Sunday July 5, 2009

Energy boost

By RENITA CHE WAN

Tuck into a hearty, healthy spread in the morning. After all, breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

MORNING is a hectic and hurried time so quite frequently we find ourselves with no time to have a proper breakfast at home.

Now, with the many restaurants and cafes offering affordable breakfast set in a homey environment, there is no excuse to skip the most important meal of the day.

Most of these establishments even offer free wi-fi connection, so on a lazy Sunday morning, bring your laptop along and log on while enjoying breakfast, just like you would in the comfort of your own home.

At McDonald’s, for example, they offer free refills of coffee and tea which is included in the breakfast meal set.

For only RM4, enjoy a Sausage McMuffin, which is grilled chicken sausage with cheese in a lightly toasted English muffin and McDonald’s Premium Roast Coffee, made with Arabica beans.

“My girlfriends and I would usually meet up for breakfast at McDonald’s because it’s air-conditioned and it provides wi-fi connection. So we usually book the comfy sofas and log on to our laptops and start surfing for all the fashion sites,” says 18-year-old Margarette Yoong.

“Breakfast is now more like a social hangout for us and this also gives us an excuse to meet with our partners earlier in the day since our parents set a curfew for us at night,” jokes Yoong’s childhood friend, Raja Hazelin.

Swiss Oven at KL Sentral, on the other hand, serves freshly brewed tea and Arabica bean coffee while the croissants are freshly baked every day.

The owners, Datin Fairos Ishak and Umi Kalthom Zulkifli, swear that their scrambled eggs are to die for.

“We get a lot of foreign customers and most of them go for our Set 2, which is croissant with scrambled eggs for only RM4.90,” says Umi.

She says that her foreign customers never skip breakfast as it’s the most important meal of the day and they were pleasantly surprised to find a cafe in KL Sentral that offers an American breakfast.

“It’s unbelievable how people often take better care of their cars than they do of their own bodies,” says 57-year-old retiree Jason Goh.

“We know what is necessary to get the longest life and best performance out of our cars. But we never seem to realise that proper care also gives our bodies the longest life and best performance.”

Admitting that he never goes a day without his “breakfast of champions”, which is two sunny side up eggs, a slice of bacon, a side of salad with no trimmings and a glass of mango juice, Goh says his body simply won’t listen to him otherwise.

“I was a financial advisor before I retired, so I do a lot of analysing and apply my findings to my everyday life.

“So if I find that my day is packed with activities, I look for solutions to have my breakfast without rushing. This is where I would usually rely on my wife to wake me up earlier and she’d have my breakfast done the time I finish getting ready,” says Goh sheepishly.

Indeed, according to experts in the diet and nutrition industry, without breakfast, the probability of gaining weight is higher because skipping meals almost always leads to overeating.

This is especially true in the case of breakfast, because after sleeping for more than seven hours, the body needs to recover from this brief period of starvation.

If you don’t eat something in the morning, your body is forced to literally run on empty, says Mary Easaw John, senior manager of dietetics and food services at Institute Jantung Negara, Kuala Lumpur.

“Let’s just say that dinner was at 8pm the day before and the usual 8am breakfast is skipped today, that is 12 hours of no refueling!”

So basically your body is screaming out, “Give me some help here!”

“Obviously the poor brain is deprived, and the body needs to work extra hard to break down any stored carbohydrates or turn fat or protein into a usable form for the brain to function.

“This usable form, which is glucose, is what our motors need to keep running – and that means walking, talking, running, stretching, typing – any type of activity that requires this fuel,” she adds.

For most people, breakfast is normally a meal to be had at home.

For the rest, especially those rushing to get to work in the morning, it can be eaten on the go (a sandwich while on the way to work, for example) or in coffee shops and other food outlets, and there are many out there.

Sunday Metro has checked out some restaurants and cafes in the Klang Vally for their delicious and affordable breakfast sets.

