Breakfast, Kwai Lock Cafe & surrounds, Burmah Road

Leisurely Sunday mornings tend to make my body react with a violent craving for a hot, nourishing breakfast. Since I have adopted the habit of only fruit and coffee in the mornings, I tend to abuse the Sunday breakfast allowance and go overboard.

We arrived at Kwai Lock Coffee Shop, located right next to the Pulau Tikus wet market enclave. Memo has written about this place here and she's had a crush on the fine-looking older gentleman who also whips up a mean Chee Cheong Fun for as long as I can remember.

Koay Chiap. A terrible version, I am afraid to say. Fat Tulip, an ardent fan of koay chiap, solemnly concedes. The broth was plain and dull as dishwater. The only redeeming point was the egg. It's hard to go wrong with the sight of a halved hard-boiled egg for breakfast. Nevertheless, it did not make me feel good enough to finish this bowl of nothingness.

Char Koay Teow. Ahhhh, greasy wonder of the mystical East, now we're talking. Or eating, rather.

Prompted by an elderly couple chomping on what looked like chicken pie next to us, we followed their lead and popped across the narrow street to find a makeshift stall outside a bakery. Sure enough, they had chicken pie, both in regular and small sizes.

"Is it any good?" I asked Fat Tulip suspiciously and loudly, my tactlessness clearly heightened by calorific overdose, to which the man behind the counter replied jovially, "Yes, very good. If you wait any longer, they'll all be sold out." We took two of the small sizes and saved them for later, see below.

Further up the road, we chanced upon this smiling man hawking three types of crackers - fish, prawn and tapioca. Now I don't know about you, but it's becoming increasingly difficult to get hold of good, wholesome ready-made crackers at regular supermarkets. We each bought ourselves some fish crackers.

Some hours later at home, I dug into the chicken pie. I've never been a fan of puff pastry and I long for a decent pie made with short crust pastry. But for what it was, this was lovely, with generous chunks of chicken meat, half boiled egg (more egg!), potatoes and peas, carrots, corn. I liked it enough to polish both pies! Oh I do like my Sundays!