10 Delicious Breakfast Stories #Hawkerpedia

I get a craving once in a while for this traditional local breakfast of fried dough sticks and black coffee. Otherwise known as "you char kway" and "kopi o". Probably not the healthiest way to start my day but I am surrounded by octogenarians in this hawker centre who prove otherwise 😜 My absolute favourite place to indulge in this combo is at Bedok North Blk 216 hawker centre where you can find the "kopi" and "you char kway" stalls side-by-side.
Fellow Burpplers, the "Rui Xing Ka Fei Cha Shi" stall located at #01-42 is no ordinary "kopi" stall. Open from 3am to 10am everyday except for Mondays, it has a never-ending but fast-moving queue of thirsty customers who long for their strong and aromatic "kopi" (I think their most popular drink is the "kopi c"). The stall is run by middle-aged siblings and they have a really smooth operation. One of the main guys is a joy to watch as he has the slickest moves and practically gets jiggy with it while making each cup. The "you char kway" right next door is already tasty on its own. I have however, always preferred dipping it into my "kopi o" because that's the way my grandma used to have hers. #hawkerpedia

My childhood breakfast almost every Saturday, my dad will drove my bro and I to Chinatown Complex to eat the "shark fin" porridge. We love to add some of the bee hoon into the porridge. After a few stirs, the color of the porridge darkens, making the bee hoon looked like shark fin in the soup. The porridge is infused with dried bonito flakes and the fried bee hoon filled with wok hei. Thus my bro and me thought that this was how shark fin tasted like (of course, until we tried the real one)! Way better than any shark fin. 😋😋

We witnessed the power of inflation through this stall, their prices raised from 50CENTS to 1 dollar a bowl. Thankfully, it's taste remains the same. Last time they also sold fried hor fun, but now they only focus on fried bee hoon and porridge. Nothing fancy and very simple ingredients but I can't find any similar flavors in Singapore! #Hawkerpedia

My parents use to storm my room at 8am on weekends, rudely dragging me to the bathroom, just so we could hit Old Airport Road earlier - all for a bowl of this Blanco Court Kway Chap. Of course us being Singaporeans, we never stop at just one dish. The table would be packed full with loads of other bites: from fried carrot cake, rojak, to bowls of ice kachang and tau huay. The star however would always remain this kway chap. The aunty only used to speak in dialects, so us kiddies learnt the kway chap lingo just to enjoy this dish for breakfast. We'll fight over the braised intestines and pig's skin (much to any ang moh's horror) and all would be gone before you know it. But that was a long time ago. Before cafés were up, before we grew up. Today the aunty actually speaks English and Mandarin. Doesn't feel all that same. #hawkerpedia

My brother and I would often be the first two to wake up so as to catch our favourite cartoons on TV. (now we are the last to wake up 😂) All of us would then go to the nearest hawker centre in the neighbourhood to have our usual breakfast.
Breakfast would be a simple affair, my mum and dad usual order of Kopi-O while me and my brother would definitely be Milo-Bing! Most of the time, given our small appetite, my mum would order 2 soft boiled eggs for us. The soft boiled egg would come without the shells. It would be a normal routine for us to add the dark soya sauce and pepper, and chop the egg yolks and whites up! My mum would nag at us if we add too much soya sauce. (AIYO TOO SALTY!) Me and my brother would then compete who would finish the eggs first as we shove the plates to our mouth and drink the eggs as if water. As memories fade, I don't remember who actually won. But it's these small memories that you remember and not really the results. #hawkerpedia

Loud claps. That was how my dad used to wake my brothers and I every Sunday morning from our slumber, and the whole family would make our way down to Old Airport Rd. My brothers and I would find a table and play the silliest games, while the task of ordering was left to my food-loving dad who always knew where all the best food was. The first thing he would do before going on a mad rush to order all our favourites—Lor Mee, Rojak, Wanton Mee, Curry Rice—was to secure two plates of Hokkien Mee which would always be met with the uncle's casual remark "wait 30 minutes ". Nonetheless, it was always worth it. I love everything about this hokkien mee — it has the right amount of bee hoon, is just a little drier than others, and the accompanying bright red cut chilli. As I greedily gobbled down the noodles, definitely more than my "allocated" portion, all I could think of was—loud claps. #Hawkerpedia

As simple as it is, this store has served me my favorite Pork Porridge ever since I knew about it. It has brought me through early Sunday morning breakfasts with the worship team & helped to warm up our bellies before we serve in church. Each mouthful of pork porridge warms not only your belly, but your heart as well! You can really taste the effort that the uncles put in! For those who loves Yu Sheng (aka Raw Fish with sesame sauce, black pepper, spring onions & fried shallots), you'd definitely love the one they serve. As for the non-adventurous kind (like me), pork porridge would suffice!
#Hawkerpedia #Burpple

My favourite BCM since young. I have been eating from this stall since I was young. It was always breakfast for the weekends! I rmb how my dad will bring me to the stall every weekend to queue for this. The stall has been passed down to the 3rd generation and surprisingly the taste has maintained. Fond memories of where I used to stay. This is to say, West side does have nice food!! This is the type which has no meatballs at all. It's super good when you add lots of black vinegar, and I love how sweet the soup is! One word: SHIOK 👍 even though I'm no longer staying in that area, I still travel back frequently for a good dose of BCM! 👍👌#Hawkerpedia #oldschool #eatingthisfor19years

My usual and favourite weekend breakfast with my family is a plate of Black Chai Tow Kway (Fried Radish Cake). Opened from morning to afternoon (or till sold out), the unassuming Chai Tow Kway stall in Block 442 Coffee shop has a steady group of regulars despite the short operating hours. At $2.50 (minimum) a packet, they are usually sold out by the late afternoon so if we are there we will order 2 big plates (one of them with chilli) to share and pork porridge from another stall for a hearty weekend brunch. We would always order the black version as the addition of the black sweet sauce is simply irresistible. You would notice that their version does not have chai poh but even without the chai poh nothing beats the fragrance of garlic and the lovely wok aroma~
(Unfortunately hearing from my father the uncle behind the wok is retiring but his apprentice hopefully can fry up a storm and retain the flavours.)
#hawkerpedia

Whenever I'm at Tiong Bahru Market, this store is one that I will patronize, even when the queue snakes all the way to the center of the market. Why, you would say? Apart from being consistently good (& I really mean consistently for the past 10 over years), I enjoy how the auntie will slab on generous portions of caipo (pickled veg) & chilli! Most stores are pretty stingy with the caipo, but the ones from Jian Bo seemingly know that all of us love caipo & will give it to us "freely". Sad to say, making chwee kueh has become an old person kinda thing. You don't really see young hawkers selling chwee kueh! Hopefully this doesn't become a lost trade.
#Burpple #Hawkerpedia

[Keong Siak] We are all living in such a high-paced society that makes us neglect all the simple things in life. From time to time, we should take a well deserved break, sip some kopi, have some toast and just watch the world goes by. One such place that I will recommend is the iconic Tong Ah Eating House that serves some pretty darn good quintessential coffee and toast, or you can call it the Chinese "brunch" to make it sound cooler. The art of making coffee though the sock and scrapping off the burnt bits from the toast using the sharp edges of a milk can top dates back to many years and this practice is still being applied today at Tong Ah. No need for any eggs benedict, waffles or pancakes, you just need to order a set of crispy thin toast kaya or fresh toast with kaya, soft boiled eggs and a cup of kopi. After which, sit by the roadside table and appreciate the simple things that mean something. #hawkerpedia