Get to know the duo behind 2nd Breakfast

The Lara Supreme, 2nd Breakfast’s most beloved menu item has an origin story backdating the business as a whole. “When I started dating her (Lara), I tried out vegetarianism for a year which was a bit of a culture shock for me. I couldn't eat anywhere,” says Zaim, who goes on to explain that while maintaining a plant-based diet in Malaysia has become significantly easier since 2017, modifying readily available meals was once a necessity.

Taking a page out of Lara’s book of life hacks, Zaim ordered a sausage egg McMuffin from McDonald’s but replaced the sausage with a hashbrown. “They used to serve grape jam, so she said put the jam on the hashbrown with a bit of chilli sauce. I was like ‘That’s wack,’ but I tried it and it blew my mind. It shouldn’t work but it does,” Zaim continues. 

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Another popular offering, The OG, is a toasted English muffin sandwich featuring a buttered egg disk, torched white and yellow cheddar, and sun-dried tomato mayo. This unique creation has a similarly interesting origin story. Lara fondly recalls it being inspired by the best breakfast sandwich she ever had at a Vancouver coffee shop named Java Café, run by a Korean couple while studying there.

“Everything was done really well. Even their ‘secret sauce’ was just sun-dried tomato mayo. I don’t even think they torched the cheese. It just melted,” says Lara. “I think she just used egg whites and microwaved them. Literally the simplest of sandwiches. The OG is good but doesn’t come close. I spent 3 or 4 years trying to replicate what I ate there,” she tells me, completely aware of the strangeness of microwaved eggs.

Zaim acknowledges the profound influence of Java Café, and they credit the café for sparking the idea of their business. The duo’s menu is distinctive, incorporating cooking techniques inspired by their experiences, including the memorable microwaved eggs from the Canadian café.

Despite boasting an entirely vegetarian menu, 2nd Breakfast does not advertise itself as a vegetarian joint unless explicitly asked. Lara explains, “All of them (the sandwiches) have their own personality, and there aren’t a lot of breakfast sandwiches that focus on flavours that don’t have meat. There’s this huge stigma in Southeast Asian countries that a meal isn’t complete without meat. That’s simply not true. We’re not trying to be preachy about a vegetarian diet, but we want to push that good food is good food.”

Redefining preconceived notions of vegetarianism in Malaysia, 2nd Breakfast has been told to hone in on its meatless-ness but opts not to, refusing to perpetuate the idea that plant-based fare is “a compromise”.

Nothing about 2nd Breakfast is a compromise. “Everyone tells us to go upmarket, but that works against the community aspects,” says Zaim. Community-building, while not taking precedence over the food, is at the forefront of 2nd Breakfast’s intentions. Without a brick-and-mortar location, customers rely on social media and digital marketing to locate 2nd Breakfast, leading to a growing and dedicated customer base.

Zaim recalls a standout experience where a customer tried for a month to find 2nd Breakfast to reunite with his favourite sandwich, The OG. “I think my favourite moment in this business is the wholesome community we’ve gotten to know in doing pop-ups,” Lara adds. “It’s a super supportive community. Almost everywhere we go, there’s this nice collective energy that we can lean back on,” she continues.

“It’s like making friends every single time, and when we come back, it’s like we’re hanging out with friends. That little friend group that is our customer base just gets wider and wider, and it’s really wholesome to see that they don’t just come for the food, they come to see how we’re doing and to hang out and support us,” says Zaim fondly.

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After closing out 2023 with a techno event, 2nd Breakfast Club, that marked their slow but sure introduction into the event space, I ask them if the local culinary landscape is in need of more dining options specifically catered to gig spaces and events. “It’s pretty new, this whole thing. Like when do you see a techno event with breakfast sandwiches, you know?” answers Zaim.

Stifling a laugh, Lara answers, “There are like three markets every weekend, with so many vendors. It’s a snake that bites its own tail because people are going to gravitate towards the more crowded stalls and they’ll look at emptier stalls and won’t go. But at an event you’re only going to have a handful of vendors to showcase each one. I wish it was different and people put a bit more focus on this because there are so many small businesses without a brick and mortar.”

The two conclude that pop-up only businesses, especially in the culinary world, should be made more accessible with a marketplace or database of small businesses that customers can look up–an in-between for small business owners teetering on risky investments or abandoning their passion.

While 2nd Breakfast’s future plans entail more pop-ups and grassroots events, consistency is something that the pair hope will pick up this year. “Our plan is to actually try and attach ourselves to an already existing business to have a brick and mortar space that we don’t have to fully invest in. We don’t really want to rush into anything and make the wrong decision but we’re going by feeling, which is what we always do,” Lara says.

Built on intuition, genuine passion, and discontinued grape jam, 2nd Breakfast will only grow in the coming year. With the hopes of transitioning into a moving restaurant–a food truck, but not quite–fortified by a DJ deck playing music of their choosing, the duo are set to make the local culinary scene their own. “We don’t want it to just be one thing. We want it to be whatever the hell we want,” concludes Lara.

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