Killiney Kopitiam, Singapore

Killiney Kopitiam is serious. It's serious about it's coffee which is a blend of Columbian arabica beans and Indonesian robusta beans. It's also very serious about it's kaya jam, which is made daily in the store. Kaya is as synonymous with Singapore eating, as Killiney Kopitiam is synonymous with Kaya.



This humble little kopitiams beginnings back in 1919 were as a little shop serving well brewed coffee & tea, with charcoal grilled kaya toast. Then a gentlemen by the name of Mr Woon, a regular to the shop, loved it so much he bought it in 1993 and renamed it Killiney Kopitiam. We both start with a kaya and coffee.



The toast is nicely grilled, while still being soft on the inside. The light green kaya is full of coconut flavor and the sweetness being mellowed by the slices of cold butter. The eggs at Killiney are small, and extremely fresh. The eggs come out in their shell with a small bowl to crack them into. There's something quite satisfying of cracking these soft eggs into the bowl, the way they cascade from the shell, with their big, bright orange yolks. We have a little of the dark soy, and some white pepper on top. I like to dip my toast into the egg, then savor any remains with a small spoon (or just order more toast!).

The Killiney menu today has expanded, with a range of local delicacies. We also try the little Nasi Lemak parcels. We see a stream of these going out the door with take-away coffees, what an awesome fast-food breakfast. Little banana leaf parcels filled with aromatic steamed coconut rice, dried fishies and sambal.



We also try the chicken curry with French bread. This is an old breakfast classic, that Mr Woon is trying to revive. Chunks of bone-in chicken leg are simmered in a rich curry broth, with some potatoes adding a nice bit of body. There is then some crusty French bread on the side, which we just tear off and dip into the broth. Definitely not a light start to the day, but a damn fine start!



We finish off with a couple of iced-milo drinks. Light and frothy, over loads of ice. Seems to ease the tummy just nicely ...

Killiney Kopi Tiam
67 Killiney Road
Singapore 239525
T: 6734 9648


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Mamak, Sydney

Well back in the big smoke, well actually these days it kinda feels like the “not so big smoke”. More and more when I return to the places I used to live, I marvel at how big and sophisticated they felt; now I look around amazed at how little they’ve changed, or how much I have. Restaurants that used to dazzle now pale in comparison to street side stalls and markets, the bustle of a busy street is nothing after you’ve experienced Tokyo or New York at rush hour, most of all it makes me laugh at how big and important I thought my tiny little part of the world was.
But I digress; we were back in Sydney and looking for something tasty and soulful to begin what we hoped would be a fantastic gastronomic couple of weeks (little did we know). Had heard a rumour this little place down on the edge of Chinatown was supposed to be throwing down the real taste of Malaysia, and after 7 months in Japan we were in dire need of those sorts of flavours.
From what we had heard Mamak down on Goulburn street was small, casual and super authentic, sweet! We took a stroll down George St (haven’t missed that) and hit Mamak bang on opening. Just as well we did within minutes there was a good size queue standing at the door wishing they had arrived earlier.



We order a few things to share starting off with the rojak; a salad we first experienced in Singapore. It arrives piled high with a great mix of crispy tofu and prawn cake, fresh cucumber and pineapple as well as a boiled egg, usually the salad is covered in a spicy sour sweet sauce, in this case the sauce was pooled under the salad but the flavours were oh so there.



The next dish to arrive was Roti telur bawang, egg and onion sandwiched between two roti sheets served with two curry sauces and sambal, it’s really hard to describe how amazing the flavours were after so long without.



Then a nasi lemak, usually for breakfast, but it’s always breakfast somewhere right? The plate piled with rendang, sambal prawns, peanuts, cucumber, egg, crispy fish and balanced on the top of the coconut rice a fantastic fried chicken leg. We tried hard not to wolf it all down, but, well, y’know.



Now that we had decided we were full, but not so full we couldn’t manage half a dozen satay sticks. We ordered some up much to the dismay of those still standing in the doorway waiting. The sticks arrived a huge bowl of satay sauce balanced on the satays some cucumber and red onion.
First mouthful and it was instant transportation back to the streets of Jakarta (yes I know it's not Malaysia but thats where it took me), minus the traffic and street dogs but that’s all just atmosphere, smoky, spicy and with a touch of chilli and lemon grass. Oh so good.
When we finally rolled out past the green eyed monster stares of the masses, I was so happy that our former small world still had some big food.

Mamak
15 Goulburn St,
Haymarket, Sydney
Open 7 daysLunch: 1130am to 3pmDinner: 530pm to late