No trip to Singapore is complete without a classic kopitiam breakfast: charcoal-grilled toast brushed with buttery, coconutty kaya jam; a couple of freshly cracked, half-boiled eggs, swimming in soy sauce and a dash of white pepper; and a strong cup of kopi. To order your coffee like a local, memorize a few refrains: kopi-c is coffee with unsweetened evaporated milk and a little sugar, kopi-o is black coffee with sugar, and kopi-o peng is iced black coffee with sugar. Like Vietnamese coffee, the sock-strained stuff has got a serious kick, so don’t be a showoff and order it black (kopi-kosong) unless you really want to taste its robustness.

Since there’s more than 3,000 coffeeshops in Singapore, finding a fairly priced breakfast is easy. Just ask a local for a neighborhood recommendation—Singaporeans are very opinionated about their food—or head to one of the city-state’s universally loved chains. Killiney Kopitiam, pictured above, was founded by Hainanese immigrants in 1919 and didn’t become the major brand it is today until a longtime customer, T.S. Woon, bought out the original shop in 1993. A major expansion followed over the next two decades, but the Killiney Road flagship is as scruffy and BS-free as ever. For additional locations throughout Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Hong Kong, China, Brunei, and Myanmar, check the website.

67 Killiney Rd., Singapore; +65-6734-3910.