Enak Sedap Nasi Kahwin (Lau Pa Sat)

Lau Pa Sat has been seeing yet another switcheroo with its tenants lately — this time round, the market is also seeing some renovations happening around the beverage and desserts stall that is situated in the middle of the market. With notable tenants such as Koung’s Express, Shi Hui Yuan Original Singapore Hor Fun and Jin Xi Lai (Mui Siong) Minced Meat Noodle moving out of their respective stalls, there is ample of space for new tenants to move into Lau Pa Sat. One of the few stalls that had recently opened at Lau Pa Sat is Enak Sedap Nasi Kahwin; occupying a unit with a dual frontage facing both inwards at other stalls as well as outwards towards the direction of the main roads surrounding the market, Enak Sedap Nasi Kahwin shares a space with ParTea Express at Lau Pa Sat. Enak Sedap Nasi Kahwin is not a new concept to the F&B scene; there is already another outlet of Enak Sedap Nasi Kahwin that is operating within the Cantine Corner food court the recently-renovated Admiralty Place. Being a stall that is intended to serve the Muslim community, Enak Sedap Nasi Kahwin features a menu that does not seem to be of a “no pork no lard” — items are also served on a green plate to further distinguish from the items served up at other stalls. The menu at Enak Sedap Nasi Kahwin revolves around their flavoured rice offerings; one can either go for the Nasi Kahwin Combos that sees the rice being accompanied with a choice of two meats and two vegetables, or their Nasi Kuning that comes with one choice of meat and two vegetables for something that is less filling. Side dishes such as the various meats and vegetables can also be ordered ala-carte at Enak Sedap Nasi Kahwin, while they also offer Mee Siam and Mee Rebus for those whom are looking for noodle dishes here. Those looking for a light bite would also be happy to know that Enak Sedap Nasi Kahwin does serve up Crispy Sardine / Curry Puff as well.

Visiting Enak Sedap Nasi Kahwin during a weekday lunch service just right before the office crowds start to form during lunch peak hours, there wasn’t much of a queue at Enak Sedap Nasi Kahwin — perhaps this is because of how they are still a pretty new tenant within Lau Pa Sat. We opted for the Nasi Kuning Chicken Whole Leg since the fried chicken leg did look pretty good at the counter; we did find our subsequently that patrons have the flexibility to go for the chicken leg from what seems to be Ayam Masak Lemak Cili Padi (Chicken in Spicy Turmeric Curry) or the Ayam Masak Merah (Chicken in Spicy Tomato Sauce — or could it be Ayam Rendang here?) as well. Patrons also do get a choice to opt for two of the vegetables that they serve up to go with their Nasi Kuning / Kahwin order — the “vegetables” being turmeric cauliflower dish, a dish featuring long beans, or Sambal Telur (i.e. Sambal Egg). We decided to opt for the Fried Chicken Leg, long beans and the turmeric cauliflower dish for our order of the Nasi Kuning Chicken Whole Leg. The highlight of the Nasi Kuning Chicken Whole Leg that we have had is undeniably the yellow flavoured rice; the long grain rice here is considerably fluffy, but what really got us going for more is how fragrant it is from all the turmeric and other spices that it is being prepared with — definitely found it a little bit difficult to stop since it was pretty flavourful on its own. The Fried Chicken Leg on the other hand felt pedestrian; no doubt looking quite good in the display, but the chicken leg seems to have lost quite a bit of crispiness and juiciness having been prepared in batches and placed at the counter for an extended period of time — not too bothersome, though it did have somewhat of an impact to the entire experience altogether. We were also somewhat bummed that they didn’t quite include those fried crumbs that would have given the entire dish a bit more texture overall. Nonetheless, the crunch came from the long beans and turmeric cauliflower — the former being more savoury with a slight hint of sweetness from the caramalised onions, while the latter comes with a prominent hint of turmeric and a lightly spicy kick that would work fine for those with moderate tolerance to spiciness.

Enak Sedap Nasi Kahwin does deserve some form of commendation for its efforts in bringing Nasi Kuning to the masses — it is only in recent times that we are starting to see such forms of cuisine starting to really make waves in the local food scene here at a broader scale. That being said, the quality of the Enak Sedap Nasi Kahwin leans closer towards a mass market offering; something that perhaps would be more suitable for those whom are approaching the Nasi Kuning for their very first time, or for those whom are seemingly less picky with their food — the Nasi Kuning is most certainly the highlight of the dish here, though the other elements do feel somewhat more pedestrian in general and were nothing much the shout about. The Nasi Kahwin Combo are the more pricier items here at Enak Sedap Nasi Kahwin; understandably so because of how the Nasi Kahwin does come with two different types of meats – the Nasi Kahwin Combos are priced at $10.50 to $12.50 depending if one opts for simply chicken or chicken leg. The Nasi Kuning items that feature one protein are the more wallet-friendly dishes here; priced between $6 to $7.50, the Nasi Kuning items are priced in a way that is competitive against the other offerings available at Lau Pa Sat. Overall, Enak Sedap Nasi Kahwin is pretty much like most of the other tenants at Lau Pa Sat; they do offer a decent meal though there really isn’t anything artisanal with the items that they are offering here — something that satisfies for those looking for something a little different at Lau Pa Sat without too much of an expectation of what they will be getting out of it.