It’s now $4 a box but I still love it. Fried rice from Wellington Street Bus Station makes a perfect breakfast.
I sneak my box of fried rice into the kitchen and quietly heat it up in the microwave hoping no one will come in and ask me what that smell is and ask, “What, fried rice for breakfast?” I just can’t be bothered having THAT conversation. Kind of like when I answered the door one Sunday morning holding a plate of leftover curry and rice that I was eating, and Jac’s mum said, with a strange expression on her face (a cross between horror, amusement and disbelief) “My goodness, you’re eating curry for BREAKFAST?”
Whenever Jac cooks fried rice, she always makes sure there’s extra so I can have some for breakfast the next morning.
TFP’s favourite “unbreakfasty”* foods
Fried rice
Noodles
Leftover Chinese home delivery
Leftovers “whatever we had for dinner”
Curry and rice
Baked beans and corn kernels with leftover rice (when I have a rice/savoury/hot breakfast craving, I throw these three things in a bowl and then zap them in the microwave – in fact, I’m going to do this right now!)
Cold pizza, KFC, chicken nuggets
Feel free to share your favourite “unbreakfasty” foods!
*”Unbreakfasty” to most people I know.
I'm TFP, a food blogger from Perth, Western Australia.
{ 56 comments… read them below or add one }
Chee Cheung Fun
Maggi Assam Laksa instant noodles
Most things savoury!
I’ve had leftovers for breakfast before but I’m convinced that leftover, cold, pizza for breakfast tastes even better than fresh, hot, pizza. I’ll usually buy more than I can eat just so I can have some for breakfast the next day.
Looks good!
Hmmm, unbreakfasty food: As a kid while taking family trips my parents sometimes let us have a cheeseburger and fries. :-p
But as an adult? Peanut butter on toast. I’ve craved KFC for breakfast. Oh! Enchiladas. :-) Leftover enchilada dinner (including mashed pinto beans and “Spanish” rice) with a soft-fried egg on top, dollop of sour cream. :-D
Strangest “other” breakfast? Menudo. It’s a Mexican soup with tripe OR pig’s feet and hominy in a spicy tomato broth with oregano. I’ve seen locals eat it at 5:30 a.m. with a small mound of freshly chopped onion and lime wedges. :-O
…and hot/crispy potato gems (aka tater tots) as a kid, nicely salted with a pool of ketchup on the side. My sister still razzes me about that, lol. “You ever still have just tater tots for breakfast??” ;-p
I love to have ramen for breakfast. Italian heros are another favorite.
Ahaha this post is great :) Yesterday morning I had a snack bag of Dibs (bite sized chocolate covered ice cream cubes) for breakfast. I don’t mind leftover pizza for breakfast, but I always throw it under the broiler/grill so that it warms/crispens up to original quality. I’d take cold over microwaved however! I can’t stand microwaved pizza — too soggy!
I guess I’m not the only one with a strange palate then. I love leftovers for breakfasts, and I really detest the traditional cereal with cold milk. (blech)
Any leftovers from any big dinner the night before
Butternut squash soup
Pasta Putanesca
Fried Rice, too.
Homemade Mac & Cheese
…There’s more, I just can’t think of them.
I think those are all excellent breakfast foods! They’re all very Asian breakfast-like, aren’t they?
I love the bewildered expression of “You’re having that?!?!”
My list includes: instant noodles, stew, fried rice, chinese takeout leftovers and pizza.
We love chicken liver pate (from Dubrovniks) on toast for brekky! :)
fried kuey teow drowned with curry and topped with a sunny side up. never fails to make my day!
Oh, wow! Now, Lyd, *that* sounds like a heavenly breakfast!!
