Breakfast | Ziggy

One can get all kinds of food items as breakfast here in Singapore. This category listed here refers more to the items usually serves only as breakfast, sometimes extending to lunch hours now for more business.

Mainly just boiled egg and toast with butter and/or/sans kaya (pandan and egg jam); and fried noodles with various fried items for selection, in a nutshell, comfort food. Chee cheong fun (ccf) or rice rolls are also common breakfast items but deserves its own category. Another category of breakfast food, the yam and pumpkin cae, would also be listed here, stalls that offer these usually offer other items like a bamboo cake (soon kueh), and ccf with sweet and chilli sauce too.

Breakfast Bee Hoon

Aug 2020

Operated by a very friendly and humorous guy who co-shares this stall. His stall name on the signboard is the bottom of 2 signboards, but it definitely has his handsome photo on it...

Not known for having a good variety (actually, I doubt he is known at all…) he not only sells fried bee hoon, but also offers chee cheong fun and yam cake. The chee cheong fun here is decent, but what stands out is the yummi chilli, for the fried bee hoon. He makes his own chilli sauce, and the sauces for the chee cheong fun and yam cakes.

The sweet sauce here is the closest to the Penang variety I can find in Singapore; I doubt it can still be termed the “sweet” sauce. It is high on prawn paste taste (hence the Penang reference) and mildly sweet, thick and nice for those who like it this way, ie not me….

The fried bee hoon itself is slightly unusual, it seems like this guy is slightly stingy and doen’t use enough black sauce to cook the bee hoon, as it is half white, half brown. This was actually what first attracted me to this place. The items on offer to go with the bee hoon is pretty ordinary stuff and limited but I love his sotong fillet. The sunny side up fried eggs here are excellent, if you like your egg with a runny yoke, there is plenty. Even if there is none when you order, Boss Handsome would immediately cook you one!

Back to the chilli, it is quite spicy, with lots of anchovies amongst the chilli! It has the right amount of spiciness to excite, has the softened anchovies amongst it to add bite, and is very tasty and fragrant. I always ask for more chilli and he would happily give me enough to feed a village! Funny fellow….

Do give this place a try, if only for the sauces and chilli, definitely my favourite chilli!

Hong Yun Cuisine

50A Marine Terrace

#01-293, s441050

Daily 5am – 9am

HSL

Breakfast，Coffee

Nov 2020

Famous for being a place that sells butter…. LOL… I jest. This is a popular place for a breakfast, attractions are their butter coffee (or tea, or milo, as I tried); and their charcoal grilled toasts, with some kaya, and a whole lot of… butter.

The environment of this place brings you back to the 70’s, they haven’t changed much since then. The signboard hanging on the beam in front of the shop is an old school wooden board. A relic orange coin phone, ubiquity of the 80's, sits proudly at the counter, wonder if it still works. The clock on the wall reminds me of my grandmother’s house. Undoubtedly nostalgic.

As I was walking towards the shop, a whiff of fresh toasts came towards me, looked up and saw the wooden signboard. Came in at 940am and stayed in Q for 30 mins, during which time, I couldn’t resist buying a curry puff from the Muslim stall occupying the front, more on this later….

Not a coffee drinker, I wondered how I could have a photo of their famed product, thankfully, the guy in front of me ordered a pair and it was placed on the serving table for quite a while, I happily whipped out my phone…. Thank you Good Sir.

Asked them if they serve tea or milo with butter, yes. Couldn’t decide on which so I ordered both…. With the standard toasts, and a pair of boiled eggs. It really wasn’t too much, I was kind of thirsty. Fortunate to have an empty table, I brought first my drinks to it, then the eggs, but had to wait while they prepared my toasts. Unfortunately, the butter had melted from my drinks when I came back, at least I can show you what it’s like if you don’t stir your drinks and let the butter melt!

My butter tea and milo - left, when serve; right, melted before stirring

Butter coffee

The eggs were nice boiled with runny yokes, yum! The toasts were nicely charcoal grilled, but a little on the soft side. Very buttery as there was a big chunk of butter in each segment. It was a decent treat.

