Chin Mee Chin Confectionery, located at 204 East Coast Road, is a landmark coffeeshop in Katong. It is popular for its kaya, a kind of custard jam. A contemporary of Hock Ann Coffeeshop and the Red House Bakery, the confectionery delights the residents of the east with its traditional breakfast.
Styled like a typical Chinese confectionery, this Hainanese coffeeshop exudes an old world charm with its ceiling fans and marble-top tables typical of coffeeshops of the 1950s. The baroque interior is accentuated by its defining floor tiles. Affectionately known as CMC by Katong residents, its simple breakfast of kaya toast, soft boiled eggs and coffee are its most famous item on the menu.
Kaya is a kind of custard jam made from coconut milk, egg yolks and sugar, flavoured with pandan, the screwpine leaves. In the confectionery, the kaya is made in huge cauldrons heated over slow burning charcoals, releasing a sweet aroma. Bread toast and kaya, called “kaya toast”, is still considered the traditional breakfast of Singaporeans. Other specialities of the confectionery include eggs, coffee, curry puffs, sausage rolls and fruit cakes. The confectionery roasts its own coffee beans and bakes its own bread.
In pre-independent Singapore, it was the Eurasian community that frequently patronised the shop before many migrated to Canada and Australia in the 1950s to 1960s. Today, Chin Mee Chin remains popular, especially on Sundays, when the worshippers of the nearby Church of the Holy Family pop by the shop. Many others beyond the coastline in the East are drawn to this simple shop.
There was a rumour last year that CMC is closing. It was further clarified that business remained as usual. See: http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/owners-daughter-quashes-rumours-its-business-usual-chin-mee-chin-20130
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