Address: 21 Amoy Street, Singapore 069856
Tel: +65 65326616
Website: www.killiney-kopitiam.com

Killiney Kopitiam is part of a phenomenon sweeping through this country. It has induced the normally calculative Singaporean to purchase basic breakfast fare, i.e. toasted bread with butter and kaya (a kind of local jam made of coconut milk) and half-boiled eggs, at rather high prices (at S$2-3, this is twice what I could get at other unbranded Kopitiams). What is even more perplexing is that they are doing a roaring trade at all times of the day, not just in the morning.

Seriously…how hard is it to make half-boiled eggs and toast. Where is the value-add in the business? I shake my fist at the absurdity of it all!

Anyway, I came across one of the outlets while I was looking for a quick meal before rushing back to catch a world cup match. It was situated a stone’s throw away from Boat Quay, nestled among the quaint colonial shophouses. A nice quiet environment for a simple meal.

Thankfully, there was no one there having toast and egg. Killiney has also branched out into serving other fare - mainly a mix of Malay and Chinese cuisine. I chose their Curry Chicken (S$4.50) and my girlfriend had the Mee Siam (S$3).

The Curry Chicken was just like how my Grandma used to make them. Thick and spicy with a slight over-estimation of the amount of salt actually required - Grandma didn’t really care much about the evils of High Blood Pressure and Coronary Heart Diseases, just as long as her grandson slurps up her cooking.

A true test of a good Curry Chicken is the consistency of the potato in the curry. Killiney’s one passed muster…not too hard as to repel all efforts to spear the tuber with your fork and not too soft as to disintegrate in the curry. A lament was there there was insufficient chicken. However, I gleefully cleaned up the gravy with the French Loaf bread.

My girlfriend’s Mee Siam was ordinary. Mee Siam is a Malay dish of thick curry peanut gravy poured over fine thin noodles. It is a plain dish as can be seen from the picture. I think there is some Mee Siam Association out there to ensure that nothing more that the standard dried bean curd, a single egg and garnish are included. Flout the rules and the cook would be hauled up in front of the disciplinary committee and made to watch re-runs of the most dreadful programmes (classics like Triple 9, Masters of the Sea, our National Election coverage) ever produced by our only broadcaster.

We washed down the spice with the cool solace found in a Ice Milo (S$1.50, or known as Milo-Peng) and a Lemonade (S$1.20).