Kaya toast is a quintessential Singaporean breakfast that became my go-to snack before my mid-morning class during my first year here.
But then I moved on to Starbucks almond cake, Mr Bean Soy Bean Chocolate Pancake, and then to Appam.
In between, for about four years, there also was a full-on rice breakfast every day when I worked in the Katong neighbourhood – which promptly contributed to too many kilos of weight gain.
With all this, Kaya Toast had been pushed to the background.
But lately, once I put in my resignation letter and timed my impending departure from Singapore, I started indulging it. Every day this week, to be exact. Maybe I am being nostalgic about my Uni time or Singapore even as I will leave the next month.
Singapore Kaya Toast
So Singapore Kaya Toast, let’s break it down.
Kaya is in Serikaya, as in the coconut jam. This is the not-so-secret, widely loved, main ingredient that made Singapore Kaya Toast special.
If you have never eaten kaya toast before, start with just that, but the Singaporean way of eating it is with a half-boiled egg concoction (with optional soy sauce, pepper and or salt). You break a piece of the toast, dip into it and eat it. Also, it’s best to eat the soft-boiled egg quickly once it’s taken out of the boiling water, as I find it too egg-ey to eat it once it’s cold.
The thing is, it’s an acquired taste, especially to eat it the Singaporean way. Even I, who grew up with Amma feeding me a soft-boiled egg while gagging herself, took time to do the authentic dip-into-egg concoction way. For the longest time, I ate them separately.
Where To Eat Kaya Toast in Singapore?
Toast Box or Ya Kun Kaya Toast chains all over the island.
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