King Of Fried Rice (Ang Mo Kio)

Took me almost forever to try them out — and finally gave them a go; there is a nearer outlet to me at Marsiling, but found myself visiting their outlet at Ang Mo Kio instead since I was in the area to check out Fat Boss Waffle & Ice-Cream (not to be confused with Fatboss HK Roasted Delight, which is located at 126 Bukit Merah Lane 1).

I have tried quite a couple of egg fried rice around before trying King of Fried Rice’s rendition; and that is possibly one of few reasons why I seem to prefer the rendition of some other stalls over theirs — though admittedly, King of Fried Rice does seem to serve up a pretty good rendition and I could easily see the hype considering that they were the first to have made the Din Tai Fung-style egg fried rice to be a trendy hawker/coffeeshop dish. Instead of using the usual rice grains for their egg fried rice, King of Fried Rice uses short-grain rice similar to that of Japanese Calrose Rice for their fried rice. This somewhat makes their fried rice seem a little more moist, soft and fluffier; a texture that I wasn’t too much a fan of (perhaps I am still one who prefers local fried rice after all …), but admittedly gelled well with the fluffy bits of egg speckled throughout the rice that gives that evident eggy note. Also liked how the rice carried a fairly consistent flavour throughout; a good control of the wok to ensure that there are no clumpy, “un-fried” bits around. The chili is everything to love; the Lao Gan Ma sort that provides a hint of smoky savouriness, yet gives the dish enough punch in terms of spiciness that would work well for those who are able to tolerate moderate levels of spiciness. The pork chop was pretty decent, though wasn’t quite the best one — whilst flavourful, tender and lean, the slab of pork chop was missing out that slightly crispy exterior that some other establishments may serve.

King of Fried Rice is probably the establishment that kicked off the Ding Tai Fung-esque fried rice trend that saw the likes of many other stalls serving the same around coffeeshops and hawker centres alike — one can arguably even call them a trendsetter in that respect. Having aggressively expanded their operations over a short span of time, it is interesting how they can still maintain quite the popularity that they were riding on when they had first started out. Whilst their rendition of the egg fried rice isn’t quite my favourite, there is no denying that they make for quite a good dining option in any spot that they have a presence in if the quality is largely consistent across all outlets — something that I would still think is worth a try to see if it suits the tastebuds.