Dickson Nasi Lemak (Tanjong Pagar)

The beef rendang is actl alright. Spices were there and reasonbaly tender

Egg was avg, rice had a decent aroma of coconut milk and pandan with some body, but was not particularly noteworthy. Ikan bilis was flavourful but ABIT hard. Sambal was weak asf

If this is the standard at joo chiat, then I'm lack I didn't travel all the way there

It's a decent nasi lemak, but the weak sambal is really inexcusable

Sigh....
Walked here w my damn luggage just to find this out

They're near Tokyo Soba btw, the internal map isn't updated yet

I propose their timings change to 10am, they're called Dickson nasi lemak for god's sake who cares about their breakfast time

The news of Dickson Nasi Lemak expanding their operations had been going around for a while now — there has been some postings on social media that came subsequent to the initial announcement made, and they had finally since opened their doors of their second location. Located at Icon Village at Tanjong Pagar, Dickson Nasi Lemak is actually situated within two different shop units within the mall — the food preparation area and the ordering counter being at the space where the outlet of Hong Kong Flaky Lotus 香港優之品麵包酥餅 used to be, while the dine-in space is in the isolated shop m unit situated outside of the mall that used to be occupied by the now-defunct Tom N Toms Coffee (the other unit that they once operated at out from being currently tenanted out to Alice Boulangerie). Dickson Nasi Lemak is a concept by the same folks behind Champion Polo Bun that is located at Tanjong Pagar Road, and is famed for its Malaysian-style Nasi Lemak that replicates the likes of Village Park Restaurant’s rendition in Kuala Lumpur. What makes the Tanjong Pagar outlet different is the inclusion of the dine-in area; whilst being one that is especially tight with only a small number of seats that caters to most groups of four (4) pax, this is quite the difference as compared to the their original location at Joo Chiat Road that operates on a purely takeaway basis only — the establishment still being pretty popular garnering a queue whenever it opens nonetheless. For their location at Tanjong Pagar, Dickson Nasi Lemak does offer their usual line-up of Nasi Lemak that includes the Basic Set (no meat), Ayam Goreng Berempah Set, Chicken Rendang Set (available only Monday to Wednesday) and the Beef Rendang Set (available only Thursday to Sunday) — exclusively available at this location would be the Ala Carte Breakfast and Breakfast Set Meal items that includes the Roti Bakaar and Croissant Bakaar.

Having tried their Ayam Goreng Berempah Set previously at their Joo Chiat Road location, we had decided to switch things up and opt for their Chicken Rendang Set when we dropped by on a weekday for lunch. It is interesting to note that all their Set Meals comes inclusive with the patron’s choice of hot or iced Kopi or Teh — we found ourselves opting for the hot Kopi for our order. There is some waiting time involved for the food to be ready to be collected from the counter; patrons will be issued with an electronic buzzer which is used to page them once the order is ready for collection. Despite being an establishment with a dine-in element, Dickson Nasi Lemak serves up their food in disposal ware — while not exactly eco-friendly considering the number of one-time use plastics are involved per order, it does seem to hint that they do intend for the Tanjong Pagar location to be a fast dining establishment with quick turnarounds. The Chicken Rendang Set comes with all the usual suspects — coconut rice, fried egg, cucumber, anchovies, peanuts and sambal; all that whilst coming with slow-cooked Chicken Rendang that comes in a separate container. Given how we have had their Ayam Goreng Berempah Set before, we found ourselves still preferring their Ayam Goreng Berempah Set a little more — not that the Chicken Rendang Set wasn’t good, but the Ayam Goreng Berempah does make a hell lot of difference for the Nasi Lemak here especially in terms of the texture of the overall dish. With that being said, the Chicken Rendang is still very flavourful on its own; the Rendang has been reduced to a point where it gets a little lumpy and does come with an evident note of the spices that includes turmeric and lemongrass — the boneless chunks of chicken being adequately sized and sufficiently tender and moist as well.

The coconut rice here comes in the form of short grains here; what is really impressive with Dickson Nasi Lemak’s version is how incredibly light a fluffy the rice is — each grain being distinguishable from one another, whilst coming with a light whiff of coconut-y fragrance that was evident but not overwhelming. It also does not come with the heavy note of ginger that some variants of Nasi Lemak turns out to be. Another winner in Dickson Nasi Lemak’s variant of the Nasi Lemak would be the sambal — their version of the Nasi Lemak sambal always being a little more complex than that of other establishments whereby there is an underlying sweet and earthy note almost akin to Kecap Manis to round the flavours off nicely. The sambal also carries a fiery note whilst being sweet like how it should have been as well, carrying a level of spiciness that should work well for those whom are tolerable to moderate levels of spiciness. The anchovies here come at just the right degree of saltishness, and carries a crunch without feeling limp. That being said, we weren’t a fan of the fried egg that came with the Chicken Rendang Set — while this is a bit of a change from the boiled egg that we have had with their Ayam Goreng Berempah Set previously at their Joo Chiat Road location, the fried egg came in the way that some would call the “plastic egg”. It comes without the light and crisp browned edges that we were looking for; the yolk also coming fully-cooked as well.

Whilst beverages are being served up at their location in Joo Chiat Road, the Tanjong Pagar location marks their very first time serving up hot beverages. The Hot Kopi was actually surprisingly good; one that carries that roasty aroma of traditionally-brewed Kopi in its body, whilst not being overly sweet. For the most part, Dickson Nasi Lemak does seem to achieve a fairly consistent quality across both its outlets — between the common elements of the Ayam Goreng Berempah Set that we have had at their Joo Chiat location against the Chicken Rendang Set that we had went for this time round, we found the flavours and textures of the various elements to have been quite close — the only significant difference being the style of the egg that came with the dish. Prices of the Set Meals at their Tanjong Pagar outlet are priced between $6.50 for the Basic Set, to $12.50 for the Ayam Goreng Berempah Set (Chicken Leg). Whilst being priced at a premium compared to the usual Nasi Lemak, the prices can be described as rather reasonable for establishments serving up such styles of Nasi Lemak. Considering the popularity that these folks already have built up since their Joo Chiat days, do expect a crowd at their Tanjong Pagar outlet especially on weekdays in time to come!