Friday, December 4, 2009

Those were the days...

Segamat is a small, bustling town with many modern cafes and kopitiams. However, the main thoroughfares are lined with old buildings dating back to pre-World War II days, giving it a distinct charm. The Nan Yang Coffee Shop is located at Jalan Awang, in the heart of old Segamat town, just of the left hand side of the trunk road to Johor Baru. When you look at the architecture of the building, it’s like going back to 1950s during the British days, absolute antiquity ambience, the interior too, plus all the dining materials, even some of the kitchen workers were old men. The name too was old enough, Nanyang meaning Southern Sea, it was the mass migration of Chinese workers during the British industrial revolution days. This Hainanese-run coffee shop predates the country’s independence. It’s a quaint shop seating only about 30 people, but is considered the place for coffee and toast in Segamat, and is a popular morning hangout.
An old-fashioned Hainanese kopitiam, Nan Yang is affectionately viewed as an integral part of the town’s history by its many regulars who come here to enjoy light and crispy toast and accompanied by authentic Hainanese black coffee. It’s over 70 years old, and wonderfully atmospheric with its dark wooden chairs, marble-top tables and peeling paint.
It serves good coffee and nothing else but toasted bread. Although the shop is small, it is airy and cozy enough for a nice cup of coffee and watch the world go by, not that there are anything much to watch. You can smell the coffee aroma the minute you reach the shop.....and of course you can order the yummy traditional toasted bread with kaya & butter.
The fare has always been the same: coffee and charcoal-toasted bread slathered with home-made kaya and butter, packed fried beehoon and packed nasi lemak.

Fried beehoon and fried noodles

Big bread in the glass is actually the breads on display inside Nanyang restaurant, while eating, I never forget to turn back taking photos of many things. I saw the bread each about twice bigger than your head, in a moment, an old man walked out from the kitchen, he grabbed one and return back, the size was exactly double your head, serious, and that was what I ate, so delicious.

Toasts and coffee combine to give you the very special of Segamat. I ate 2 set of toasts with two half-boiled eggs and a cup of coffee for only RM4.60, expensive or cheap? I like the toasts, while eating, I look around to see almost every customers were eating toasts too.



Kaya and butter oozing out from the edges...
The toast is slathered with just the right amount of kaya and butter, neither too sweet nor oily.
Two perfectly done half-boiled eggs ready to be cracked and enjoyed.
The smooth egg white and creamy egg yolk make a perfect comforting food to kick start your day.


My daily staple?
Is the food really that good? Look at the expressions in the faces of the people around and you will know that you have come to the right place.
Nanyang restaurant (coffee shop) is definitely halal. How does the coffee taste? It’s hard to convince people who have never visit this shop that the coffee is something to die for. Hence, you have to taste yourself to prove that I’m not lying. I only give you this tip to promote Segamat, go try it, the top 1 coffee shop in Malaysia.
The shop is always crowded & noisy in the morning. However, one can spend a quiet afternoon here watching people passing by. Everything is slow in a warm & lazy afteroon.

The toast is prepared by this man who never stops working with the bread and kaya.
The skillful coffee man makes the most appealing coffee in town.





Nan Yang Coffee Shop
Jalan Awang
85000 Segamat
Johor

3 comments:

  1. wow i love this type of breakfast .. planning to go down for a makan trip near Christmas .. then to kl!!!

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  2. wah...very authentic coffeeshop la.. the kaya really oozing out .. i love that, looks very crispy too.. not only sun luen yoong is famous, this segamat looks more tasty!

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  3. Reanaclaire:

    Frankly speaking, the toast from Nan Yang is the best toast I've ever tasted. Far better than Sun Yoon Loong. You must try it yourself when you go there one day.

    ReplyDelete