Abang Kampung Nasi Lemak

Abang Kampung Nasi Lemak may be quite a recent opening at the coffeeshop named Kai Xiang Food Centre at Blk 349 Jurong East Avenue 1 of Yuhua Place (it’s the same coffeeshop where Joo Siah Bak Koot Teh is situated in), but the stall previously had a short stint at Geylang it had closed and moved over here. Whilst serving up their Nasi Lemak in various sets with pre-determined ingredients, the highlight would probably be the Malaysian-style Nasi Lemak Bungkus that they serve up — the most basic form of Nasi Lemak where it comes with only the coconut-infused rice, cucumbers, peanuts and anchovies, half of a hard-boiled egg and chili all wrapped up in waxed paper and banana leaf.

Decidedly went for dine-in so the Nasi Lemak Bungkus comes served on a plate with waxed paper instead — also opted for an additional fried chicken wing for my order; still relatively cheap considering how the entire deal only costs $3.70. Digging into the coconut-infused rice, the rice was actually pretty decent here — served warm, the rice was sufficiently moist and it perfumes of a light coconut-y fragrance; it gets a little clumpy when it cools down, though personally it wasn’t too much of a bother. The chili that they serve here is pretty unlike the sweet sambal that one would have expected with local variants of Nasi Lemak; instead, the one here carried a savoury note without being too spicy — should do well for those whom have a lower tolerance to spiciness. Liked how the anchovies here are still crisp; gives another dimension of savouriness when had together with the rice and sambal. Was also actually pretty impressed with the fried chicken wing flavour-wise; there is a distinct note of turmeric that was consistent throughout the flesh, though it was a shame how these were fried in a batch and I presumed that they were left in the display from the morning (they open at 8am; we visited for lunch at around 1pm) and thus the flesh was a little tough with the batter lacking crispness, and the wing absorbing much of the oil as well.

Truth to be told, I was actually fairly impressed with the Nasi Lemak Bungkus at Abang Kampung Nasi Lemak — it’s affordable, and checks the right boxes for a good Nasi Lemak, though personally the issue with the fried chicken wing was one that was a deal breaker for me that I probably wouldn’t travel out of the way just to have this. That being said, perhaps their forte is in their other cooked dishes such as their rendang; items that I did not manage to try during my visit. Still, Abang Kampung Nasi Lemak is a spot I think residents around will come to appreciate — pretty decent Nasi Lemak that is worth going for as long as one isn’t making too far a trek out-of—the-way for