll find out that kopitiams have a whole other lingo going on in the coffee department. Order a kopi and you'll get a strong black coffee with a layer of sweet condensed milk at the bottom. It's really good stuff² but be careful when mixing the milk with your coffee, it can get too sweet sometimes. What if you don't want the milk? Then ask for kopi-o, which is coffee without milk and with sugar only. Kopi-c will get you coffee with evaporated milk while kopi-peng will get you iced kopi. There's a longer list to this lingo but kopi, kopi-o, kopi-c, and kopi-peng, should give you a good start.

Things get even more interesting with the eggs. Order boiled eggs and you'll get a big plastic cup covered by a saucer. You'll also get a set of soy sauce and pepper. Yup, that surprised me the first time. Thank god you have this blog, you can act cool and eat the eggs like a pro. Click here to learn how to eat soft-boiled eggs the Singapore way.


Nasi lemak
Another fave! I loooove the flavor that those peanuts bring to the meal. The creaminess of the rice and the saltiness and crunchiness of the peanuts are just brilliant together! But I'm getting ahead of my self.. Nasi Lemak literally means "rice in cream." So named because the rice is soaked and cooked in coconut milk, a method that makes rice more interesting than usual but manages to maintain the rice's low profile role in a meal. So what's exactly in a Nasi Lemak meal? Usually wrapped in banana leaves, buying Nasi Lemak is really just like buying a box of chocolates--you'll never know what you'll get. There are a couple of Nasi Lemak essentials though--rice (of course), ikan bilis (anchovies or dilis to Filipinos), eggs (boiled, fried, scrambled), sambal (a spicy sweet sauce that gives that extra oomph to the meal), fried peanuts, and a few pieces of cucumber so you can report home that you've taken your veggies for the day. If you're a meat lover, add fried chicken or beef rendang or whatever it is that strikes you at the seller's stall.

Did you know? Sambal is to Malays what bagoong is to Filipinos.

Roti Pratas
It took a while for me to remember the names of Indian dishes and associate the name with the dish. And although I love Indian food, I'm struggling with it even now. But one dish that I took an instant liking in and remembered right away is the roti prata. Roti prata is a popular breakfast choice in Singapore. It is best eaten straight from the grill and dipped in curry sauce. Some put butter and sprinkle the prata with sugar like you would an american pancake. A true blue Indian will probably have lassi with their roti prata. Lassi is a drink made from yoghurt flavored with pepper and salt. It's a bit different from what most are probably used to but should be tried at least once. A popular flavor is the mango lassi and pineapple lassi.

Related Posts

• How to eat soft-boiled eggs the Singapore way

Footnotes

¹ I'm referring here to the local coffee and breakfast shops in general and not specifically to Kopitiam the brand.
² I have to warn you though that I'm no coffee connoisseur.