I love fried rice for breakky, especially with a fresh cooked egg on top (runny yolk) and a sprinkle of fried shallot. And leftovers first thing in the morning is much more likely than cereal’n'milk in my household :-)
Aww u shouldn’t have to sneak ard and justify what you eat for breakfast! Just tell those incredulous people that it is your Asian stomach that gives you the incredible ability to stomach almost everything at any time of the day! I don’t really have unbreakfasty foods, but I do have breakfast favourites!! Right now I’m working my way through a packet of nasi lemak..mmmm.
To be honest I had leftover homemade lamb curry for breakfast this morning. As an adult.. I think it’s fine to make that decision for myself.. just don’t tell my Mum that’s what I had for brekky, eep.
Sometimes my kids get into the unfrosted cupcakes for breakfast. Beats sugary cereal :D
Wantan mee or fishball noodles, dry style! Nasi lemak with all the trimmings. Leftover pizza, but heated up.
I suppose noodles and rice aren’t atypical breakfast foods to Singaporeans and Malaysians but the rest of the world..perhaps.
Leftover birthday cake!
i think it’s a way of how we chinese prefer savory over sweet for breakfast. other than beancurd i can’t really think of anything sweet chinese usually have for breakfast. i always love a warm bowl of noodle soup for breakfast =)
I like everything you have listed except the baked beans & rice (I have yet to try that!) and Curry and rice is one of my go to comfort foods and it’s good at allllll hours of the day :D
In my native Belgium, it is extremely common to eat slices of (often white) bread with chocolate. All kinds of chocolate are used; bars, very thin slices and even sprinkles. I can even “prove” this:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lieludalis/2206767894/
Only after I started living in other countries did I realize that not everyone considers that normal breakfast food.
hahahahahaha…..i ever heard it’s the Asian thing to do – having un-breakfast food for breakkie.
in s’pore, if i feel perky, i’d go for nasi lemak. high carbo + high oil + no greens + chilli.
but the one tat made my ex-colleagues churn in their stomach is 2 fried chicken wings (drumlet attached) + a cup of tea for breakfast.
they say peeps who go to the gym would hate me. hehehe…..
I’m with you…… left over curry or noodle dishes (Phad Thai especially) are my favourite breakfast food and my husband thinks I’m a little crazy too and raises his eyebrows over his fruit toast!
I eat leftovers for breakfast all the time. Normal breakfast food usually isn’t enough to keep me full until lunch!
mmm okay lemme see
instant noodles, leftover pizza or chicken wraps.
A bog standard meat pie with tomato sauce is a breakfast I love. A sausage roll with sauce is doable, but somehow not as good
Wait, I can’t imagine having curry and rice for breakfast.
But curry with roti canai/pratha bread is ok.
Sounds contradicting huh?
I ate leftover dinner for breakfast today. Spaghetti, broccoli and bacon. Yammi!
-Pizza
-Noodles
-Pie
-Sausage Roll
-Scotch and Dry ( whatever I didnt finish drinking last night)
-Kebab
-Chips and Steak (only had it once for breakfast. AWESOME AND ORGASM in one….an AWEGASM )
Spaghetti, ramen noodles, lipton noodle packets, leftover pizza, anything leftover, actually! This morning I had a leftover taco from last night’s dinner.
It’s better than traditional breakfast food, in my opinion! I’m with you TFP ;)
im singaporean, and my FAVOURITE breakfast is fried noodles (mix of beehoon and slightly thicker noodles) plus a fried egg and some super soft cabbage and fried luncheon meat. plus “teh” (the local tea)
absolutely orgasmicccc.
**digression: totally cannot understand cold pizza. isnt the cold oil gross? hmmm.
Hahahaha.. my friend linked me because she thought she recognised the picture, as well as the mentioned “Fried rice from Wellington Street Bus Station” reference. That’s my dad’s fried rice! From our bakery. I will no doubt show him this page, he’ll be a very proud man. Thanks FP.
Marc Corluy: I’m thinking “Nutella.”
The craziest thing I ever ate for breakfast (as a teenager) was pecan pie. *Mistake!* :-( My blood sugar level nearly went through the roof; probably a minor miracle I didn’t wind up in the local ER. :-(
Another unbreakfasty fav: Spaghetti.
