For foodies whom have been following the happenings of the local F&B scene over the years and those whom are staying up North in the island, Lavender Nasi Lemak may not be a particularly new name — Lavender Nasi Lemak is an establishment that had first opened its doors in 2021. Given its namesake, some would have probably associated them to being a stall that is located in Lavender; that being said, the namesake has nothing in relation to where they are situated — these folks have started off as a coffeeshop stall located within the Yishun Acacia neighbourhood at Blk 504 Yishun Street 51. That location had since become defunct, and Lavender Nasi Lemak had moved out of Yishun and into Sembawang; now located in yet another coffeeshop at Blk 361 Sembawang Crescent within the Sun Natura housing estate that is just a couple of steps away from a bus stop — their neighbours being a western cuisine stall. Occupying a stall unit that is similarly sized to that of their previous location, Lavender Nasi Lemak is still dishing out their lavender-hued rice in their Signature Thai Nasi Lemak items at their Sembawang location; they do also have the same non-Nasi Lemak rice dishes such as the Basil Chicken, Rice and Egg at their new location as well. That being said the menu at Sembawang seems to have extended to a wider variety of items, including Phad Thai and Thai Beef / Chicken Noodle Soup as well.

Since this was our very first visit made to Lavender Nasi Lemak ever since their inception (we had never been to their Yishun location despite wanting to head there for quite a while), we decided to forgo on giving their other items a try and solely focused on their Signature Thai Nasi Lemak offerings instead. One thing that Lavender Nasi Lemak had been mentioning about their Signature Thai Nasi Lemak is how their Signature Thai Nasi Lemak is one that is Thai-inspired; while they are not quite the first ones to come up with such a concept (there was a 66 Nasi Lemak situated at Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 2 and an Aroi Nasi Lemak concept introduced by the folks behind Thai Dynasty serving the same at one point of time), we do believe that Lavender Nasi Lemak might be the only concept of its type that is still in operations around the island. There are different options of meat / seafood that Lavender Nasi Lemak offers with their Signature Thai Nasi Lemak dishes — examples include Chicken Wing, Sambal Prawn and Fried Dory Fish. We decided to give both the Fried Chicken Thigh Nasi Lemak and the BBQ Chicken Nasi Lemak a go when we made our visit during weekend lunch. Lavender Nasi Lemak does describe the condiments that come with their Signature Thai Nasi Lemak, but apart from the meat options that the patron goes for and the lavender-hued Nasi Lemak rice, all Signature Thai Nasi Lemak items include peanuts and anchovies, as well as an omelette — they also have included a side of papaya salad which replaces the slices of cucumber that is typically served up at usual Nasi Lemak stalls.

While there are quite a number of stalls these days that uses blue pea flower-infused rice for their offerings these days, Lavender Nasi Lemak’s Nasi Lemak rice used in their Signature Thai Nasi Lemak had always looked a little different from what others are serving up — we wouldn’t really consider their rice to be actually lavender-hued, but the shade of blue is definitely more solid instead of being just a pale shade that most would achieve. The typical expectations of Nasi Lemak would be for the rice to carry a hint of coconut-y fragrance while being fluffy and light; this could be said to have been achieved by the Nasi Lemak rice here, though there is still something that sets it apart from that of the local / Malaysian Nasi Lemak that we are all very familiar with — the rice carrying a light hint of saltish-ness that somehow felt like there was also coconut water(?) infused in it to achieve that note almost similar to the glutinous rice found in Nonya Kueh like the Kueh Salat, which we found to be really interesting.

Between the Fried Chicken Thigh Nasi Lemak and the BBQ Chicken Nasi Lemak, it was difficult to pick a favourite but we found ourselves leaning towards the latter a little more; the BBQ Chicken being grilled only upon order and thus served piping hot. The slab of chicken was not only juicy and succulent, but it does come marinated; the flavours here aren’t too heavy on the tastebuds, but they definitely coming just with the right hint of smoky and feels almost similar to that of Balinese grilled meat in terms of flavour and the way it was executed. The papaya salad was an interesting addition — the slices of cucumber are usually rather forgotten condiments in Nasi Lemak here; the papaya salad provides a refreshing crunch and a sour tang almost akin to that of pickled radish and carrots and helps to reset the tastebuds while at it. If anything, we did feel that the proportioned of Ikan Bilis and peanuts could be more balanced; there was more peanuts than Ikan Bilis here. Nasi Lemak-style sambal chili is provided at the self-service area at the counter where patrons can help themselves to it; the Nasi Lemak-style sambal is satisfying in how it carries a sweet note at the start, while the spice starts to kick in only slightly after — something that should work fine for those with lower than moderate levels of tolerance to spiciness. At $6.80, Lavender Nasi Lemak does offer quite a bit of innovation to the Nasi Lemak that we know and love; no doubt priced higher than the typical coffeeshop local Nasi Lemak, but the effort and creativity is most certainly worth the price that they are asking for!