Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak
Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak is arguably the most famous nasi lemak stall in Singapore. Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong arranged for the nasi lemak from this stall to be served to Indonesian President Joko Widodo when he visited the Istana in November 2014. The Sultan of Brunei gets his breakfast from Selera Rasa each time he visits Singapore. There aren’t many nasi lemak stalls in Singapore with this level of recognition. Mr Hassan Abdul Kadir started selling his mother’s nasi lemak on a bicycle decades ago. Mr Hassan’s grandfather was a Japanese soldier and this allowed Mr Hassan’s mother to incorporate Japanese ingredients into her sambal sauce. Mr Hassan gave up peddling nasi lemak eventually and started work at the Hyatt Hotel in the laundry department. However, he continued making nasi lemak to sell to his colleagues at the hotel, where he ended up working for 20 years. According to Mr Hassan’s son Mr Abdul Malik, the Sultan of Brunei often stayed at Hyatt Singapore, as the hotel is the property of the Brunei government’s investment arm. One day, the Sultan dropped by the laundry department and spotted packets of nasi lemak. On the Sultan’s enquiry, Mr Hassan gave the Sultan one to try. The Sultan would later tell Mr Hassan to open a stall with his nasi lemak. Mr Hassan ended up doing just that in 1998, and the rest is history. His son Mr Abdul Malik gave up his promising pilot career path to follow his father’s wishes and take over the popular stall in 2004. The son improved on the ingredients and the processes, switching to basmati rice and improving the fried chicken marinade. Soon, the popular Selara Rasa Nasi Lemak stall became internationally famous. It received awards like the Singapore Street Food Master for best nasi lemak by Makansutra in 2006 and The Straits Times Readers’ Choice for nasi lemak in 2008. The all-star items here are the chicken wing, basmati rice and the sambal chilli. Their crispy ikan bilis (deep fried anchovies) are pretty good as well. This means that you would have to order either the Chicken Wing Meal, Full House, Royal Flush or Royal Rumble. Personally we prefer the Full House that comes with the chicken wing, otah, fried egg, ikan bilis, basmatic rice and the sambal chilli. It goes for S$4.50 (IDR Rp42.776).
Selera Rasa does nasi lemak close to perfection. The basmati rice is super fragrant and it tastes so much better than the regular Thai rice, especially together with the sambal chilli. The chicken wing by itself is one of the best in Singapore, perfect crispiness with a fragrant delicious taste. Mr Abdul Malik’s marinade for the chicken wings has really hit all the right notes. From the picture you can just imagine how delicious the chicken wing would taste with the basmati rice and the sambal chilli. We rate the nasi lemak here 4.4/5. We note that you may encounter some problems with consistency, as the chicken wings that we had that day were very slightly overcooked. They would have received a higher rating if not for this issue I actually timed the queue, it came to 39 minutes. He will sign first "come here and what do you want" then "eat here or take away" (I was confused, hence putting it out there for future visitors). The rice was a bit soft for my taste, too salty, and with not enough coconut (but you can really smell the pandan as a result). The ikan billis was not sickening for a change. The chicken wing is a chicken wing, I mean there's not many ways to improve on a chicken wing, it's a decent wing as far as wings go. No peanuts. The sauce was the best item, sweet and with incredible scent.
I could not indulge fully in the sauce due to avoiding spicy foods at the moment, which may be why I was less than enthusiastic about the whole thing, which I did not consider to be worth 39 minutes of queue (prices have bumped up too, $3.90 for the chicken set). I prefer the nasi lemaks I've had around Joo Chiat. My wife, who ate most of her sauce, thought it WAS worth it, so I'll average our ratings and give it 4*. Personally, I'll try "No. 1" next time, its queue is considerably shorter and you get peanuts with your nasi lemak.
CRAVE houses both the popular Adam Road Nasi Lemak by Selera Rasa, as well as the Amoy Street Teh Tarik by Rafee’s Corner in the same place.
Two local hawker delights in an upscale shopping mall? Why not? (Other than ION Orchard, Hougang Mall, Bedok Mall, Waterway Point and the latest addition of Parkway Parade are where you can find CRAVE
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong served this Nasi Lemak to Indonesian President Joko Widodo when he was here in Singapore; the Sultan of Brunei would request this frequently whenever he visited Singapore.
A normal Nasi Lemak set would be between $4.90 and $5.90 (good to know it is still possible to get cheap and good food at Orchard), while a Royal Rumble with Chicken Wing, Bergedil and Kuning Fish is at $6.90. Top up $1 for Otah Otah.
The current owner attributes it to the family recipe that emphasizes on the 4 key ingredients: basmati rice, sambal chilli, chicken wing and otah otah.
That is a type of rice variant commonly used in Biryani, but not that typical for Nasi Lemak. The longer rice grains supposedly absorb water but do not become overly wet. Perhaps for reason of habit, I would have preferred fluffier shorter grain rice.
The story goes that the owner’s grandmother wanted a less spicy version of the chilli to cater to more customers. Thus, the store created this sweet-savoury-spicy version of sambal that just elevates the taste of the crispy fried chicken wings. So sedap, can?
If you are a loyal customer to Amoy Street Food Centre in the past, you might have seen Raffee’s Corner serving fragrant smooth Teh Tarik. The stall is no longer at Amoy though.
Owner of Rafee’s Corner Mohamed Rabeek mixes and matches different types of tea dust to create his own unique version. A cup of Teh Tarik or Teh Halia goes for $1.80, while an iced version is $2.20.
I liked that there was a strong tea taste without being overly siap-siap (bitter), and not thoroughly sweet. In fact, it was one of those occasions I didn’t need to ask for siu-dai (less sugar) for the iced version.
To note that the line during lunch time can get rather long, and thus also difficult to find seating space in the cramped area. So I would advice, if possible to go during off-peak hours.
It is heartening to see hawker stalls entering shopping malls and finding support. Plus, CRAVE has managed to keep prices affordable. Will return for more wings with power sambal chilli.
Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak at Adam Road Food Centre is well-known in the Singapore food scene. Some of my friends even go as far as calling them the best Nasi Lemak in Singapore.
Naturally, I was half sceptical and half excited to try Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak. Having been to Chong Pang and Punggol Nasi Lemak, I thought that they were not as impressive as the one that I had in Kuala Lumpur. Bearing that in mind, I went to Adam Road Hawker Centre with zero expectations.
The Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak comes in sets with prices ranging from S$2.50 to S$5.50 depending on the ingredients. We ordered a set and it had Fried Egg, Potato Croquette, Otah, Ikan Bilis and deep-fried Chicken Wing. Enriched by the coconut milk, the rice is very fragrant and cliché as it may sound, it is so good that you can eat it on its own.
However, the rice was probably the best part of Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak; the other ingredients were pretty standard – nothing outstanding.
We were not blown away by Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak, though that was probably due to the fact that we had better Nasi Lemak elsewhere.
All in all, Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak serves a good plate of Nasi Lemak and I am sure there is definitely a reason why they have such a big following.
As for me, I will not go all the way to Adam Road Food Centre just to satisfy my Nasi Lemak craving. But if I am in the area and there is no queue, the famous Adam Road Nasi Lemak is certainly a good way to self-indulge.
My hunt for the best Nasi Lemak in Singapore continues…
Singapore Food Blog Review
Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak
2 Adam Road Stall 2
Adam Road Food Centre Singapore
Daily: 7am – 10pm
Blk 603 Ang Mo Kio Ave 5
#01-2683 Singapore
Tel: +65 9843 4509
Sat to Thu: 8am – 3pm
(Closed on Friday)
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