The drinks were actually pretty normal but you do feel the butter, especially inside your tummy. The butter taste was lost in the milo which was essentially sweet by itself, but the sweetness seemed to be magnified as an after taste; the tea felt diluted by the butter in terms of texture but taste wise, it was strong, kind of a different feel of downing strong yet diluted tea. It’s probably the same with the coffee. Allowing you to have a strong purer taste of the drink. It is 5pm now and I still feel the butter in my tummy…. Burp!

All in all, I’d say:

10/10 for nostalgic photos

9/10 for the eggs

7/10 for the toasts

7/10 for the drinks

20/10 for bringing back memories, and filling your tummy for the entire day!

Heap Seng Leong

10 North Bridge Road, #01-5109, s190010

Daily 5am – 6pm

I Don’t Know Stall (There by the Grace of God)

10 North Bridge Road, #01-5109, s190010

Daily 8am – 2pm

Now, the curry puff stall without a name… should we call it No Signboard? Very original! Right? Wait, oh.. Jokes aside, their signboard pays homage to God, this is humbling and deserving of respect, understand it says "By the Grace of God".

I did ask for the name of the stall and there was a smile, a laugh and an “I don’t know”. Well, "I Don’t Know" sells the basic nasi lemak and curry puffs, loads of it! They were preparing loads of it for the day, they open from about 8am til sold out, which is around 1-2pm.

The nasi lemak is the basic one wrapped in paper, with just ikan bilis, cucumber, a small piece of omelette and sambal chilli.

The curry puffs, undoubtedly their main item, is the epok epok type with thin crispy skin and a whole lot of curry and potatoes in it, nothing else. The skin is nice and crunchy, and the filling tasty. I had the great pleasure of eating a fresh one and it is one of the best epok curry puffs. $1 each, it is a good size, bigger than my trusty old iphone 7 but not too big to be a turn off. It is well worth a try and I now know I can get a good epok curry puff at "I Don’t Know"! There by the grace of God to give you a great puff!

*now the Manic’s “There By the Grace of God” will play in my head for the next 3 days… I’m sure of it!

There By The Grace of God - Manic Street Preachers

Jin Ji

Local breakfast cakes

July 2021

I’m never sure if this stall is open, it is always a little dark, like it is not in operation, only the sign board is lit but the stall is dim, so it is easy to miss it too. They serve yam and pumpkin cakes, soon kueh (or bamboo wrap) and chee cheong fun (ccf, a rice flour roll). Yam cake being their star.

Everything here is home-made, except for the chee cheong fun, which was what I initially came for. A little odd not to try their home made stuff and went only for a product not made by them, so I adjusted. I had tried their pumpkin cake before though, a friend who got here first bought that for me, without the ccf, friend who doesn’t know my taste…. Tsk tsk…. But I was impressed wouldn’t have known of its existence if not for him, despite coming here frequently.

This time, I was asked if I wanted some yam cake to go with the ccf, why not…. Aunty gave me more yam cake than ccf! Arrghh! Turned out she knew what she was doing… the yam cake here is brilliant, and not so the ccf.

First, the ccf had bits that were a bit hard, like a book with worn out edges, this ccf had hardened edges. It could be a one off, and she would say she is not here to sell ccf but the yam and pumpkin cake!

The yam cake was well… yammy! Full of yam's tasty goodness plus a whole lot of dried shrimp happiness. The yam flavour is full bodied, and supplanted by their generous portions of dried shrimps within to give a fantastic taste dance performing for your palettes.

The pumpkin cake, like the yam cake, was full of pumpkin flavour, nice, sweet and thick in pumpkin taste. The soon kueh was also nicely packed with turnip and bamboo slices that’s wonderfully crunchy, with skin that was chewy.

The yam cake

The pumpkin cake

The sweet sauce was tasty and sufficient. Yam cakes here don’t need much sweet sauce coz they are flavourful in itself. Usually yam cakes are supplemented by shallots and spring onions, and maybe more dried shrimps on top, this one barely needed those supplements.

