Roti Boy

Rotiboy is so easy to locate once you’re within a ten-metre radius. The fragrant smell of coffee and baking bread wafts into my nostrils, and the next thing I do would be to turn to my mum and say, “You want to buy hor?”

My entire family loves Rotiboy’s coffee buns, a passion that didn’t quite get passed down to me. Whenever we passed by a stall at either Johor Bahru or Penang, my mum would go out of control and buy a crazy number, like ten buns, at one go. I’d inevitably have to have one for breakfast, and while it is tasty - sweet, crispy and fluffy - I wasn’t too crazy over it. I did understand the hype, but I just wasn’t that into it.

Something I really like about Rotiboy would just be its nostalgic, familiar smell. It’s sad that there aren’t anymore outlets in Singapore, and sometimes I actually find myself anticipating coffee buns on the table whenever my mum returns from a JB shopping trip.

I regret that RotiBoy ceased its existence in Singapore. During its heydays, long queues would form just to catch fresh RotiBoys out of the oven.

I remember loving just to sit outside the Toa Payoh outlet, enjoying the aroma of coffee and butter coming out from the baking RotiBoys. I remembered them costing about $1.50 and I could easily finish 4 with a hot cup of coffee for tea.

Fond memories.