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Kaya toast, runny eggs and thick kopi before the first panel.
Singapore does breakfast at marble tables under ceiling fans: charcoal-toasted kaya bread, soft eggs and kopi pulled thick and sweet. Then nasi lemak, prata, porridge, lor mee, chwee kueh and dim sum. Many stalls start before sunrise and sell out by noon, so set an alarm.
Order: Kaya toast set with soft-boiled eggs
Telok Ayer · $ · MRT Telok Ayer (DT18)
Hours unknown, check before you go
The Far East Square shop of the kaya toast name that went global. Crisp thin toast, slab of butter, wobbly eggs, kopi.
Ask for the set with kopi. Season the eggs with dark soy and white pepper, then dunk. Five minutes' walk from Telok Ayer MRT.
Order: Kaya toast on a round bun, cream horn
Katong · $ · MRT Marine Parade (TE26)
Hours unknown, check before you go
Mosaic tiles, marble tables and buns crisped over charcoal. The kaya comes sandwiched in a toasted round bun, not sliced bread.
Weekday mornings are calm; weekends bring a queue. Take a cream horn or a slice of sugee cake for the road.
Order: Plain and egg prata with fish curry
Joo Chiat · $ · MRT Marine Parade (TE26)
Hours unknown, check before you go
A husband-and-wife team spinning prata to order in an old Joo Chiat coffee shop. Flaky outside, chewy inside.
A morning-only stall that sells out. Order one kosong, one egg, and ask for the fish curry. Pair it with kopi from the shop counter.
Order: Soy milk, you tiao and salty beancurd
Geylang · $ · MRT Aljunied (EW9)
Tue–Sun 24 hours; closed Mon
Fried dough sticks, hot soy milk and savoury beancurd in a no-frills Geylang shop. Breakfast at 7am or at 3am, same menu.
Get the salty soy milk with you tiao torn into it. Open round the clock except Mondays, so it works for breakfast and after a party.
Order: Chwee kueh with chye poh
Tiong Bahru · $ · MRT Tiong Bahru (EW17)
Hours unknown, check before you go
Soft steamed rice cakes under a heap of oily, sweet-salty preserved radish. A Tiong Bahru Market breakfast since 1958.
Upstairs at the market, stall 02-05. Order five pieces each. Come before 9am, then walk the Art Deco blocks to digest.
Order: Fried carrot cake
Toa Payoh · $ · MRT Braddell (NS18)
Hours unknown, check before you go
Radish cake fried in small batches so one side turns crunchy and the other stays soft. Worth the trip to Toa Payoh.
A mornings-only stall upstairs at 02-30, with days off early in the week. Ask for chilli. Combine with a walk round Toa Payoh Town Park.
Order: French toast with kaya, kopi
Orchard · $ · MRT Somerset (NS23)
Hours unknown, check before you go
The shop where the Killiney name started, a short walk off Orchard Road. Thick toast, strong kopi and curry chicken if you're hungry.
Order the French toast with kaya and a kopi. This is the original; the other outlets carry the name. Easy from Orchard hotels.
Order: Crispy thin kaya toast, kopi
Keong Saik · $ · MRT Outram Park (EW16/NE3/TE17)
Hours unknown, check before you go
An old Hainanese kopitiam on a street now full of cocktail bars. The thin toast shatters; the steamed bread is pillowy.
Get the crispy thin kaya toast, not the thick one, plus soft eggs. A short walk from Maxwell Food Centre and Outram Park MRT.
Order: Kopi gu you (butter coffee), kaya toast
Lavender · $ · MRT Lavender (EW11)
Hours unknown, check before you go
Wooden chairs, tin canisters and toast grilled over charcoal. The one to order is kopi with butter melting into it.
Ask for kopi gu you and stir until the butter melts in. An early-morning shop, so go before 9am, and bring cash.
Order: Kaya toast bun, breakfast set
Beach Road · $ · MRT Bugis (EW12/DT14)
Hours unknown, check before you go
Retro but tidy, near the Raffles and Bugis hotels. Toast for breakfast, Hainanese pork chop or lemon chicken rice for lunch.
Get the breakfast set with the house-baked kaya bun. Come back another day for the Hainanese pork chop rice.
Order: Charcoal kaya toast, French toast
Telok Ayer · $ · MRT Tanjong Pagar (EW15)
Hours unknown, check before you go
A Hainanese coffee stall still toasting bread over glowing charcoal. The kopi is thick and the queue is all office regulars.