Come here for the yam, and pumpkin cakes. I came to write about the ccf and went back writing about the yam cake, considering that I’m not a fan of yam cake, this should give you a hint…

Soon kueh

The everything

Jin Ji Mei Shi

1 Kadayanallur Street, #01-96 Maxwell Food Centre, s069184

Stall 96, 530am – noon, closed Fri

JieShen

Breakfast, fried bee hoon

Feb 2021

Quietly unassuming stall at the Old Airport Hawker Centre, it is relatively new, and actually does not offer much variety, just 7-8 dishes of fried stuff. Usually 2 vegetables like cabbage and beans, then the usual fried chicken wings, fish fillet, fish cake, fried doufu, luncheon meat, ngo hiang and egg.

Fragrant fresh tasting noodles and ingredients are very important for stalls like these and JS has it, the fried stuff are fresh and well done. The chicken wings are crispy and fresh tasting, so are the fish fillets, the luncheon meat interestingly cut into chunky quadrants so it is slightly different from others and one for those who love a chunky bite of it.

Ngo hiang was quite decent, but not exactly inspiring; considering that it was chunky and not the cheapest, I’d suggest opting for something else, unless you’re very hungry and a big fan like those alcoholics who’d say, any alcohol is good…

Recently, they have added fried chicken thigh as an option. Like the fried chicken, they are fresh and juicy, crispy skin with succulent meat. This is an option not available in most, if any, breakfast bee hoon stalls.

Besides fresh ingredients, the fried noodles here are quite exceptional too. There was a glistening shine to the fried bee hoon and mee… cannot resist. Freshly fried and dry and springy, it provides one of the better bee hoons around.

The chilli sauce provided is decent, this is one stall I had once, thought it was above average, and will return. And yes, I return, more than occasionally, and would recommend it too.

JS Econimic Bee Hoon

51 Old Airport Road, #01-38 Old Airport Road Food Centre and Shopping Mall, S390051

6am – 1pm, Closed on Tues

Tong Ah

Breakfast, Tze Char

Sep 2020

Traditional coffee shop with character, retaining the interior from the 70’s, this coffee shop serves the old school bread and butter, with a hint of kaya… ok, there is a good portion of kaya, but it just sounds good saying “with a hint of”….. (kaya, which means “rich” in Malay, is a coconut jam made from coconut, egg, sugar and pandan leave, where it gets the nice smell from, some do it without the pandan).

Bread is served in 4 ways, toasted in 3 ways - thick/thin sliced or French, and steamed… defined as sets A to D, all served with a drink and 2 half-boiled eggs. The basic breakfast combo.

Toast is nicely toasted…. Seated next to the toasting department, I saw that they toast their toast twice, the second toast after they’ve scrapped off the burnt part from the first toast. That’s why their toasts are crispy! The thin toast is of nice thickness (not too thick) and served with a thick piece of butter, and "a hint" of kaya…. Being from these parts of the world, the well known phrase should be changed to "bread and butter and kaya", so it’s always good comfort food, especially in the morning. Clink clink clink clink… A toast that deserves a toast!

The French toast, it looks good in photos…. Some may like it but I find that it doesn’t absorb the butter and kaya like a normal toast or a steamed bread would, so it takes away an edge; eating it on its own doesn’t seem right, maybe need to add some salt to taste but it’s not my cup of, well, toast….

Nice relaxing place for a cup of local coffee, brings you back in time to the days where coffee shops were just plain walls with a few F&N and Green Spot posters, with the odd Guiness and 555 ones splashed behind the counter (no, they were not there, just my imagination as I day dream while chucking a piece of toast into my mouth).

