Meat & Rice

Learnt about the move of Meat & Rice from their very own social media accounts one day when we were scrolling around our phone — Meat & Rice was an establishment that had gotten quite a fair bit of social media attention some time back; previously located at ABC Brickworks Food Centre, these folks had recently made their move out of the hawker centre and into a coffeeshop. This also comes after the separation of the two former business partners previously at Meat & Rice where one of them has subsequently opened Braissers Rice Bowl at Tanjong Pagar Plaza Food Centre. Meat & Rice can now be found within the coffeeshop that is located at the foot of Blk 291 Yishun Street 22; the stall occupies a unit that is located right beside the seafood zichar stall within the coffeeshop. Meat & Rice should be fairly easy to locate considering the different style of signboard that the stall features from the other tenants there — one that is certainly more modern-looking to say the very least. Sticking to what they do best, Meat & Rice offers only braised meat rice dishes at their Yishun outlet that is in-line with whatever that they had been previously doing; the menu only features four items being braised meat dishes that consists of different meat options such as that of pig leg, pork jowl, braised duck and braised chicken.

Meat & Rice does describe their rice bowls to come with elements such as meat, egg, salted vegetables, rice, mushroom and fried wanton skin — in the case of the Braised Pork Jowl Rice Bowl that we had went for, the meat featured in the bowl would be the braised pork jowl. All elements are plated carefully on the plate such that the dish is presented in a manner that is pretty recognisable from the days when they were located at ABC Brickworks Food Centre. Patrons can also help themselves to the chili at the self-service area on the side where one can also find the dining utensils. Digging into the Braised Pork Jowl Rice Bowl, we went for the braised pork jowl — the braised pork jowl comes surprisingly tender with quite a good ratio of fatty parts and lean meat that ensures a little bit of gelatinous, melt-in-the-mouth texture alongside that of lean meat that gives a fibrous bite which is sufficiently moist. At the same time, the meat also does not carry any undesirable stench of porky-ness; the meat does seem to have absorbed the flavours of the braising liquid whilst more of that braising liquid has also been drizzled atop the meat as well. It is noted that the braising liquid at Meat & Rice comes with a slightly heavier and more savoury note than that of Braissers Rice Bowl’s — packs a flavour punch and would work well for those who enjoy bolder flavours in general. What we really liked was how this paired well with the chili sauce that also seemed to have been made in-house; this comes quite close to that of the typical chili sauce that accompanies Hainanese-style chicken rice but one that comes spicy without the tang — there does also seem to be in a hint of lemongrass somewhere that gives a slight flavour twist as well.

The braised shiitake mushrooms help to add an element with a bouncy texture and an earthy note, while the sous-vide egg comes with soft, jiggly egg whites and a molten lava yolk that is all creamy and provides the entire bowl a silky smooth texture that coats all of the other elements when broken apart — especially comforting when paired with the short-grain rice that Meat & Rice had opted to go for with their braised meat rice bowls here. The addition of salted vegetables helps to refresh the tastebuds in a different way as compared to the chili sauce; it does come with a slightly savoury back note amidst the sourish tang that comes first — quite an old-school flavour that cleanses the tastebuds from all the other savoury elements in the bowl; all that whilst delivering a soft crunch for a slight variance of texture. Meanwhile, the wanton skin provides an element of crunch; we did feel that it was a little too dense and prefer it to be lighter with a crisp, though it does seem that its consistency is intended as such so that it doesn’t turn soft and limp easily throughout the day. Meat & Rice had been pretty much widely-raved about during its early days when they had first opened their doors at ABC Brickworks Food Centre with plenty of people singing praises on its offerings on social media for the quality of their offerings. Whilst we have not given these folks a try when they had first opened their doors at ABC Brickworks Food Centre, we would say that the consistency of the braised meat rice bowls at Meat & Rice is comparable to what Braissers Rice Bowls offers — the difference between the two are relatively minor and it really would depend on one’s palate to choose one over the other. All that being said, Meat & Rice does give the folks residing around it in Yishun a fairly interesting dining option to go for; definitely something we will think of if in the area again.