Upstairs, stall 02-95. Order the French toast with kaya. It opens before the sun; come before 8:30 to skip the office rush.
Order: Earl Grey creme toast, kopi
Telok Ayer · $ · MRT Tanjong Pagar (EW15)
Hours unknown, check before you go
A family coffee stall that kept the kopi strong and got playful with the toast spreads. Same floor as the charcoal-toast old guard.
Upstairs, stall 02-78, weekdays only. Try the Earl Grey creme toast next to a classic kaya one and pick a winner.
Order: Sliced fish soup or fish porridge
Telok Ayer · $ · MRT Tanjong Pagar (EW15)
Hours unknown, check before you go
Thick slices of fresh fish in a light, clean broth, or stirred into porridge. Gentle on a stomach that partied last night.
Upstairs, stall 02-100. It opens late morning, so make it brunch and arrive at opening to beat the lunch crowd. Closed Thursdays.
Order: Fish and century egg porridge
Chinatown · $ · MRT Maxwell (TE18)
Hours unknown, check before you go
Rice cooked down to a smooth, savoury chok with raw fish slices that poach in the bowl. Maxwell's best early start.
Add a you tiao and a raw egg. Open only a few days a week (Eatbook lists Wed and Fri to Sun); sells out by early afternoon.
Order: Lor mee with fried shark nuggets
Tiong Bahru · $ · MRT Tiong Bahru (EW17)
Hours unknown, check before you go
Flat yellow noodles drowned in a thick, starchy braising gravy, finished with vinegar, garlic and fried fish nuggets.
Upstairs, stall 02-23, mornings only and closed Wednesdays. Add the fried shark and a spoon of black vinegar. Messy; skip the white shirt.
Order: Prawn or char siew cheong fun
Tiong Bahru · $ · MRT Tiong Bahru (EW17)
Hours unknown, check before you go
Silky rice sheets rolled around prawns or char siew, then drowned in sweet soy. Some come in pink dragon-fruit dough.
Upstairs, stall 02-32, from early morning. Do a Tiong Bahru Market crawl: chwee kueh at 02-05, lor mee at 02-23, rolls here.
Order: Nasi lemak with chicken wing and otah
Bukit Timah · $ · MRT Botanic Gardens (CC19/DT9)
Hours unknown, check before you go
Coconut rice made with long-grain basmati, a crisp chicken wing, otah, egg and a sweet-hot sambal. The Adam Road classic.
Stall 01-02, next to Botanic Gardens MRT. Get the set with otah and a fried egg. Pair it with an early walk in the Gardens.
Order: Coin prata, egg prata with curry
Sin Ming · $ · MRT Upper Thomson (TE8)
Hours unknown, check before you go
Crisp, buttery prata flipped by hand in a heartland coffee shop. The small coin prata are thicker and fluffier.
Order one coin prata and one egg, with fish curry. Weekend mornings bring a queue. On the Thomson-East Coast line from Marina Bay.
Order: Baked char siew pastry, egg tarts
Chinatown · $$ · MRT Chinatown (NE4/DT19)
Hours unknown, check before you go
A big, slightly faded banquet hall above a housing block, serving dim sum the way it was done decades ago. Very Hong Kong film set.
Take the lift to level 7. Weekends start earliest and fill fast with families. Order the baked char siew pastry and sugar cane prawn.
Order: Mee rebus, lontong
Changi Village · $ · MRT Tanah Merah (EW4), then bus 2
Hours unknown, check before you go
A Malay breakfast stall with a long history: thick, sweet-spiced mee rebus gravy and lontong rice cakes in coconut curry.
Changi Village is a short taxi ride from the airport. Come before a flight or the Pulau Ubin bumboat. Squeeze the lime into the mee rebus.
Order: Putu mayam, appam
Ghim Moh · $ · MRT Buona Vista (EW21/CC22)
Hours unknown, check before you go
Steamed string-hopper nests with grated coconut and orange sugar, lacy appam and thosai. A sweet, light start.
Mornings only, closed Mondays. Same centre as Ghim Moh Chwee Kueh (01-54), so do both. Order putu mayam with extra coconut.
Order: Tau kwa pau
Katong · $ · MRT Marine Parade (TE26)
Hours unknown, check before you go
Fried tofu pockets stuffed with fishcake, egg and yam: a Teochew breakfast snack that is getting hard to find anywhere else.
Closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Dunman Food Centre is a short walk from Joo Chiat, so carry on for kueh or prata after.
Unofficial · not affiliated with TOKEN2049. Hours and prices change; check before you go.