Sunday National Day weekend brunch — hit the hawker centre with BB for nasi lemak ($5) + carrot cake / chai tow kway ($2.50). Two of Singapore’s classic local breakfasts for the SG55 weekend.

We ordered:

Nasi lemak — $5
Carrot cake (chai tow kway, black version) — $2.50

Total: $7.50 for both.

Nasi lemak is the Malay-Indonesian rice dish that defines Singapore breakfast. Coconut-rice base, sambal chilli, fried egg, ikan bilis (crispy anchovies), peanuts, cucumber slices, fried chicken wing or a piece of fish. The $5 plate had the full standard set.

The coconut rice was the test of any nasi lemak. Properly cooked with coconut milk and pandan leaves, fragrant without being overwhelmingly perfumed, fluffy but slightly sticky from the coconut fat. This plate had the right rice texture.

Sambal was the headline. Proper homemade-style sambal with chilli, shallot, garlic, belacan and tamarind — sweet, spicy, slightly sour. The kind of sambal that you don’t dump on top of the rice but use as a condiment with each bite.

Fried chicken wing was crispy on the outside, juicy inside. Ikan bilis added crunch and saltiness. Peanuts added more crunch. Cucumber slices added fresh acidity.

Carrot cake (chai tow kway) was the second plate. Cubes of steamed radish-and-rice cake stir-fried with chopped preserved radish (chai poh), garlic, egg, and dark sweet soy sauce. We went the black version — the dark version uses dark sweet soy throughout, giving the cake the signature mahogany colour and sweet-savoury flavour.

At $2.50 a plate, the carrot cake is the kind of hawker pricing that’s getting harder to find. Wok hei was present, the radish cubes were properly soft on the inside with crispy edges, the egg coated each piece.

National Day weekend hawker breakfast = peak Singaporean.

Overall: 4.5 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Excellent SG55 weekend hawker spread.

Original IG post