But I do LOVE traditional breakfasts of potatoes, eggs, bacon/sausage, buttered toast, sausage gravy over biscuits. Could eat that twice a day nearly every day!
Salad is my favorite but fried rice isn’t bad either!
It’s fantastic reading about your unbreakfasty foods, guys!
I can’t believe I didn’t think about meat pie and sausage rolls! Though I don’t think a meat pie or sausage roll for breakfast is as weird to many people over here. It’s a lot more common to see people eating those for breaky than fried rice! :-P
I love Mexican food for breakfast too – tacos, burritos, whatever we have have left. Mmmmm, nothing like a bit of chilli first thing in the morning.
If I lived in SE Asia I would be always eating fried noodles or nasi lemak or fish ball soup for breaky. When we were kids in Malaysia, I used to love going with my mum to the fresh food markets before school because she’d let me have breakfast at one of the hawker stalls – I always had a tough time choosing between char siu wantan mee, fish ball kway teow soup or chee cheong fun. :-P
Su-Lin,
Yes! Definitely very asian! And very “rice pot”. In fact, as I type this, I’m thinking about eating rice for breaky again! We do have some cooked rice in the fridge…
Marc Corluy,
Mmmmm, I’m not a chocoholic, but that photo of chocolate/sprinkles on bread actually looks great! I’d totally try it. I like Nutella (we don’t buy it though, because I’d be eating it at every opportunity, digging a spoon or finger into the jar at all times), but I reckon chocolate bar and sprinkles would be interesting textures. Yum.
hy,
I used to think cold oil/cold fat would be gross, but for whatever reason, I love it in pizza and KFC.
Eric,
AWEGASM! I love it! :-P
Chris,
Awesome! :D Tell your dad I’ve been eating his fried rice for years. I’ve posted about it before. I love it!
cold indian takeaway is a massive favourite. there’s something about cold naan bread (only the takeaway version, though) that’s SO good for breakfast.
i guess i’m somewhat the other way round, though, in that i’ll eat “breakfasty” foods at other times of the day. sometimes, if i just want a light tea and can’t be bothered to cook, special k with red berries (made by kellogg’s – don’t know if it exists in australia?) and ice cold milk is all it takes. or warm weetabix with a mountain of sugar. i can’t think of a better lunch. (:
in honesty, though, i think i could stomach anything for breakfast. (as long as it’s not too early – can’t stand eating if i’ve just woken up)
I’ve always liked the warm, savory “regular” breakfast foods – fried potatoes, eggs, bacon, sausage – much more than the cold/sweet ones. I always enjoyed the Dutch style breakfast when I visited friends there – bread & butter with various topings… cheese, appelstroop, cold cuts, jam, peanut butter, chocolate spread/shavings/sprinkles…. I never thought to eat “unbreakfasty” foods in the morning until I lived in Japan, though. I became a huge fan of the typical salad/pickled veggies/tamagoyaki/salmon/rice/miso soup combo. That started me down the path of “unbreakfasty” foods. Now, I prefer the Japanese breakfast stuff or something with noodles or rice, slurp-y sauce, veggies, & eggs for breakfast, and the warm breakfast foods for dinner! The one thing I really don’t like in the morning is spicy food – that’s just not that appealing when I’m still half asleep, for some reason.
I’m so glad to know I’m not as alone/weird as I thought I was! =)
I actually can’t stomach “breakfast” foods until late in the day! Sticky-sweet smells just make me ill in the morning! Cold pizza, a BLT, ramen with corn and peas, leftover pot pie, really whatever’s leftover from last night is what I prefer for breffy!
Left over curry eaten cold but in secret from other half so he doesn’t think I am any more wierd than he already does!
Anything leftover I will eat for brekky, but one of my fave’s is Lasagne.
I can just hear Pattycakes too!
