Source: Singapore Fishtail
Known as the national breakfast, kaya toast was recently listed as one of the "50 best sandwiches in the world" by a food website, attracting the attention of diners. Kaya toast originated in the early 20th century, and the key to deliciousness is the preparation of kaya, the choice of butter, and the baking of bread. Each shop has different practices, seeking common ground while reserving differences, and different flavors of kaya toast enrich this traditional Nanyang snack.
Zhen Mei Zhen's kaya toast with two soft-boiled eggs, topped with black coffee or milk tea, is a typical traditional breakfast for Singaporeans. (Photo by Chen Yuanzhuang)
A cup of fragrant Nanyang coffee, accompanied by a sweet but not greasy kaya toast and two half-boiled eggs, is the most familiar breakfast for Singaporeans.
Taste Atlas, an international food website, announced the "World's 50 Best Sandwiches" in mid-March this year, and Singapore's kaya toast ranked 42nd. The cancan toast with Nanyang characteristics is not only a national breakfast and afternoon tea item, but also a meal that many tourists like to taste.
The origin of kaya toast
The popularity of kaya toast is closely related to the Hainan people from China. At the beginning of the 20th century, Hainanese people who worked as cooks on British ships came to settle in Singapore, replacing traditional British jam with kaya to sell food, and bread is a common food in China and the West.
It is also said that the Hainanese came to Singapore because other jobs had long been occupied by immigrants from other origins, so they had to work as cooks or housekeepers in the homes of foreigners and Peranakans, from which they mastered the art of Nanyang cooking.
Jin Mei Jin's handmade kaya is made with patience and time. (Courtesy of the restaurant)
Famous for its kaya toast, Nanyang coffee and Western pastries, Katong's long-established Zhen Mei Zhen Coffee & Pastry is one of the oldest Hainan coffee shops in Hong Kong.
Opened in 1925, Zhen Mei Zhen Coffee & Cake Shop is the oldest Hainan coffee shop in Singapore. (Photo by Chen Yuanzhuang)
After closing its doors in 2018 and reopening in September 2021 after a two-and-a-half-year hiatus, Zhen Mei Zhen is now managed by Singaporean restaurant group Ebb & Flow. Chen Yifeng, regional manager of Zhen Mei Zhen Coffee and Pastry Shop, said in an interview that Zhen Mei Zhen first started in 1920 as a couple delivering home-made bread, and it was not until 1925 that a traditional coffee and tea room was opened, and in the 1940s, it was named "Zhen Mei Zhen".
Combines Hainan kaya and Peranakan kaya
Chen Yifeng pointed out that the general kaya sauce is divided into two versions: Hainanese style and Peranakan style. Hainanese kaya sauce is made with coconut sugar and has a darker color and strong flavor, while Peranakan-style kaya sauce is made with pandan leaves. The founder himself is a Hainanese, and there are many Baba and Eurasian people in the Katong area, and the founder uses egg yolk, pandan leaves, and Malacca coconut sugar in the development of kaya to make the kaya paste into a not very green, not very brown kaya, which is a combination of Hainan kaya and Nyonya kaya paste, which tastes with a fine-grained texture.
Zhen Mei Zhen freshly makes homemade kaya sauce every day, and the kaya made has a fine-grained texture. (Courtesy of the restaurant)
Chen Yifeng said: "Every morning, the master kneades the dough by hand, and the dough is kneaded, fermented and charcoal-grilled to make a fluffy round bread. "Buns have different shapes and textures. When baking, the round dough slowly expands, and it tastes soft and fluffy, with a little toughness, and it is charcoal-grilled to add to the aroma.
The signature bun of Zhen Mei Zhen Kaya Toast has a unique shape and is charcoal-grilled to add to the aroma. (Courtesy of the restaurant)
Zhen Mei Zhen has been using Irish butter for many years, and the freshly baked buns are still warm, and the bread is spread out on a plate when served to prevent the butter from melting when it is heated.
