O35 IPOH CURRY RICE 怡宝咖喱饭 (Chinatown Complex Food Centre)

Chinatown Complex Food Centre had seen quite a fair bit of closures recently — the bulk of which being hawker stalls that had opened in the food centre in the past year. That being said, this also had seemingly made way for yet another batch of new hawker stalls tonight appear in the food centre. Located in the yellow zone of Chinatown Complex Food Centre along the same line of stalls as the notable Hill Street Fried Kway Teow there is a stall named O35 IPOH CURRY RICE. These folks had taken over the former premises of the now-defunct roll & chill ICE-CREAM that once operated within the stall for a very short period of time. O35 IPOH CURRY RICE is a stall that shouldn’t be too easy to miss, considering how they are the minority of stalls within the stretch that actually features illustrations of their food on their signboard. As the namesake suggests, O35 IPOH CURRY RICE primarily serves up curry rice; the menu features a variety of meat + rice dishes that features rendang, curry and sambal elements — there are also dishes that features non-spicy elements such as the Garlic Oil Boneless Chicken Thigh Rice and the Crispy Turmeric Boneless Chicken Thigh Rice as well.

Food orders at O35 IPOH CURRY RICE are served up really quickly considering how the items are pretty much prepared beforehand; all that is left to be done for the order to be served was to plate the the dish. O35 IPOH CURRY RICE does not describe the elements that comes with their dishes on its menu; that being said, it can be observed from our order of the Signature Curry Boneless Chicken Thigh Rice that it comes with the curry boneless chicken thigh, white rice, curry potatoes and vegetables. Whilst it is easy to form the first impressions of O35 IPOH CURRY RICE being a stall that serves up Hainanese-style curry rice, it is also worth noting that O35 IPOH CURRY RICE doesn’t claim to be such a stall even in its namesake — this being immediately obvious when we collected our order. There is no heavy drenching of curry gravy / braised gravy one the rice — this is definitely closer to curry chicken served with rice. We did notice some posters illustrating various curry powders and spices with descriptions within the stall — whilst we aren’t quite sure if this is the case, it might seem to suggest that the curry / rendang gravies at O35 IPOH CURRY RICE are prepared using specific blends of curry powders and spices that these folks have curated.

We wouldn’t really say that the curry gravy for the Signature Curry Boneless Chicken Thigh Rice was particularly life-changing for us; that being said, it is still pretty decent hinting of a good note of curry without being dilute. The curry also wasn’t particularly spicy, and is suitable for those whom have a slightly lower than moderate tolerance to spiciness in general. There are some minor touches that allow for the patron’s easier consumption here — this would include the serving of the chicken thigh boneless; these have absorbed the flavours of the curry gravy and are considerably tender, while the curry potatoes also comes with a soft consistency without much effort required to cut through. The braised cabbage are also cooked for a sufficient period of time; soft to chew but retaining a crunch as well. Still would prefer the classic Hainanese-style curry rice over this, though would probably be intrigued enough to give their Rendang / Sambal dishes a go; prices do seem a little pricey for Chinatown Complex Food Centre though, considering all dishes are priced at a flat price of $6 without add-ons.