Breakfast at Toh Soon Café
Located at Campbell St, this little café is actually a make-shift coffee shop in a small alley just next to the main road. Do not underestimate the power of this simple awning-canvas top coffee shop. According to "legend" it has managed to garner visitors from all over the world. No joke! It has also become even more famous (than it already is) when the Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng patronized it during his early tenure in office.
So what beauty does this little make-shift coffee shop behold? Well it’s actually the simple roti bakar, half boiled egg and coffee! People come by the hordes and it’s always hard to find parking as well. Do not come here with an entirely empty stomach because chances are you’ll have to wait a while before you get a seat. You can park your car by the road if you want but I’ll discourage that because I got a parking ticket for it. Darn… that time was the most expensive roti bakar I’ve eaten in my life!
Ok, about the food. Pardon me for my lack of sensitivity in taste buds but I do not think there’s really anything THAT unique in terms of taste. Before you die-hard fans attempt to kill me for saying this, let me explain myself. What I meant was the roti bakar tasted like what a roti bakar should taste like and coffee, we’ll like how coffee should taste like. However Harby swear by the coffee and claim it to be the best coffee in Penang. Well I really don’t know… although I’m not really a coffee drinker, the Aik Cheong kopi-O that my dad makes at home taste equally superb or maybe even better. However do allow me to point out that their bread is not toasted in our regular electric toaster. It is done traditionally on charcoal, and they do have a variety of bread to choose from. They also sell pre-packed nasi lemak here.
Regardless, I still can’t help but wonder what makes this shop so appealing. Hm… perhaps is the quaint outlook of the coffee shop that gives it the umph factor or the charcoal toasting thing? You know lar.. in modern life we are so used to enjoy the luxuries that come with it, so much so that eating by the drain in a small lorong makes everything sound so… “EXOTIC”. And in addition to that, the current population will go gaga when you mention that the process involves the age-old charcoal cooking (c'mon people, all together now... let's hear it for the OOHHs and AHHHs)
Anyway do not just take my word for it. If you happen to be in the neighborhood, do drop by and let me know what you think ;).
Here are some photos for your reference.
The arch at Campbell Street
Toh Soon Cafe signboard - you'll really have to step in the alley a little bit to see this signboard because it's not facing the main road
The usual crowd
Egg basket
The famous roti bakar
My half-boil egg - perfectly done
So what beauty does this little make-shift coffee shop behold? Well it’s actually the simple roti bakar, half boiled egg and coffee! People come by the hordes and it’s always hard to find parking as well. Do not come here with an entirely empty stomach because chances are you’ll have to wait a while before you get a seat. You can park your car by the road if you want but I’ll discourage that because I got a parking ticket for it. Darn… that time was the most expensive roti bakar I’ve eaten in my life!
Ok, about the food. Pardon me for my lack of sensitivity in taste buds but I do not think there’s really anything THAT unique in terms of taste. Before you die-hard fans attempt to kill me for saying this, let me explain myself. What I meant was the roti bakar tasted like what a roti bakar should taste like and coffee, we’ll like how coffee should taste like. However Harby swear by the coffee and claim it to be the best coffee in Penang. Well I really don’t know… although I’m not really a coffee drinker, the Aik Cheong kopi-O that my dad makes at home taste equally superb or maybe even better. However do allow me to point out that their bread is not toasted in our regular electric toaster. It is done traditionally on charcoal, and they do have a variety of bread to choose from. They also sell pre-packed nasi lemak here.
Regardless, I still can’t help but wonder what makes this shop so appealing. Hm… perhaps is the quaint outlook of the coffee shop that gives it the umph factor or the charcoal toasting thing? You know lar.. in modern life we are so used to enjoy the luxuries that come with it, so much so that eating by the drain in a small lorong makes everything sound so… “EXOTIC”. And in addition to that, the current population will go gaga when you mention that the process involves the age-old charcoal cooking (c'mon people, all together now... let's hear it for the OOHHs and AHHHs)
Anyway do not just take my word for it. If you happen to be in the neighborhood, do drop by and let me know what you think ;).
Here are some photos for your reference.
The arch at Campbell Street
Toh Soon Cafe signboard - you'll really have to step in the alley a little bit to see this signboard because it's not facing the main road
The usual crowd
Egg basket
The famous roti bakar
My half-boil egg - perfectly done
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