Found out about the new Oishi! Nyonya Nasi Lemak which had recently opened opened its doors at Yat Kee Eating House at Blk 55 Lengkok Bahru. The coffeeshop looks as though it has been recently revamped, and boasts quite a number of rather peculiar or interesting food stalls such as that of a Ratchawat Thai Kway Chap • Pig Trotter • Braised Duck, as well as a Aaron’s Western that serves up western cuisine within. Said coffeeshop also has WiFi access set up for its patrons as well, for those whom might need WiFi access when being at a coffeeshop (not that I would know why one would need that though). Oishi! Nyonya Nasi Lemak takes up a stall in the middle of the coffeeshop that is located just right beside Ratchawat Thai Kway Chap • Pig Trotter • Braised Duck; it’s turquoise-coloured signage behind a rather attention-grabbing feature that makes them stand out from the other stalls within the same coffeeshop. The stall displays some of the items to be served with their Nasi Lemak prominently via a display case located at the counter — there isn’t a physical menu placed at the stall though; the folks behind the counter would run one through their offerings, since the coffeeshop isn’t particularly buzzy anyway. Oishi! Nyonya Nasi Lemak primarily serves its Nasi Lemak in sets — one can opt between the Fried Chicken Wing Nasi Lemak Set, Ikan Kuning Nasi Lemak Set or the Rendang Chicken Nasi Lemak Set; daily specials available for the day would be made known to patrons through a description card placed on the counter.

Having given a basic introduction of the various items that they have to offer, we went for the Rendang Chicken Nasi Lemak Set — this consisted of elements such as their Rendang Chicken Leg, sambal chili, ikan bilis, groundnuts and sunny side-up with their flavoured rice. The uncle behind the counter was actually pretty nice to offer table service to us considering how there wasn’t many patrons in the coffeeshop when we made our visit — the uncle also kindly added an Otah to our order as well; an item that should be charged as an add-on with an additional charge as well. It seems that the folks at Oishi! Nyonya Nasi Lemak has went with the way of serving their Nasi Lemak with usual grains — whilst the rice was sufficiently moist and fluffy, we felt that the Nasi Lemak was a little short of the coconut-y fragrance that we would otherwise have expected for a Nasi Lemak dish. Nonetheless, the other elements made up for quite an artisanal plate of Nasi Lemak here — the highlight for us was the Rendang Chicken Leg. The Chicken Leg was tender, but the Rendang was the main star of the show — its all sufficiently rich, nutty and immensely fragrant from the spices that went into it; a pretty complex flavour profile and a medley of textures that made it especially addictive to have on its own. Another highlight about the Nasi Lemak here for us was actually their sambal chili — the sambal chili that is served with their Nasi Lemak was something that would make the usual Nasi Lemak sambal chili feel flatly sweet in comparison; it does come with a distinct sweetness that is usually associated with such sambal chili, though there is a deep earthiness that comes along with it that somewhat suggests that there might be some use of Kecap Manis in here. The Otah was pretty decent, though was an element that came without surprises; the Ikan Bilis on the other hand was a little a degree too crunchy — we would have preferred it a bit more if there is a light crispness that came with it. Overall, still a pretty respectable plate of Nasi Lemak where there had been some thought placed in the elements that comes with it.

Giving only the Rendang Chicken Nasi Lemak Set a go here, we did find that Oishi! Nyonya Nasi Lemak does seem to do a good attempt in serving up an artisanal plate of Nasi Lemak in their own style — there have been many establishments which have been serving up Malaysian-style Nasi Lemak to the tune of Village Park Nasi Lemak in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia in recent times; think the likes of The Coconut Club, Dickson Nasi Lemak, Wild Coco, Super Wife Nasi Lemak and Uptown Nasi Lemak, just to name a few. We were glad that Oishi! Nyonya Nasi Lemak does not seem to be heading towards that same direction after all; instead, serving up Nasi Lemak that is almost a fusion of both the Malay-style and Chinese-style Nasi Lemak in its execution. We did find most of the elements pretty well-executed in our opinion — things like the Rendang Chicken and the sambal chili felt pretty spot-on, and were especially easy to finish even on their own. The sunny side-up also features a runny yolk — a detail which we were glad that it had not been missed. That being said, there were also some items that would probably do better if they could tweak the recipes a little — we could definitely do with the Nasi Lemak coming with rice that whiffs of a stronger coconut-y fragrance here; something that would likely be able to push their Nasi Lemak offerings to another level if they could further improve on that aspect. Prices of the Fried Chicken Wing Nasi Lemak Set and Ikan Kuning Nasi Lemak Set are kept at reasonable rates — these are priced below $5, though the Rendang Chicken Nasi Lemak Set comes at $8.80; a little pricey considering the locality of the area. Nonetheless, it does seem like Oishi! Nyonya Nasi Lemak is an earnest operation that is pretty much set on the right course for now — offering their own rendition of the Nasi Lemak that sets it slightly apart from the rest; we do hope that they will continue working on their offerings and gain their own following with the residents around the neighbourhood in time to come.