Hainan Street Café

Found this place in Leisure Park Kallang with a very bright, woody and green vibe interior, serving Hainanese dishes.

Their Hainanese pork chop available in a few options, including the curry, mushroom and of course the traditional one.

Their traditional Hainanese pork chop topped with the reddish sauce, accompanied with pieces of wedges on the side and rice.

The pork chop itself has the tender texture inside, with the cripsy skin outer side.

This place is also consider much quieter so you really can chill over with their traditional coffee here as well.

Kallang Leisure Park has been seeing quite a shift in their F&B tenants fairly recently; the additional of Hennessy Hong Kong Food Hall has given quite a fresh and interesting option to dine at within the mall. Whilst still under renovation when we made our visit to Hennessy Hong Kong Food Hall previously when they had first opened their doors, Hainan Street Cafe 海南街茶室 had also started operations not too long ago. With an interior decor that is supposed to bring out a modern look yet evoke familiar nostalgic vibes of a colonial-style setting, the eatery is decked with a design that mainly features wooden elements in its furniture and fittings, whilst complimented with red tiles and terrazzo flooring; there is also some use of greenery that provides a look that is close to nature. Being an establishment that is all about nostalgic vibes of a Hainanese-run coffeehouse back in the day, the menu seems to revolve around traditional toasts, signature toasted sandwiches and their signature Hainanese Pork Chop. Interestingly, Hainan Street Cafe also serves up a limited menu of other local delights such as that of Prawn Mee Siam and Prawn Laksa for those who are looking for other food items to go for. All items off the can be ordered either ala-carte, or by combo, while the beverages available are limited to coffee, tea and milo, as well as a homemade iced calamansi lime juice.

It is interesting to is that Hainan Street Cafe serves up their Signature Hainanese Pork Chop with sauce options that includes the Traditional Hainanese sauce (i.e. the tomato-based sauce), a Homemade Mushroom Sauce or Hainan Curry as well. Each order of the Signature Hainanese Pork Chop also comes with a portion of rice, as well as potato wedges on the side as well. Needless to say, our choice of order here at Hainan Street Cafe would be the Traditional Hainanese Pork Chop — Hainanese-Western dishes featuring this old-school reddish sauce is an increasingly rare find these days. Going straight for the pork chop itself, the pork chop was delightful on its own — deep-fried with a golden brown batter, the pork chop was crisp on the exterior, yet the inside was reasonably tender without feeling greasy; each bite being a consistent texture throughout. Drenched in that traditional sauce, the sauce provides a tang almost similar to that of a sweet-sour sauce; though contains a little more depth considering how they might have included Worcestershire sauce for that touch of authenticity of the Hainanese-Western fare that they are serving up — the sauce also coming with peas, chunks of tomatoes and onions as well. The wedges on the side were done with a little more bite than what we have expected; despite being deep-fried with crisp crust on the exterior, the wedges came with a soft crunch considering the chunk of potato that is contained within (we prefer it to be done softer inside; akin to a mash), while it was interesting to see them use short-grain rice here that is typically used for Japanese Donburi — the pearls of rice being just sufficiently sticky, whilst coming with a prominent aroma that lingers at the back of the tongue.

Having tried all three different Signature Hainanese Pork Chop dishes available at Hainan Street Cafe, our picks would be the Traditional Hainanese Pork Chop and the Hainan Curry Pork Chop — both of which coming with sauces that are pretty well-executed for its price. It is a little bit of a shame that they had already stopped serving the items off their Traditional Toast menu when we visited on a weekday dinner service; we were pretty much hoping to give their Kaya and Butter Toast a try as well. The Coffee (i.e. Kopi) was also relatively decent as well; not overly sweetened and comes with a good kick of caffeine with a rather robust body. All in all, Hainan Street Cafe seemed to have done well in what they have set as their direction as an establishment; one that seemingly coins on heritage Hainanese cuisine, such as that of serving the Traditional Hainanese Pork Chop which is pretty much a rare find these days despite the rather limited number of items being listed on the menu. A spot that works great for a casual lunch or dinner alone, as well as somewhere which families would most likely be able to appreciate, Hainan Street Cafe does seem like a pretty chill spot away from the hustle & bustle to have a quiet dinner or a little bit of a catch-up.