[CLOSED] OG Lemak (Newton Food Centre)

Landed my hands on a OG Lemak Set when I went to Newton food centre on a weekend evening. Although I was meaning to try their rendang sets, they were unfortunately sold out for the day.

I was absolutely blown away by the sambal belachan. Nasi Lemak is admittedly not my go to meal, but when I eat it, I look out for its fragrance and more importantly, their chilli. OG Lemak serves their Nasi Lemak with two kinds of chilli — sambal Tunis and sambal belachan. The sambal Tunis is the more common chilli you’d get in your Nasi lemak, giving sweeter nodes to your meal. I did however, adore the sambal belachan because of the very well-executed sour and spicy kick it gave.

Because their rice is twice steamed, the result was a soft and lightly textured plain of rice. I did not find it fragrant enough though. Upgrading my chicken to a chicken thigh, the portion was sizably decent. The chicken itself was pretty unique, because it’s unlike the fried chicken wing you’d find at your usual Nasi lemak stalls. The batter was thin and crispy, which makes the whole meal feel slightly less tad oily. Whilst unique, whether or not I’d prefer this over my usual fried chicken wing is a whole new issue. Truth is, I don’t. The chicken was huge but dry, and their take on chicken skin was not enticing enough to win me over. Let’s be real, the higher price point doesn’t make this very attractive either, especially when you can get much cheaper and more fragrant options out there.

Rate:🌟🌟

Vegan Set ($9.90)

Time to indulge in Chef Shen Tan's signature Twice-Steamed Nasi Lemak that’s made with, get this, eleven ingredients.
I chose the Vegan Set ($9.90), a first by her, and enjoyed it very much. For me, the star was undoubtedly the rice - it was as light, fluffy and aromatic as I recall. But that’s not to say I didn’t relish every bite of the beancurd, two sambal stir-fries of crunchy sambal goreng and mushy-soft brinjal, because I most certainly did. There were also the fried pieces of tempeh, fresh cucumber slices and a very appetising spicy and tangy chilli sambal that rounded off my vibrant-coloured serving.

📸 & ✍🏻 by Tastemaker Veronica Phua

Love the rice and the chilli sauce, all goes well with the coconutty rice. Ikan bilis serving can be more generous 😄

Came on weekend around the same time they open the store at 11am, there’s already a queue outside and you could see them busy preparing the food.

It took around half an hour to reach my turn to order. Went for their signature set for $7.90, comes with the nasi lemak, crispy chicken, fried egg, ikan bilis, cucumber slices, sambal balachan and tumis.

The crispy chicken was given 3 pieces, which all of them are crunchy, wasn’t too dry.

The sambal towards the sour taste and wasn’t too spicy. I was hoping to have more ikan bilis though but is okay.

The chicken thigh costs an additional $2, but from other reviews on the (cheaper) chicken pieces, I think I could’ve lived without the top up.

As most reviewers agree, the rice is very light and flavourful – a testament to the 11-spice and double-steam process. The sambal was also very good. However, the rest of the plate left much to be desired – chicken was too oily and the almost biscuit-hard skin easily detached from the meat, the egg yolk was rock-solid (forgivable when the meal costs $3-5 but for $10?…) and there were only a few pieces of cucumber to balance the heaviness of the dish. I feedbacked to celebrity Chef Shen that perhaps an achar or some other vegetables could be added, so we’ll see if that feedback would be taken in!

Overall, I think it’s all right but a bit too pricey for the enjoyment derived from it.

Finally visited this nasi lemak stall OG Lemak that has been trending on social media recently, and yeah, I was pretty impressed with what I had! I ordered the Beef Rendang set, and it was really good! The beef rendang was fork-tender and flavourful, while the ‘twice-steamed’ rice was fluffy and really aromatic! Special shout-out to the sambal chilli too - there’s actually 2 types of chilli paste served on my plate, sambal belacan & sambal tumis, a shiok and spicy combination!