Ya Kun Kaya Toast and Kopi

I have the perfect excuse for hanging out in cafes, drinking coffee and watching the world go by: work. Yes, now that I have to do market research on coffee serving cafes, their service and the quality of baristas, I'm happily spending time with my papers from work, reading and drinking coffee.

I have to say i really like Ya Kun's coffee. It's the local kopi-tiam kopi and I usually take mine kopi-c-kosong which for those of you unacquainted with the lingo here, it means coffee with milk without sugar. It comes in a little teacup of thick porcelain with a saucer to match and a tiny chinese spoon. I also had mine with two slices of their thin crisp brown bread toasted and spread with butter and kaya. Yum. I couldn't resist dipping my kaya toast into the kopi and I have to say it's actually rather good that way as long as I don't dip too much of it that i lose the crispness of the toast entirely.

The coffee? it's good. Thick and strong in flavour. It's very possibly from beans roasted with margarine or butter as it has that richness in it. Maybe corn? Not sure. But overall, the taste is excellent. The milk is rather strong as they usually use evaporated milk but the coffee taste still stands up well to the milk. It's way stronger in flavour than many a cuppa I've had in the expensive western style cafes. At S$1.50 it's also a lot cheaper but of course doesn't have the piped music etc but does have airconditioning and a fairly decent place to sit down even if not sofas.

Service levels were generally good. I've noticed that I'm usually served quickly and promptly and got pretty geniune smiles out of them when they served me and when I left the cafe. I've noticed the service at this particular cafe in Holland Village near my office tends to be quite consistently good so kudos to the staff there.

Alliterative-Accentual Verse

I tend to write on a full stomach rather than empty so when I did this exercise, I was thinking more of drinks and snacks so my food tends to be less robust than what Stephen Fry came up with. However as the exercise is more about writing in the bang bang bang - crash! style ie alliterate three times and then change in a line, so it scarecly matters really what the subject matter is.

Here's my attempt and for those of you who don't yet know what alliteration is, you will by the end of the poem.

Things I Want or Don't Want to Eat or Drink Right Now:

Chocolate comes first or cocoa with froth,
A lemony drink or lime leached juice
Speedily hits the spot and sooths but then
Coffee doesn't. Caffeine kills my mind
But my body remains hyped: bouncing off the walls

I crave kana a lot, those clumps of fruit
Dried, salty, sour and sweet - I drool
Now that I'm done with drinks and desert, I desperately want
A Kaya toast: covered in coconut eggy jam
Thin crisp bits of bread, buttered and hot.

Or half-boiled eggs basting brown wholemeal toast
With soya sauce and pepper, spotting the yolk
Teh halia heaving with froth is heaven I think
So I'll stop soon enough to ready my mug
Yew tiao too is tea-dipping worthy

I wouldn't want wanton mee right now
Nasi lemak's not nice - too gelak
Oyster omelette oozes oil and lard
All these add on an extra pound or two
So to the gym I go and gallop on the treadmill.