Toh Soon Cafe, Penang

How embarrassing! I have been back in Australia for a month and I still haven’t finished telling you all about my holiday. My laziness is especially bad as this breakfast that I am about to tell you about was a revelation.

We had been in Penang for a few days and were dealing with that age old no-plan travelling dilemma: should we stay here in this town that we like and eat some more, or do we leave early to spend more time at our next destination, but we don’t know if we will enjoy it as much. So many unknowns! We took a chance and booked bus tickets so we would have 3 days in Malacca. 

I had read about this great ramshackle breakfast spot which happened to be right near our guest house, so on our last day in Penang we breakfasted here. And right away we wished we hadn’t bought tickets south, I wanted at least one more breakfast here.

Toh Soon Cafe is a local institution, but to a foreigner it just looks like a jumble of tables in an alley packed with people. Until you get further in. Take a chance, sit down and get some attention. The menu is short, Kaya and Toast sets, half boiled eggs, drinks. But you wouldn’t want anything more than that. 

See, what seems simple at the outset becomes a rabbit warren of questions; What kind of bread: Chocolate, Coffee swirl, whole wheat, or more? Would you like Steamed or Toasted? Luckily, every combination ends up being an inspired twist on the old kaya sandwich

Toasted Chocolate Bread Set

Steamed Coffee Bread Set with a half boiled egg

Toasted Chocolate bread looks bland, like fake died wholemeal bread, but tastes amazingly chocolatey and rich, perfect with the subtly sweet kaya and salty butter. The bread is just lightly toasted, so the outside is crisp but the inside remains soft.

The steamed coffee swirl bread is soft and hot, a mix of earthy coffee and sweet coconut, again with salty butter, and luckily, Felix will share. I have never had a steamed sandwich before, I don’t know how they do it, but the bread is just lightly dampened, not soggy and penetrated with flavour. It is so moreish that Felix has been dreaming up ways to recreate this now we are home, in the bamboo steamer, maybe?

While we are waiting for our food, something very strange is happening. A group of people with cameras, video and still, get up from their table and start filming the cafe. There are a few different takes of the same thing, which makes us think it is for a TV show, but the TV camera are filming two people who are taking photographs of the food and drinks being made. Very strange, but exciting!

Unfortunately this would be our last day in Penang, definitely. So we order another round. Felix’s coffee swirl set is demolished before I can take a photo. My white bread set arrives toasted instead of steamed, but I am not too worried, plus I couldn’t make a fuss when they have been working under such strange circumstances. It doesn’t matter anyway, it is divine, placing more emphasis on texture, and the combination of sweet kaya and salty butter.

Toasted White Bread Set

That evening we leave Penang, but we will always have the memory of that simple, delicious breakfast, and the idea of steamed bread sandwiches. (What a mistake to make this post at breakfast time, now I have an insatiable craving for a Steamed Coffee Kaya Set, boohoo, I wish I could get it in Sydney!).

The food here is very inexpensive, the service is fast, though a little flustered on our visit. English is understood.

Toh Soon Cafe
Campbell Street (Penang Road end)
Penang

Mornings.