Coffee, toasted bread plus half boiled eggs, ahhhh

When I read the article on drinking coffee at a kopitiam, it immediately reminds me of my favourite breakfast place, Restoran Sin Seng Nam, Jalan Pasar in Kuala Lumpur. The rest of this piece will be my biased view of the restaurant.

My first encounter with the restaurant was in the late 1970s since it was along the way from my bus stop at the Straits Trading Building to the next bus stop at Bangkok Bank. At that time the dark wood staircase did give an old world ambiance to the whole place populated by the morning crowd. They might be some pensioners who had just returned from their morning walk or customers from the Central Market which was still a wet market at that point of time. These customers will be joined by the office workers who are mostly from the banking district around the area and the lawyers who have their offices conveniently near the courts.

I find the morning crowd such a stimulating mix with the usual coffee shop talk touching on events of the day while perusing the daily newspapers. What sets it apart from other coffee shops are the old timers who can regale you with so many interesting bits of the past, our history and the journey we took to arrive at our nationhood. Alas, most of them are gone now and the topic of conversation is now focused on the dollars and cents of everyday life. The crowd before 9.00 am are in a rush to clock in or else they will be reprimanded by their bosses. They will definitely miss the more laid back atmosphere of the place during the not so crowded hours.

I always feel the people who patron a place defines its character. It also helps that the we see the same faces everyday taking orders and delivering the food to the customers. We are also assured that the quality of food and drinks have remained. The noticeable change in recent years would be the larger number of non-Malaysian faces working in the shop. That can't be helped since all food outlets are facing a though time attracting young Malaysians working in such places.

I will still try to go to Restoran Sin Seng Nam at least once a week even though my daily route does not pass by that area any more. Breakfast is simple, just a cup of tea, toasted bread with kaya and butter plus two half boiled eggs. Simple but full of memories and I intend to continue my sojourns there as long as I can.

Image from xes.cx