That was what I discovered when I went to ‘sbread’, a eatery whose specialty is condensed milk combined with MILO on toasted bread.

I asked myself why I had never thought of this idea before. Well, Will Chua, one of the proprietors of ‘sbread’, got the idea after he and three partners went to Bangkok and discovered such a recipe.

He likens it to “roti banjir Thai style”. This sounds like a diabetic patient’s nightmare. There’s a healthy twist to it (read on).

Will and his brother Danny together with Jinh Lim and Joyce Mah (who are husband and wife) opened ‘sbread’ in Kuala Lumpur after visiting ‘Heads or Tails’ restaurant which offers toasted bread roti kaya but with various kinds of spread.

According to Joyce, the four friends were fascinated by the dish and decided to franchise it in Kuala Lumpur. ‘sbread’ is a semi-franchise of Thailand’s ‘Heads or Tails’ with the former having its own specialties, one a mouldy-looking delicacy called Charcoal Bread, which is not offered in Bangkok.

The edible charcoal is made from the Moso bamboo which is naturally black in colour. It’s first carbonised over high heat, then ground into powder before mixed into the bread dough with sunflower seeds. They claim it can prevent cancer.

This isn’t a strange concept, having originated from Japan and now a popular health food in South Korea and Taiwan.

This edible charcoal powder, also known as The Amazing Black Diamond, has been used in soba noodles. It’s also used to purify water and to brush teeth with, as it is rich in natural minerals, lowers the body’s acidity levels, improves blood circulation and has cleansing properties.

The bread is bluish-purple in colour but doesn’t taste any different from normal bread — except that it is a little sweeter and costs RM9 a loaf.

The charcoal loaf isn’t the only specialty bread at ‘sbread’. To come up with something healthy and different, Joyce has studied the health trends in Taiwan and Japan, apart from the usual flourless and multigrain varieties.

The sesame loaf can be bought at RM5 and is fragrant especially when toasted and tastes good with a combination of spicy Thai chilli paste and chicken floss.

But that’s just the bread. The spreads are also unique in that you can have your bread spread with chilli paste imported from Thailand combined with chicken floss, warm bits of chunky taro (yam), vanilla kaya, peanut butter or melted dark chocolate, an interesting combination from sweet to savoury.

There are nine types of spreads and ideas for others. A slice of sbread costs between RM3.20 to RM4.50 depending on the type of bread. You can buy the pandan, vanilla or taro kaya spreads at RM3.80 for a small tub and RM4.80 for a bigger one.

Even their pink barley drink, made using Joyce’s grandmother’s recipe, serves healthy benefits. The pink hue comes from a leaf called “Rhoea Discolor” and when boiled with the barley, aids digestion, It’s rich in iron and phosphorous and an excellent source of fibre. And to retain its Thai roots, ‘sbread’ offers the Classic Thai Iced Tea, a staple drink in Thailand known as “cha yen” which has a nice floral fragrance with a hint of star anise, cinnamon and rose aroma.

‘sbread’ draws in the crowds especially children because of an intriguing butter hill that sits on a red pot facing the entrance. It’s a curious sight especially when combined with the kungfu movements to slather the right amount of butter on the slices of bread.

When asked how the mound stands all day without melting, Joyce cheekily said: “It’s the magic fingers and I say a little prayer every morning so that it stands.”

And so, bread can now be found in black and eaten deliciously.