Kaya Toast and Kopi

The standard Singapore breakfast is three things together: toast spread with kaya, a jam of coconut milk, eggs and pandan, and a cold slab of butter; two soft-boiled eggs cracked into a saucer with dark soy and white pepper; and kopi, coffee roasted with sugar and margarine and filtered through a cloth sock, ordered by a code of suffixes that tells the stall exactly how you want it. The eggs are dipped into with the toast.

What you actually see

• The kaya - coconut and pandan jam, spread with a cold slab of butter.
• The soft-boiled eggs - cracked into a saucer with dark soy and white pepper.
• The kopi sock - coffee filtered through a cloth bag, the traditional method.
• The ordering code - kopi-o, kopi-c, siew dai and the rest, a language of its own.

When to go

Year round; breakfast through to mid-morning is the traditional time, though kopitiams serve it all day. Old-style shops are busiest before nine. Chains open earlier.

Honest expectations

The ordering code is genuinely confusing and stalls move fast; kopi comes sweet by default and asking for less sugar means knowing the term. Chain versions are consistent but the old shops do it better. The eggs are very runny by most standards.

Nearby

Kopitiams are in every neighbourhood, and Tiong Bahru has several old ones.