"What the heck are baked eggs!? I'll get one of those." is how our love affair with this humble little cafe at the cusp of Kensington and Chinatown started. On an earlier than usual weekday morning while most shops in the market weren't even open yet, we followed our noses (to the smell of freshly brewed coffee) and the flow of the Chinese seniors into Average Joe's.
Every seat out front was filled with people-watching locals who clued us in to the cafe's cheap and cheerful vibe. Once inside, the friendliest barista/chef/cashier and a woman who (I assumed was his mother) cheerily greeted us from behind the counter of the open kitchen. There were surprisingly more than a few seats and tables in the considerably small room. We snagged the storefront corner table and ordered ourselves our coffees. Despite the unavailability of decaf and the espresso being far too strong (for my picky ex-barista tastes), more milk was happily added to dilute my iced latte to perfection.
The three super cheap items on the food menu include a classic breakfast, baked eggs, and spicy noodles. Now, back to the baked eggs. Two extra-large eggs (one cooked to medium, the other to well - how they do this in the same pot remains a mystery to me) and chopped tomatoes baked to perfection and served with buttered crusty toast wedges, a mountain of hearty home fries, and mixed greens topped with Cornuts (of all things!) and balsamic vinaigrette. It was already all going swimmingly until we were advised to try dipping the toast into the runnier part of the baked eggs - at which point, we melted and went to breakfast heaven.