Kaya—rich coconut custard perfumed with pandan—has to be Singapore’s favourite spread.
This luscious sweet custard tastes divine, especially when slathered on toasted bread. The best thing is we’re spoilt for choice. Take your pick of pandan-scented green kaya or gula melaka-sweetened brown kaya, as well as a variety of breads–sliced traditional loaves, fluffy buns, or even Italian bread!
We check out some of the hottest haunts for kaya toast and see how they measure up against one another in this kaya toast face-off.
36 Keong Saik Road
Opening hours: Daily: 6.30am-10pm
Price: $1.60 for two slices
Rating: 5/5
Who would have guessed that this nondescript coffeeshop in a quiet part of Chinatown would be our holy grail of kaya toast? But remember, you must specifically ask for the thin, crispy version.
Using white bread horizontally split into two, each slice was evenly toasted and beautifully browned. Amazingly light and crisp, yet not too brittle, it was sheer pleasure munching on these neatly assembled toast fingers.
Fragrant and chunky, the homemade kaya was just the right level of sweetness. The kaya-butter-toast was in perfect balance, and merged to form a single harmonious entity.
There was only one thing we didn’t like about Tong Ah’s kaya toast. It’s too dangerously addictive!
37 Beach Road, #01-01
Opening hours: Daily: 7.30am-10.30pm
Price: $1.10 per bun
Rating: 4.5/5
If you prefer moist, fluffy bread over crisp, dry toast, then you’ll love YY Kafei Dian’s ethereally soft buns.
Eating one of these kaya buns was like sinking your teeth into a cloud. Although the bun was thick, the bread was super airy and cottony. It was also slightly chewy and tasted mildly sweet on its own.
They took time to carefully toast each bun till lightly browned and crisp on the crust. On one side, the bread was generously smeared with brown Hainanese-style kaya. It was seductively creamy and caramel-like, but not too sweet. What a lovely change from the usual green kaya-crispy toast combo!
18 China Street, #01-01 Far East Square
Opening hours: Mon-Fri: 7.30am-7pm, Sat-Sun: 8am-6pm, closed PH
Price: $1.80
Rating: 4/5
This popular franchise needs no introduction. But we recommend the Far East Square flagship outlet—run by the founding family—for more consistent quality. Over here, they also continue the tradition of grilling their characteristic brown bread over charcoal.
Indeed, there was a faint but unmistakable charcoal smokiness in the toast. Extremely thin and crisp, it felt as if we were munching on wafers rather than bread. The toast was very brittle and crumbled easily, something which some of us found annoying.
Because the toast was so thin, the kaya and butter felt a tad excessive. Also, the kaya was way too sweet and lacked the homemade quality of its better kaya peers in this roundup.
133 New Bridge Road, #03-01 Chinatown Point
Opening hours: Mon-Fri: 8am-7pm, Sat; PH: 10.30am-7pm; closed Sun
Price: Traditional toast - $1.60, orange ciabatta - $2.70
Rating: 3.5/5
Good Morning Nanyang Café’s dedication to kaya toast is apparent. We were impressed by their outstanding kaya recipe, as well as their creativity. Besides traditional brown bread, they created their own Italian ciabattas–regular and orange. Both kaya and ciabatta are made on the premises daily.
Chunky in texture, the kaya was redolent with coconut and pandan, with a pleasant eggy flavour. Most of us thought it complemented the soft, chewy orange ciabatta, embedded with bits of zesty orange peel.
The traditional kaya toast—served with smeared butter instead of chilled slabs—was competently executed. However, at times, there’s lack of consistency when it comes to the amount of kaya you get and the degree of grilling. Otherwise, we’d have given a higher rating.
67 Killiney Road
Opening hours: Mon,Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat: 6am-11pm; Tue, Sun, PH: 6am-9pm
Price: $0.80 per piece
Rating: 2.5/5
Killiney Kopitiam’s style is lightly toasted white bread that’s both crisp and fluffy to the bite. For our taste-test, the bread was unevenly grilled, which greatly diminished the satisfaction level. But there was a faint whiff of char-grill aroma.
The kaya was on the sweet side, but still acceptable. It was pleasantly eggy, but could be more fragrant.
Long before kaya toast and coffee franchises became popular, this was already an institution. But sadly, most of their original staff have left. Perhaps this is why their kaya toast has lost the wow factor.
204 East Coast Road
Opening hours: 8am-4pm; closed Mon
Price: $1.00 per bun
Rating: 4.5/5 for kaya, 1/5 for bun
This charming old-school coffeeshop in Katong is truly an institution. The difference between their kaya and bun was so great that we had to rate them separately. Rich, smooth, and very fragrant, the home-made kaya tasted very fresh. It was so delicious we could just eat it on its own! Simply put, it was unforgettable.
The bun was also unforgettable, but not in a good way. The bread was rather dry. Also, it was barely toasted, so the interior was cold and hard.
Our suggestion: Skip the bun, buy the bottled kaya, and spread it over your own preferred bread at home.
