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Story by: Chong Min Chong -Batch 4

 

Most, actually all the coffee shops in KB were operated by the immigrant Hainanese in the 1950’s. The early Hainanese were usually worked as cooks on European ships sailing from the Hong Kong to South East Asia, my father was one of them although he was a Hakka. He used his acquired culinary skills to work as the chef of the Managing Director of the BSP company in Panaga and KB.

Chong Min Chong
Story by: Chong Min Chong -Batch
Gram edited
Gramophone of the 1950’s

When WWII ended in 1943, he ventured into the business operating of a coffee shop and restaurant. A few years later Father switched his shop selling general merchandise including gramophone record players and records, SINGER sewing machines which was in great demand among the housewife to make clothes for their children. The native workers (Iban) used to buy the gramophone player and some records to show off their new toys playing sound and music from a small wooden box to entertain everyone in their village (long house). The village children and some grownups took curious & closer look near to the box to find the human playing inside the box!

Singer Sawing Machine
Afternoon coffee social meeting at an open market stores

As more construction companies providing services to Shell and the newly arriving workers would need to temporary accommodation, he renovated the upper floor of the shop into several bedrooms as a lodging house. It was profitable because it was the only lodging house for all the new landed immigrants, businessmen and workers. To make more rooms he bought a house, nearby, for us to stay and to walk to school.

Drinking kopi in the olden days were actually social gathering and net-work among the businessman as their daily ritual, sometimes to settle disputes and sharing business strategies. But during the weekend the kopi shops would be full of working class people for social gathering and to listen to gossips and news. (There was no radio, TV needless to say Facebook and etc.) In the past, coffee beans were roasted, in a large 3~4 feet diameter steel wok at the back lanes of the shop. The Kopi Towkay usually enhanced the taste of the roasted coffee beans with butter, manau ( the wax from a certain tree) , sugar and salt. The added sugar made the coffee beans darker with a taste of sweetness. Every kopi shop towkay(owner) has his own recipe and variety of the additives, this explained different coffee shops tasted different from one another.coffeetable

Drinking coffee was actually the awarding prize for the winners playing joker card games. During our school holidays, the Kuching St. Joseph and St. Thomas boys gathered at my father’s shop for a card game for 4. We ordered kopi and roti kahwin, the two losers paid for the kopi and toast. That was fun. Among those frequent players were: Lau Ching Hung, Dato John Puk Yuan Seng, myself, See Kui and the late Chong Thien Sung, the late Augustine Thn’g, and the late Khung Chin Choo.

kopi C kopi O
Manual coffee bean grinder in the late 1940’s early 1950’s
Kopi O , 2 soft boiled eggs & kaya toast
Kopi O , 2 soft boiled eggs & kaya toast

I still remember we used to  drinking the coffee from the cup saucer so as to reduce the temperature of the kopi, toasts and steam bread with home made kaya – the roti kawin!!! Dipping toasts into the mixed of two soft boiled eggs together and drinking the black kopi was the treat of the morning breakfast. Those were the days when we were young living in KB , Seria and Brunei Town!!! “Drinking gourmet coffee the Orang Puteh is a pursuit of a certain lifestyle, but drinking coffee shop coffee in Brunei is a daily affair,”

 

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