Zhen Mei Zhen's signature kaya sauce is a combination of Hainan kaya and Peranakan kaya sauce. (Courtesy of the restaurant)
In order to ensure the consistency of the production, Zhen Meizhen's self-requirements for kaya bread are: the bun should be hot and crispy enough, and the kaya should be fragrant and not too sweet. Chen Yifeng laughs: "We used to reduce the sugar of kaya because local diners don't like to eat food that is too sweet. ”
On weekends and holidays, there are many diners who come to Zhen Mei Zhen to enjoy Nanyang breakfast. (Photo by Chen Yuanzhuang)
On weekdays, she prepares more than 400 pieces of kaya toast ($2.40), and on weekends, there are 600 to 700 of them, and most of the customers are locals, especially those living in the east, who order kaya toast at almost every table. Tan Yifeng said: "Every Singaporean should have eaten kaya toast. I still remember when I was a child, my father took me to a coffee shop and taught me to eat bread with egg mixture. If a visitor orders kaya toast, we will also share with them how to enjoy a Nanyang breakfast. ”
▲ really beautiful Jane
地址：204 East Coast Rd S428903
You don't need much kaya flavor
One of the signature dishes is the traditional butter and kaya toast, which can be paired with bread of different thicknesses, such as traditional bread ($2.70), thick bread ($3), and whole-wheat bread ($3.50) for healthy diners. The boss is not soft on the ingredients, after coating the kaya sauce, the toast is sandwiched with thick-cut frozen butter, and the taste is layered when you bite into it.
The kaya toast of the Great South Seas can be served with different thicknesses of bread, including traditional bread or thick bread. (Courtesy of the restaurant)
Jiang Linfan, the founder of Nanyang, said in an interview: "Kaya toast is a very traditional Nanyang breakfast in Singapore for decades. From our grandparents, grandparents and grandmothers to our generation, it can be said that eating kaya toast for breakfast has long been engraved in the minds of every Singaporean. ”
For him, bread crispiness, butter quality, and kaya flavor are the keys to a great kaya toast. "A good kaya toast bread must be crispy and the butter quality must be good and rich. Our homemade kaya is very fragrant, and we are planning to launch bottled kaya, and there are already tourists who want to order it to take home. ”
Over the years, Jiang Linfan has made his experience in the research and development of kaya toast products, he said: "The taste of kaya toast should be good, the butter should be of good quality, the thickness should be sufficient, and the kaya does not need to be too complicated with a variety of flavors, and it is best to maintain the traditional taste." ”
The traditional butter kaya toast of the Great South Seas is made with homemade kaya paste, and the butter is thick enough. (Courtesy of the restaurant)
Internationally recognised as one of the "Top 50 Delicious Sandwiches in the World", Kong said: "As a caterer, what we can do now is to maintain the good taste of kaya toast as much as possible, so that more foreigners can taste Singapore's 'sandwiches'." ”
▲ Great South Sea
地址：5 Craig Road S089665 / 111 Somerset #01-09 S238164
Choose homemade sourdough bread
Equate Coffee's kaya toast is a modern twist on traditional kaya toast. Unlike the white bread used in traditional kaya toast, the kaya toast ($6.80) is made with homemade sourdough bread and homemade butter coconut kaya paste. When questioned, Feng Junqing, co-founder of Equate Coffee, pointed out that he and his team found that the kaya toast made from sourdough bread was more fragrant and crispy, and it also had a bit more bite of sourdough bread.
Equate Coffee's kaya toast is made on homemade sourdough bread with homemade butter coconut kaya sauce. (Photo by Ye Xiaohong)
"Eating kaya toast is a tradition for me that has been passed down to this day, and when my grandfather was still alive, I would enjoy it with him, and the elderly would always have a cup of coffee with them, while sharing how they were sold on the roadside in the early days," he said. Kaya toast is very popular among Chinese people and is part of the food culture of mainland China. Now that I'm in the restaurant business, I thought about adding a modern twist to traditional kaya toast. ”
The delicious kaya toast bread should be slightly charred, accompanied by fragrant kaya, which has a crispy butter aroma when you bite into it.
The kaya toast was selected as one of the "Top 50 Delicious Sandwiches in the World", and Feng Junqing was not surprised. "I think it should be ranked higher, foreigners love peanut jam sandwiches, and kaya toast is more Asian. ”
▲Equate Coffee
地址：1 Tanjong Pagar Plaza #02-25 S082001 / 181 Orchard Rd #01-17A Orchard Central S238896
Square sliced bread has a real taste
Go to the Zhengming Tea Room of Hong Lim Cooked Food Center to eat kaya toast, and the food is fragrant and humane. The stall claims that Tsinghua is a native of Fuzhou, and that Zhengming Teahouse was opened by his father in 1978, and in 1990 he took over the stall business, teaming up with his wife, Chen Guilan, to sell kaya toast and coffee. Having been selling kaya toast for more than 40 years, it has accumulated a large number of regular customers and fans, preparing an average of nearly 100 servings of kaya toast every day, and even tourists come here. The long queue of people made the proprietress shout pressure, worried that she would not be able to keep busy, and asked the customers waiting in line to bear with her.
