Huat Bro Curry Rice

Checked out the new Huat Bro Curry Rice 發哥咖哩飯; a pretty new food stall that is located within the Food Loft coffeeshop at Hougang Green Shopping Mall. The same coffeeshop also houses other food stalls such as an outlet of Common Grill by COLLIN'S, as well as an outlet of Ishiro Fusion Bowl. Being a concept by the same folks behind Ming Fa Fishball Noodles which operates several outlets across the island (the most notable being their standalone outlet at Upper Thomson Road), Huat Bro Curry Rice shares a space with the outlet of Ming Fa Fishball Noodles within the Food Loft coffeeshop at Hougang Green Shopping Mall. The queue for both stalls are separated from one another despite them sharing the same stall space; probably for ease of operations. As the name of the stall suggest, Huat Bro Curry Rice specialises in Hainanese-style Curry Rice — the same style of curry rice that one would associate with the likes of Beach Road Scissor-Cut Curry Rice at Jalan Besar (they have also expanded their operations with a stand-alone space at VivoCity recently); the menu comprises of different sets where the meat options would differ, such as the Crispy Chicken Set, Crispy Garlic Pork Set, Braised Pork Belly Set and the Seafood Set. There are also bundled combos that are good for two pax and four pax, and patrons do also have the flexibility to order the various dishes as sides on an ala-carte basis as well.

Going straight for the signature offering, the Yuan Yang Signature Set can be said as the full works here — it features elements such as Braised Pork Belly, Crispy Chicken Cutlet, Cabbage, and Fried Egg all atop a bed of rice, drenched in both a braised sauce and their Hainanese curry gravy. The dish comes with that aesthetic that Hainanese Curry Rice dishes are usually said to be — ugly and messy, but the rendition of Hainanese Curry Rice here by the folks of Huat Bro Curry Rice is a pretty satiating one. Think a sufficiently thick and rich curry gravy that blankets almost all the rice and condiments that come along — there is a good portion of curry gravy that is being splashed onto the plate that gives the dish sufficient flavour; not overly salty, while the level of spiciness is pretty mild to say the least and should not be of a problem even for those with lower tolerance to spiciness. We do recommend adding the sambal chili at the side though — the sweetness and savouriness with its spicy kick does add a lot more dimension of flavours to the dish. Moving on to the condiments, the braised pork belly was a good balance of lean and fatty parts; the meat being sufficiently tender yet gives a good bite — the meat also being mostly free from a porky stench, whilst it also comes with a hint of sweetness from the braising. The Crispy Chicken Cutlet on the other hand is true to its namesake; crisp, yet tender and juicy on the inside whilst not being particularly greasy. The cabbage comes drenched in the very same curry gravy that was splashed onto the bed of rice; came with a soft crunch, while the fried egg is a sunny-side-up with a fully-cooked yolk. Whilst we would prefer to get a sunny-side-up with a runny yolk, we did notice how the fried egg did not come with any undesirable stench from overused oil and was not greasy as well.

Ming Fa Fishball Noodles is a pretty established brand name on its own, serving up delicious fishball noodles and minced meat noodles with a history that goes back to the 1940s — we do like what they are serving up at their outlet along Upper Thomson Road; one that we have been visiting on-and-off for quite a while. Huat Bro Curry Rice seems to have been able to carry that quality of food that Ming Fa Fishball Noodle has been known for, and serves up quite a good rendition of the Hainanese Curry Rice that we found to be pretty satisfying. Prices range between $4.50 to $7.80 for their curry rice sets; the most expensive set being the Seafood Set — one can say that prices are rather reasonable and accessible enough for most, whilst still coming with a respectable level of quality for what we have experienced with the Yuan Yang Signature Set. Though we are not quite certain on whether folks would really want to travel all the way out here just for Hainanese Curry Rice in general, but they are definitely a spot that we can for see residents in the area would be making a part of their meal options to dine at within their ‘hood.