Hainanese curry rice ($4)!
A $4 hawker plate of Hainanese curry rice: sliced fried pork chop, curry cabbage and braised sides over rice, drowned in curry gravy.
A quick hawker lunch with BB: a $4 plate of Hainanese curry rice, the takeaway box already swimming in gravy. 🍛😋
What we had:
- Hainanese curry rice with fried pork chop and sides, $4
The pork chop is the reason you order this. It came scissor-cut into strips, the breadcrumb coating gone deep golden and craggy, soaking up the curry gravy until the edges turn soft while the middle stays crunchy. Pile it onto the rice, spoon over more gravy, and that contrast is the whole appeal.
Around it: soft curry cabbage stewed down until silky, a pale slab of braised egg-and-fishcake on the left, and a streak of achar (the pink-orange pickled vegetable) at the side for a sharp, sweet-sour break from all the richness. The gravy itself is the Hainanese-style blend, several curries mixed into one muddy, savoury pour over the whole plate rather than a single clean curry.
It is not a delicate dish, it is meant to be a cheap, filling, gravy-soaked weekday plate, and at $4 it does exactly that. Comfort food in a foam box.
Overall: 4.5 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Crispy scissor-cut pork chop and soft cabbage drowned in curry gravy, proper budget comfort. Would re-order.
