I found myself down the wet market earlier than usual as I was out of coffee beans and caffeine is not negotiable in my morning routine. Marine terrace wet market has an uncle selling roasted coffee beans (sans margarine and sugar) for $15/kg. The cheapest beans I’ve found in Singapore by a long way and robusta beans are more forgiving with quality and make for a great ristretto.

Leaving this early meant I had a chance to buy some breakfast. Normally I do not get here so early and half the food stalls adjacent to the market are already closed for the day. Mornings are not my thing. So I decided to try one of the stalls I usually only see shutters on. I walked past a table with a couple eating what looked like a creamy laksa almost, topped with an hard boiled egg. I knew when I saw it that I must have try it. Using the power of deduction (I saw someone else order it) I realised it was the lontong from the Warung Wak Nakem stall. As luck would have it, as I patiently queuing, I was rewarded with a fresh batch of begedil.

Lontong feels to me like healthier version of laksa, the coconut broth itself is lighter making it more suitable for a breakfast meal (I don’t know about the calories). The rice cakes (nasi impit) were somehow surprisingly tasty, often the ones served with satay I have had around Singapore have been as bland as cardboard. The highlight of this dish is the sambal and the fried spicy shredded coconut (serunding kelapa), mixing it all in, and combining with the tofu, egg, rice cakes, and cabbage, makes for a heavenly breakfast. The cherry on top was the begedil, nicely spiced and a hint of onion - potato is comfort food in every culture. The hawker also placed it neatly on the side of the lontong so it was still nice and crispy. I’ve never understood dropping these crisp parcels of bursting goodness into a piping hot bowl of soto ayam and making them soggy dumplings 😧

This breakfast lontong was good enough for me to consider becoming a morning person. I cannot recommend it enough.

Price: $3.00 with an extra $0.50 for the begedil

Hawker centre: Marine Terrace Market and Food Centre
Address: Block 50A Marine Terrace
Hours: 7am - sells out