Kampong Glam Cafe on the junction of Bussorah Street and Baghdad Street is one of my all-time favourite breakfast spots whenever I’m in the Arab Street/Muslim quarter of Singapore.
Founded in 2004 by ex-footballer, Mr Bashir Khan, and his late uncle, Abdul Rahim bin Musa, the cafe offers a plethora of good Singapore-Malay eats, perhaps the only one around for a 1 km radius - quite surprising for a Malay-Muslim neighbourhood. Most of the other food outlets nearby are mainly Turkish restaurants and modern cafes serving cakes and French pastries.
Lontong
My favourite was the lontong, a popular breakfast dish of compressed rice cakes, bathed in a rich, soupy coconut milk-turmeric vegetable curry called sayur lodeh.
Of Javanese origin, a standard order of lontong comes with “serondeng”, a mildly-spiced meat floss; hard-boiled egg, and “tau kwa” or hard tofu. I usually opt to add “opor ayam”, a mild-flavoured Central Javanese curried chicken dish.
I also usually ask for “perkedel”, a savoury Javanese potato croquette. The name was an Indonesian adaptation of the Dutch “frikadelle”. Also called “bergedil” in Singapore and Malaysia.
Serabai with Serawa Durian
Serabai is a crumpet-like Malay dessert, served here with serawa durian, a thick, sweet sauce made of durian pulp, coconut cream and palm sugar.
Kampong Glam Cafe’s version was the best I’d ever tasted: soft, moist, spongey serabai, and thick, rich serawa.
The cafe gets very busy on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
Address
Kampong Glam Cafe
17 Bussorah Street, Singapore 199438
Tel: +65 6294 1697
Operating hours: 8am to 2am Tue-Wed, Fri-Sun;
12pm-2am Thu; Closed on Mondays
