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WINE&DINE
208
July14
How it’s made
In traditional style, the beans are wok-
roasted with sugar, margarine and
sometimes pineapple skin and maize,
to a dark black brown, then ground and
brewed with a sock-like cotton strainer
in watering can-sized pots.
Both
Killiney Kopitiam
and
Yakun
Toast
were started by Hainanese
immigrants; Killiney’s roots go back to
the Killiney Road shop established in
1919, and Yakun’s to 1926. According
to Killiney, its coffee is made from a
blend of Columbian Arabica coffee
beans and Indonesian Robusta coffee
beans “to create an alluring aroma and
mesmerising taste”.
We watched them make a
kopi-C
at
Yakun Toast in Parkway Parade. After
HOW TO ORDER
By default, a coffee or
kopi
(kaw-
pee)
comes with condensed milk
and sugar at the bottom of the
cup. Or you can ask for:
Kopi-C
: coffee with unsweetened
evaporated milk (the C is for
Carnation); but they’ll still add
sugar
Kopi-kah-C
: extra sweet, with
both condensed milk and
evaporated milk
Kopi-o
: black, with sugar
Kopi-kosong
: black, without
sugar
Kopi peng
: sweet white coffee
with ice
Kopi-o peng
: sweet black
coffee with ice
Kopi-o-kosong peng
:
unsweetened black coffee
with ice
To really sound like a local,
order:
Kopi sua
– two regular coffees
Going Local
Craving a strong hit of caffeine in a toe-curling brew? A
cup of local coffee at one of Singapore’s more than 3,000
kopitiams (coffee shops) could set you back as little as 80
cents, says VERNEMAREE–especially if it’s inaheartlands
market or housing estate. At famous chains such as Killiney
Kopitiam and Yakun Toast, it starts from $1.50.
heating the cup by pouring hot water
into and over it, they put in evaporated
milk and sugar, pour in the coffee, top
it up with a little hot water and serve it
with a teaspoon on the side.
Wherever you go, thick white china
cups are mandatory, with or without
the traditional blue-and-white pattern.
If you ask for
tapau
(“takeaway” in
Hokkien), your coffee comes in a scarily
carcinogenic polystyrene cup, or, even
worse, a plastic bag.
What to eat
Standard breakfast fare is theHainanese-
Western
half-boiled eggs, kaya toast
and coffee
set. You’re supposed to
break your own very runny eggs into a
bowl and season them to taste with soya
sauce. Kaya is coconut jam made from
coconut, eggs and sugar.
At the original Killiney Kopitiam outlet
in Killiney Road, it’s mandatory for
your server to slop approximately one
quarter of your coffee into the saucer.
We also enjoy the heart-stopping
screech of orders being relayed from
serving to kitchen staff – preparing
the adrenals for the imminent jolt of
caffeine, perhaps.
We tend to prefer the kaya toast at
Yakun: light brown instead of soft white,
each slice of bread is toasted, then
split into two thin, crispy halves that
are sandwiched with a spread of kaya
and a couple of generous slabs of cold
butter. That said, we’ve had our best-ever
kopi and kaya toast at
Good Morning
Nanyang Café
at Chinatown Point.
And for an East Coast hangover, you
can’t beat the addictively spicy chicken
curry at Killiney Kopitiam in Siglap.
Along with a cup or two of whatever form
of
kopi
takes your fancy, it’s guaranteed
to set you to rights.