Zhengming Tea House stands for Tsinghua and his wife Chen Guilan to sell kaya toast for more than 40 years. (Photo by Ye Xiaohong)
Chen Guilan makes kaya toast with neat hands and feet. I saw that she baked the fluffy toast until it was crispy, cut it horizontally, evenly smeared the kaya, put the butter on it, folded the two positive slices, and cut it into eight small pieces;
Chen Guilan (left) makes kaya toast with neat hands and feet, and the crispy flavor of kaya toast is largely due to the kaya paste. (Photo by Ye Xiaohong)
The kaya toast ($1.80) sold at the Zhengming Tea House has been refined several times to be sweet but not greasy, with a crispy texture, and the secret is that the boss sprinkles a little sugar after applying the kaya. "Sweetened kaya toast tastes better, and diners can also specify no sugar," Zhang said. ”
The kaya toast at Zhengming Tea Room is made with Australian butter and brown sugar kaya. (Photo by Ye Xiaohong)
"The kaya toast sold in my father's days was white bread and grilled over charcoal. Back then, there was also a kind of kaya toast that was made by beating the eggs, letting the bread absorb the egg liquid, and then roasting it over a charcoal fire, and then coating it with kaya and adding butter, which tasted very fragrant!"
In 1988, the government did not allow the use of charcoal in the delicatessen centre, and Zheng Ming Tea House switched to an electric oven to bake bread, using brown sugar kaya and bread from Malaysia. Zhang Qinghua said that white bread should be crusted and made too loose, while switching to square sliced bread tastes more solid and crispy when baked, and butter comes from Australia.
Zhang Qinghua shared that in the early days, Singaporeans lived a simple life, kaya toast could be eaten anywhere, and kaya toast was easy to fill the stomach and save money. After generations, kaya toast is still a timeless delicacy and is enjoyed by many young and young people.
▲ Zhengming Tea Room
地址：531A Upper Cross Street #01-46 Hong Lim Market & Food Centre S051531
Where can I taste the specialty kaya toast?
No matter how the environment changes, kaya toast is like a mirror, reminding us that no matter how prosperous our country is, we must not forget our roots, and simple things can be beautiful. Where else can you eat delicious kaya toast in Singapore?
▲Bao Er Cafe
地址:400 Balestier Rd #02-01 S329802
Bao Er Cafe's kaya toast is crispy and delicious, and when you bite into it, both the kaya and butter overflow. (Photo by Ye Xiaohong)
The toast is golden brown and crispy after being toasted twice, and the hostess Bao Er's homemade kaya sauce with fresh coconut milk every day is gray-green, light in taste, sweet but not greasy, and is definitely the finishing touch. When you bite into it, the kaya and butter overflow, leaving a fragrant mouth.
▲Kyoshanglong
地址：10 North Bridge Rd #01-5109 S190010
Kyoshanglong's charcoal hand-roasted kaya toast is fluffy and sweet. (Photo by Ye Xiaohong)
The boss has insisted on hand-roasting kaya toast with charcoal for many years, and it tastes more human in addition to the charcoal fragrance. The bread is fragrant but not burnt, the saltiness of butter and the sweetness of kaya are natural, accompanied by a cup of aromatic hand-poured Nanyang coffee, tracing the memory of taste buds.
▲La Coffee
地址：6 Raffles Blvd #03-212/213/214 Marina Square S039594
La Coffee's traditional kaya toast is best known for its homemade kaya paste. (Photo by Ye Xiaohong)
At la kopi (coffee drink), white toast is crispy and fragrant, and the signature kaya sauce is hand-tossed with coconut cream, pandan leaves and eggs.
▲Cuihua Tea Restaurant
地址：Jem #01-08 / 星耀樟宜 #03-230 / The Hereen #02-02 / Clarke Quay Central #01-08
Tsui Wah Tea Restaurant also sells local kaya toast for breakfast. (Courtesy of the restaurant)
The kaya toast is made of the same "pork bun" as the Hong Kong-style cream pig, which is crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, with fragrant kaya and frozen butter, which is a beautiful combination of Hong Kong-style dining culture and Singaporean kaya toast.