I like bak kut teh for breakfast also, but lots of ppl i know eat that although its pretty heavy and very unhealthy :)
fried rice, steamed pork rib rice, curry chicken, tuna fish sandwich, wonton noodle soup, roast duck noodle soup, meat balls, chicken glutinous rice in lotus leaf etc All good breakfast food!
My mom freaks out every time I grab a bag of potato chips for brekky and down it with icy cold Coke :)
My mom freaks out every time I grab a bag of potato chips for brekky and down it with icy cold Coke :)
I eat bruschetta for breakfast – chopped tomato with balsamic and oil dressing with basil on toast. I took them on a tram once and people looked at me funny.
I’m also indiscriminate when it comes to left over: curry, roast, cake, anything.
My favourite is salt fried rice though: take cold leftover rice and put through a raw egg until it’s all sticky. then fry in a bit of butter and add salt.
Pizza, Pasta, and soups – if good the first day, are generally better the second.
And I don’t know why some people dislike cold pizza. It’s great. I like a pepperoni, bacon, semi-dried tomato, pineapple, spanish onion and chilli pizza. Great zing in the morning.
Then again, I tend to eat weetbix for dinner if I get home late. Hot milk and brown sugar if it’s a really cold winter’s night – cold milk and raw sugar otherwise.
hmmm here in SA, we normally love left over Braai aka BBQ, meat, salads, rolls etc! yum!
Vodka is my favorite breakfast! Unfortunatly I can’t drink before work so I dont get it as often as I would like…
Hello. I’m a bit late here but I just thought I’d throw in another vote for anything involving noodle soups – ideally with boiled pork dumplings and steamed spinach. Washed down with Jasmine Tea.
Personally I think the worst breakfast on the planet is the one you see most mornings on the streets… an unfeasibly large can of energy drink on a presumably empty stomach….
Oh yes – noodle soup makes a fantastic breakfast! Ugh, those super tall cans of energy drink look lethal – I’ve never drunk any of them and don’t plan to ever.
Am completely behind the times here but am reading your blog for the first time today. I am generally a savoury-over-sweet person, but for breakfast I love leftover desserts: my big favourites are pavlova, strawberry and cream sponge cake, apple pie, and rice pudding (which I dont even think is that strange since it is practically porridge with rice instead of oats).
Huge fan of leftover Indian takeout on a Saturday or Sunday morning, chicken tikka saag (spicy spinach sauce) is my favorite. It doesn’t go too well with coffee, though, so I have the coffee first then bust out the leftovers!
Mandy,
I’ve eaten leftover trifle for breakfast, and it was awesome. Though my ideal would be some sort of hot cooked breakfast followed by dessert. :P
Kate,
Oh yes – curry for breakfast is so good. In fact, for breakfast this morning I had leftover Thai green curry chicken with rice. It was a particularly yummy green curry, with chicken, eggplant, baby corn, zucchini and peas in it. So good for breaky.
pizza, and leftovers are great for breaky. i had left over cous cous and curry the other morning. i only like cereal last thing at night.
Any type of leftover curry, bonus if it has potatoes. I also like to eat hot rice with a drizzle of fish sauce and a fried egg( cooked in enough oil so it bubbles up ) whacked on top of the rice. I like to eat balachung with this, it is a fried chilli, garlic and dried shrimp burmese condiment, baked beans on toast with this are also yummy. My husband doesn’t like me eating it in the morning because it gives me bad breath.
Sour soup and rice, rice porridge and any type of noodle soup.
All left overs always taste better the next day, so whatever is in the fridge.
food freak,
Yep, I’m always raiding the fridge leftovers for breaky. I always make sure I have minty gum to freshen my breath if I eat particularly “fragrant” food at any time of day. Ohhh I love curry for breakfast. Noodle soup and rice porridge too. This morning I had leftover Hainanese chicken rice for breaky. It was great, washed down with a cup of tea.
Sounds great ! I don’t want a chewy afterwards as it will get rid of the great taste im savoring in my mouth lol .