One of the spots that we have noticed having opened for quite a while whilst going around Bugis / City Hall is Old Street Victoria Cafe — the establishment itself is located at a fairly prominent location along Victoria Street leading up towards Hotel Grand Pacific and Bugis+ being part of the lobby of Victoria Hotel. While Old Street Victoria Cafe has been operating for a number of months by now, the establishment had since made some changes and been through some sort of revamp; there is no significant changes when it comes to the interior space, though there is a change of operating hours that sees the dining establishment operating for 24hrs instead of the 7:30am to 7:30pm from Mondays to Saturdays only previously. The interior of the dining establishment is cleverly sectioned off from the hotel lobby, though the interior of the dining establishment and some of the storage for the kitchen operations do somehow come together towards the end of the dining space. There is a nostalgic flavour with the decor here; the walls bearing old posters of food products and black and white photos of the area as it was in the past; all that with cushioned booth seating and wooden dining tables and chairs. With the revamp, Old Street Victoria Cafe is now known simply as Victoria Cafe; there is also a wider menu that consists of sections such as Nasi Lemak, Dry Mee Siam, Victoria Signature Hainanese Chicken Chop, Local Snacks, Singapore Favourites, Traditional Toast, Traditional Sandwich and French Toasts. Apart from the items that are listed under the Old Street Victoria Cafe menu, there is a new menu that seems to be introduced under the Yao Ji 窑鸡 branding; this menu comprises of sections like Home Town “Zi Char”, Yao Ji and Grilled Local Food. Non-alcoholic beverages include Nanyang-style Kopi & Teh, as well as special concoctions listed under the “Victoria Specials” and “Lemonade Soda with White Pearl” sections; alcoholic beverages include a range of beers.

Whilst we had already wanted to make a trip down to Victoria Cafe before its re-branding and revamp into the concept it is currently, the introduction of new items in the menu was the push factor for us to make our visit there. Old Street Victoria Cafe was an establishment that seemed to have focused its emphasis on their Hainanese Chicken Rice, Laksa and Kaya Butter Toast offerings; that being said, the revamp got us really interested in the establishment since it had started to offer a wider variety of menu items that includes their line-up of Nasi Lemak. Victoria Cafe does offer quite a range for its Nasi Lemak offerings, with item such as the Victoria Signature Nasi Lemak that is essentially the full works that includes their Chicken Berempah, Sambal Prawn Petai and Spicy Whole Squid. Not needing this much food considering how we had pretty much visited Victoria Cafe alone, we went for the Nasi Lemak Chicken Berempah. Apart from the chunks of Chicken Berempah that comes along with it, the Nasi Lemak Chicken Berempah from Victoria Cafe is also noted to come with the usual suspects such as sunny side-up, anchovies, peanuts, sambal chili and cucumbers. An interesting addition that makes their Nasi Lemak unique would be the inclusion of Ngoh Hiang Prawn Crackers. The Nasi Lemak Chicken Berempah is actually served with its elements rather hot; do take precaution in taking the first mouthful especially. Going straight for the coconut-infused rice of the Nasi Lemak Chicken Berempah, it started off as kind of a disappointment — there was a lack of coconut-y / pandan note that came with the rice. Instead, the rice felt particularly gingery; the texture of the rice was also less fluffy than we had expected it to be, verging on being a little hard to bite for some of the grains.

That being said, the sunny side-up did come with a molten egg yolk and a soft egg white; mixing the yolk into the rice does help to make things slightly easier to swallow considering the silky texture than the egg yolk provides — adding the largely sweet sambal chili that is provided in the side also helps in the flavoural aspect of the rice. While it is noted that most places serving Nasi Lemak with Ayam Berempah does serve up the chicken in the form of a whole leg or with breast meat, the Nasi Lemak Chicken Berempah from Victoria Cafe follows closely to the style of the chicken chunks that Ollella also serves up in their rendition of the same dish. The Chicken Berempah is done pretty much on-point here; prominent notes of turmeric, lemongrass and other spices that are being used in its preparation process — the meat also not being too tough as well despite the manner it is served in. It also comes with stir-fried curry leaves that gives a crisp texture for some contrast. Other elements such as the Ikan Bilis were pretty crisp still even despite us having made our trip to Victoria Cafe only in the evening on a weekend; the Ngoh Hiang Prawn Cracker also being pretty crisp and also surprisingly not greasy as well. Perhaps Nasi Lemak isn’t quite their strongest suit; apart from Nasi Lemak, one can also order Dry Mee Siam that also features similar protein / meat / seafood options to the Nasi Lemak. That being said, we are most intrigued by their French Toast offerings — think items like the Scrambled Egg & Bacon French Toast and the Classic French Toast with Maple Syrup & Chicken Floss; something which we would try alongside the Cucumber Lemonade that is part of the Lemonade Soda with White Pearl section of the menu; that is if we decide to make a revisit to Victoria Cafe some time soon in the future!