SEREMBAN, Dec 5 – A traditional kopitiam breakfast is a gift, a form of embracing our history and heritage in real time.
Also: an excuse to indulge in plenty of caffeine and carbs, as a way to people watch and communal togetherness.
Whatever the reason we tell ourselves, we are mighty glad to grab a table at Kedai Kopi & Makanan Saudara in Seremban. It’s the morning rush so there is a sizeable breakfast crowd, many from the offices nearby.
The name of the coffee shop in Chinese is Xiongdi Cha Chan Shi or Brothers Café. Which certainly evokes a sense of fellowship when you are eating with your brethren (albeit them at their own tables nearby; though if it gets really packed, you might be asked to dap toi or “share a table” in Cantonese).
Certainly, everyone is busy tucking in. There are stalls selling curry laksa and pan mee. Something for everyone.
What we eat is as much a testament to our preferences as to our appetites. But a quick glance showed us how everyone orders a cup of coffee, whatever form that might take.
Now my default order at a kopitiam tends to be a cup of frothy cham; there’s just something divine about how the milk tea and coffee blend together in smooth, hedonistic harmony.
But after a morning drive to the Seremban town centre, there is nothing quite like a cup of robust, honest-to-goodness Kopi O to shake one awake properly.
What more could one ask for, really? The inimitable, toasty aroma of kopitiam coffee; the rich, caramelised flavour of sugar and butter (or margarine) added during the roasting process; the glossy, oily sheen on the surface of the brew promising a deep nuttiness.
If the Kopi O tasted good, then you might marvel at their Butter Kopi, which is basically the same charcoal-black Kopi O with a generous pat of butter thrown in for good measure.
Yes, coffee and butter. Who needs milk, really?
This isn’t the infamous Bulletproof Coffee popularised by Dave Asprey in 2011; that version, also known as Keto Coffee, requires MCT oil in addition to grass-fed ghee or butter.
No, the kopitiam’s Butter Kopi makes no claims to dietary improvements, health benefits or any form of biohacking. Butter Kopi is just plain decadent and tastes delicious.
If one is being truthful to oneself, there is never enough butter.
(This is probably why croissants are created, after all. Pastries made with laminated dough are designed for butter fiends, really. That classification, I’m happy to report, includes yours truly.)
Never enough butter... unless you order the shop’s Roti with Thick Butter and Kaya.
The name isn’t a mere boast; rarely do we see such chunky pats of butter in roti bakar nowadays. At some coffee shops you’d be lucky to get anything more than a mere smear.
Fortunately, that is not the case here. Butter you can actually bite through is such a game-changer.
The pieces of toast themselves weren’t super thick; wide enough to hold the filling while remaining crispy. In fact, the bars of butter are thicker than each piece of bread, which makes the cross section an enthralling vision, especially with the oozing kaya in the middle.
All that we are missing is a saucer of the requisite half boiled eggs. These are prepared semi self-service at the coffee shop. A server will bring you a canary-yellow “egg pot” already filled with boiling water and eggs.
No need to figure out the timing yourself; they have timers set up in the kitchen (basically the kopi station with all the coffee and hot water) and will return to your table to let you know when you can finally crack the eggs open.
It’s not a system I have seen in many places but it’s efficient in its own way. This way you can get on with the rest of your breakfast without worrying about the eggs till it’s time to spoon out every bit of lovely albumen and yolk.
Add a splash of light soy sauce and a shake of ground white pepper and you’re good to go.
This is truly the breakfast of champions: Freshly toasted roti bakar. Rich, fragrant kaya. An abundance of cold butter. Perfect for dunking into the runny splendour and peppery, umami savour of half boiled eggs.
Crunchy toast, cold butter, hot eggs. Sublime.
Still feeling peckish? In lieu of succumbing to the noodle options (we just didn’t feel like it this morning), we go all in with the bread bounty.
Or perhaps roti gluttony might be more accurate since we continue with a Polo Bun with Butter and a hefty slab of Cheese Ham Toast. Neither choice feels like traditionally local kopitiam fare but we have adopted these admirably.
The Polo Bun with Butter doesn’t have quite the impressive pineapple-shaped crust found atop the original versions at cha chaan tengs in Hong Kong but the liberal stuffing of butter more than makes up for it.
Looking like an oddly appetising mess, the Cheese Ham Toast proves to be exactly that, marrying savoury cheese sauce with equally savoury meat floss.
We leave with full bellies, big smiles, and a promise to return for more butter the next time we visit, be it in coffee or toast.
Kedai Kopi & Makanan Saudara 兄弟茶餐室
5, Jalan Kong Sang, Seremban
Open Tue-Sun 6:30am-2:30pm; Mon closed
Phone: 06-761 4529
* This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal.
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