Heap Seng Leong – Kopi Gu You for breakfast

Ordering kopi in Singapore can be a complicated affair. There is kopi-o, kopi-c, kopi siew dai, kopi ga dai, kopi-c siew dai, kopi-o kosong etc. Most of the time, to make everybody’s life simpler, I’ll just order a cup of kopi. Sometimes, I will give a more complicated order just for fun.

Heap Seng Leong is one of my regular breakfast spot whenever my foreigner friends are in Singapore for a visit. Honestly, the kaya is not outstanding but having a cup of coffee with butter (kopi gu you) in a 1950s kopitiam setting is quite an interesting experience.

Nothing much changes here since the 1950s. The signboard, the cabinets and the tiles remain, only the chairs are newcomer (well not that new too). You will get to see kopitiam uncles sipping a cup of coffee while reading their newspaper, or some of them will be taking a quick nap.

Because many of our traditional kopitiams have been converted to a modern facade, it is interesting to see the boss wearing striped pajamas bottom and a white sleeveless shirt making kopi. Usually when I am here, I will request for kopi gu you. My friends didn’t quite like the sight of a piece of butter melting in her coffee, but it really makes the full-bodies coffee much more fragrant with caramelised note (like toffee) and all of them finished their cup of kopi clean!

Old school kopitiams are really hard to come by now and I hope they stay this way. If you are coming to Singapore and need someone to bring you around to eat, please email me at info@sgfoodtour.com

Heap Seng Leong
Address: Blk 10 North Bridge Road, #01-5109
Opening hours: 4 am to 8 pm daily

Let’s build a food community that helps to update the food news in Singapore! Simply comment below if there’s any changes or additional info to Heap Seng Leong. We will verify and update from our side. Thanks in advance!