Breakfast haven

The towkay with his dose of daily news whilst his wife busy attending to customers

Only in traditional Kopitiams : where strangers, regardless of race and creed, become friends

Despite the fact that my hometown, Muar (a not too smallish town down south), is only 2 hours' drive away, I only return once a year (on average) for the mandatory exodus of KLites during the Eid celebration. We are meant to do it more often but kids' activities over the weekends have prevented us to do so. And the fact that my parents are always up here in Kuala Lumpur doesn't help either.

So, a khenduri organised by parents and my mom's siblings was good enough a reason to officially ask my kids to skive, which didn't meet with any objections, and drive back to Muar on Friday night after work.

Of course, Muar is very famous for the "heavy" breakfast served in various kopitiams in the town centre. The one which wifey and I like is opposite TNB Jalan Temnggung Ahmad (this happens to be my late paternal grandad's fave place too. He would cycle his black Raleigh bicycle to this place every morning to have breakfast and order takeaways for us at home). We only made our way here on our second day, though. For the first morning we went to a kopitiam called Chin Hong & Co which is in the same block as Paris Hotel along Jalan Temenggung Ahmad right smack in town due to some request for a takeaway by my mom. We had soto, nasi lemak, mee rebus, sate, lontong and toasted bread with kaya (not very nice) amongst us! During visits like this my health conscious self is lost within me.....LOL!

On our second day, wifey and I decided to take a 4km (to and fro) stroll to the koiptiam opposite TNB to have steamed and toasted buns spread with butter and kaya, nasi lemak and sate. The nasi lemak bungkus was bought along the way at a stall which cost 50 sen. Did you know that you can still buy a 30 sen nasi lemak in Muar?

Apart from Kota Bahru, Kelantan, Muar must be the best breakfast haven in Malaysia! I know of people who drives all the way down to Muar for the breakfast...Give it a try - it's only 2 hours' drive (but look who's talking....I do it once a year! LOL). BTW read this entry by Robyn of of EatingAsia for non-halal food in Muar.

Soto in Muar (or rather in Johor) is served with clear soup rather than the ones served by its Indonesian counter part.

Wifey's sate with slightly chilled longan drink for breakfast

My nasi lemak bungkus with slightly chilled longan drink. The nasi lemak was 50 sen!

The buns are toasted/grilled using charcoal


Buns are steamed on top of the water boiler! (This is the towkay's wife)

The buns used here come individually wrapped from the supplier

Our heavenly steamed buns

Coffee cups are sterilised in the slots next to the boiler