Shiok Kopitiam,
YMCA Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur

Breakfast is from 7am to noon

Available breakfast sets daily at RM5.

·Set 1: Kaya butter toast and Omega soft-boiled eggs and a choice of drink

·Set 2: Jam butter toast, orange juice and one other drink

·Set 3: Western set (baked beans, sunny side up eggs, a sausage and toast) and a choice of drink

The breakfast set menu is different daily and other sets include pancakes, fried noodles and nasi lemak. Drink selections are white coffee, milk tea and orange juice.

McDonald’s
nationwide

Breakfast is available from 4am to 11am

Breakfast McValue Meal comes with Premium Roast Coffee (M) and hash browns.

·Sausage McMuffin with egg RM8.50

·Filet-O-Fish RM8.60

·Big breakfast RM9.80

·Egg McMuffin RM8

·Hotcakes (two pieces) RM9.10

Beloved: Malaysians’ popular breakfast, kopi, toast and half-boiled eggs.

OldTown White Coffee
nationwide

Breakfast is served from 8am to 11am

Tel: 03-8061 5411

Breakfast comes with a cup of kopi-o or black tea (hot/cold)

·My toast set RM3.90

Kaya and butter toast (single), Omega soft-bolied eggs

·My Meehoon set RM3.90

Meehoon Siam

·My nasi set RM4.90

Nasi lemak classic

·My noodle set RM4.90

Fried noodle

·My Western set RM5.90

Swiss Oven
KL Sentral, Kuala Lumpur

Hearty: Croissant and scrambled eggs from Set 2.

Breakfast is from 7am to 11am

Tel: 03-2260 3711

The breakfast set here is served with freshly brewed coffee or tea (small). The cafe only uses Arabica bean coffee and croissants are freshly baked daily.

·Set 1: Croissant (RM3.90)

·Set 2: Croissant and scrambled eggs (RM4.90)

·Set 3: Muffin (RM4.90)

·Set 4: Baguette with butter and kaya (RM4.90)

·Set 5: French toast (RM5.90)

·Set 6: Sausage and sunny side up egg (RM5.90)

·Set 7: Sausage, egg and beef bacon (RM6.90)

·Set 8: Sausage, sunny side up egg and baked beans (RM6.90)

Free delivery within KL Sentral. Catering services available within KL Sentral area.

Tappers
Jaya One, Petaling Jaya

Wholesome: The American breakfast at Tappers, Jaya 1.

Breakfast is from 8am to 11pm

Tel: 03-7958 3198

The sets are served with a choice of freshly brewed coffee, tea, lemon tea or lime juice.

·English breakfast: Sausage, beef bacon, two eggs, mushrooms, tomato and toast (RM7.80)

·American breakfast: Sausage, beef bacon, two eggs and two pancakes (RM7.80)

·Eggs and toast set: Two half-boiled Omega eggs with kaya and butter toast (RM5.50)

·French toast set: French toast served with honey and sugar (RM4.50)

·Pancake set: Three pieces of pancakes served with maple syrup (RM6)

Little Ben Cafe,
Kota Kemuning, Shah Alam

Breakfast is from 8am to 11am

Tel: 03-5121 0151

All sets are priced at RM2.90 nett and served with a glass of lemon slice water.

·Monday: Bitter gourd rice noodles soup

·Tuesday: Roti jagung

·Wednesday: Chicken floss porridge

·Thursday: Sandwiches (tuna fish or chicken breast meat with mayonnaise)

·Friday: Double match (kuey tiaw and rice noodles)

·Saturday: Honey and darling pancakes

·Sunday: Nasi pandan

Teh Tarik Place
IOI Mall, Puchong

Breakfast is from 8am to 12.30pm

Tel: 03-7726 6380

·Teh Tarik Breakfast: Toast with two half boiled eggs and teh tarik or coffee (RM5)

·Teh Tarik Big Breakfast: Nasi Lemak with whole egg and teh tarik or coffee (RM5.50).

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