Toh Soon Cafe - Toasted Hainanese Bread with Kaya and Butter & Kopi @ Penang in Malaysia

When I visited Penang in 2016, I remember walking past a coffee shop that was drawing a long line of customers. Fast forward to my trip last August / September and it was exactly the same scene; begetting the question, "is it really so good?"

I returned again on a tuesday morning at about 10.30am and was ecstatic to see only one group of customers waiting in queue outside Toh Soon Cafe! Lady luck was with us and even though we already had breakfast, I forced Alex to join the line! 

Within minutes, we were seated in the non-air-conditioned eatery that would have made a great setting based on the 1970 / 1980s era; zinc roof, concrete floor etc. Very old school charm that could have been one of the reasons for its unrelentless popularity. 

Imagine seeing a traditional, charcoal fired stove used for toasting your bread! That would have made many traditionalists excited although for me, I am more into the overall package. Basically, the taste matters. 

Kitchen of the cafe which was just a narrow stretch. So, please don't expect a wide variety of breakfast offerings. I shall share the menu at the end of this post for your reference.

I did promise Alex I shall not over-order.

Just coffee, toast and soft-boiled eggs.

Kopi - frankly, this was actually average tasting for me; so unimpressive I was that I didn't bother putting in any comment on my notepad, except for the word, kopi.

Toasted Hainanese Bread - you can choose from a selection of other bread like whole wheat bread, coffee bread, chocolate bread and black charcoal sesame bread, and a max of two spreads that included homemade kaya, new zealand salted butter, homemade peanut butter, condensed milk and cold sliced butter. 

We went with hainanese bread (toasted instead of steamed) and with homemade kaya and new zealand salted butter; yes, I am a traditionalist at heart too. Charcoal grilled thick toast that gave a nice, smoky, bready aroma that was pretty good even though it didn't help to have a thin spread of butter and kaya. 

I am better off dipping the toasted bread in condensed milk.

At least I wouldn't have wasted the well grilled bread. 

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Address

Lebuh Campbell, George Town, 

10450 George Town, Pulau Pinang, 

Malaysia

Map

As above. 

Operating Hours

8.00 am to 5.00 pm

(Closed on Sundays)

Menu

As above.

Pricing

RM 12.10