Ya Kun Kaya Toast

Taiwan is always open-minded towards foreign culture and cuisine. However, because the island was once governed by Japanese in the past, combining with factors including retreat of Chinese Nationalist Party, Korean War and assistance from American, Japanese and Korean cuisine become the most popular cuisine in Taiwan. While burger, French fries and pizza are also common to see. Food of Singapore, which takes 4 airborne hours from Taiwan, is strangely rare. In Taiwan, we could hardly find any Singaporean cuisine except the world-famous bak kut teh (肉骨茶). Singapore is a place similar to Taiwan, that both take breakfast as an essential business of a day. Hence, Singaporeans develop a wide variety of morning meal. Among these options, kaya toast is one of the most welcomed Singaporean genuine breakfasts. It would be toasted to nearly burned dark, and then a layer of kaya jam (咖椰醬) (fruit curd made of coconut milk and pandan leaves) and cream would be applied on it.

The first Ya Kun Kaya Toast opened in 1944 in Singapore is established by Loi Ah Koon (黎亞坤), a first generation migrant from Hainan (海南島). They combined food culture of China, India, Malaysia as one, and beloved by Singaporean. Till now, more than 70 branches have been opened among Singapore, South Korea, Japan, India, etc. Although they provide fewer choices than usual Taiwan breakfast shop and cost not less than TWD100 per person, their branch at Neihu District (內湖), Taipei still attracts lots of office workers and families in days. According to native Singaporean, the taste is not 100 percent as good as in Singapore, yet this unique flavor would manage to offer you a memorable experience. If you do enjoy such savor, it might be one of the reasons pushing you to visit Singapore.