They serve some Chinese dishes too, when I was there at lunch time, only one table from the full house crowd ordered dishes, the rest were toast…. (pun intended, doesn’t really make sense but I think it’s funny, do you? I take eye rolling as acknowledgement of humour)

P.S. there is a prize if you correctly tell me the number of “toast” and its derivatives I have written for this article. Please send your entries to toastcountingcomp@ziggyboi.com/prank

Tong Ah Eating House

35 Keong Saik Road, s089142, 7am – 10pm (Tze Cha starts at 11am – 10pm) daily

https://www.facebook.com/TongAhEatingHouse/

DuoJi

Breakfast

Jul 2020

This is a pretty simple stall, sells chee cheong fun and yam cake. That’s all. And it is popular amongst the folks around here.

Chee cheong fun is soft and nice, very soft. The yam cake as well. The yam cake was cut pretty thin and when I tried to pick one up, it was so soft it broke in half.

Usually the make or break part of a stall like this is the sweet and chilli sauces. They are pretty decent here, good taste, pretty sweet and packs a punch taste wise, definitely one of the better producer of sweet sauce. Chilli is mild and is tastier than spicy.

Texture wise, it is an interesting yam cake, not sure if everyone likes it this way or the other. While taste wise, the sauces here definitely carry their products a little further.

Duo Ji

335 Smith Street, #02-216 Chinatown Complex Food Centre, s030335

7 – 10am, closed on Wed

Teck Hin

Chee Cheong Fun

Sep 2021

I love my chee cheong fun (CCF), and when I saw a long line for this, like lemmings to the cliff, I just joined the Q, no questions asked. A few months after writing this review, while chatting with a few other hawkers, this stall has curiously been mentioned as being one of the best around for CCF, accolades from peers is praise indeed!

First, I’m not sure why this place has the name in the plural when they sell only one product…. One trick pony, one hit wonder, emphasis on wonder! I later heard from some aunties that they sell porridge too but have yet to see anyone coming from that stall with anything else other than ccf.

Next, the serious. The ccf is not made at the stall, sauced based ccf seldom are. And this place sells nothing but ccf doused in sweet sauce, soy sauce, sesame seed, oil and chilli sauce. Your choice is simple:

Small or big;
Which of the 5 condiments you don’t want *suggestion: ask for less salt, or soy sauce

The CCf itself is nice and smooth, almost perfect, thickness just right, and packed in good thick rolls for each roll of ccf to give you a good bite and feel. Sauces are made in house. The sweet sauce is pretty regular, tends a little to the salty side. The uncle can be quite heavy handed with the soy sauce and sesame seeds, so it can turn out saltier than you wish, but quite fragrant and nice if you’re into the wonderful sesame seed!

The chilli sauce is spicy enough to start a bit of a sweat, and more than decent. It is less the smooth sauce type and would look comfortable in a char siew rice stall.

All in all, I’m very happy after eating this. And from the look of the Q and the people around, I’m not alone. Go for it! And when you order, my advice would be to ask for less soy sauce….

Look at the non stop pouring of soy sauce! Stoppppp! LOL....

Teck Hin Delicacies

20 Ghim Moh Road, #01-30 Ghim Moh Hawker & Market, s270020

630 – 12pm, closed Mon

Breakfast

Jun 2021

This stall has been around since before I started working, having grown up eating chee cheong fun almost daily, I have been eating here now and then for the lovely simple chee cheong fun with sweet and chilli sauce. Besides ccf, they offer yam cakes, pumpkin cakes and other local breakfast.

If you’re not sure where it is, just walk along the road and look for the corner stall with a Q… LOL. It always has a Q but the wait is not too long.

All the cakes and goodies are made by them, funny thing is, the item that I’ve been coming here for, ccf is not hand made. So this time, I tried also their pumpkin cake, which is nice and sweet and has a good chunky pumpkin taste!

LuanJie

The sweet sauce that goes with the ccf, or yam cake (pumpkin cake you don’t really need to add sweetness to it!) is deliciously “lacking”. I always ask for more, and despite their best efforts, there always seemed to be insufficient! Sweet and umami, it is definitely one of the better ones in Singapore!

Yam Cake

Pumpkin cake

Chee cheong fun

Luan Jie Mei Shi (Sister Luan’s Goodies)

7 Maxwell Road, #01-30, s069111

Daily 6am – 2pm