If you’ve kept up with the latest food trend news lately, a coffee shop in Tampines recently launched a lobster nasi lemak and has been going viral since. Following the rising trend of fusion cuisines, 4 months old Chef Wan’s Kitchen has hoped on the bandwagon with 6 new menu offerings, including the Balado Lobster Nasi Lemak and the Lamb Shank Rendang Nasi Lemak at a special price of $23.90++ till 2nd January 2017 (Usual Price: $35+).
Balado Lobster Nasi Lemak ($23.90++)
As suppose to using the usual sambal sauce, Chef Wan created their own homemade version of a balado sauce found in many west Suumatran dishes, made from a blend of spices like chilli pepper, garlic, shallot, tomato and lime juice in fragrant oil. The sauce complement the freshness of lobster meat and gels together well with the coconut rice, belachan kang kong, and sambal ikan bilis. The lobster is also cooked to perfection, making it easy to separate from the shell.
Lamb Shank Rendang Nasi Lemak ($23.90+)
The lamb shank is slow braised to tender perfection and is goes well with the savoury rendang gravy, that removes the gamey flavour from the lamb that most do not really enjoy. The rendang gravy is homemade with a blend of aromatic spices like chilli, kaffir lime leaves, candle nut, turmeric leaves and more! Each ingredients in the dish complements each other perfectly, from the coconut rice to the belachan kang kong. The sambal ikan bilis gives a good kick for those who enjoy a little spice in your nasi lemak.
While both nasi lemaks have huge portions that are indeed value for money, they are also both equally as tasteful and yummy. As such, whether you are a meat lover or seafood person, you can be sure that you will have a satisfying and enjoyable meal.
Assam Pedas Fish Head ($23.90+)
Being assam fish head, the sour after taste of the Assam shone through the subtly spiciness of the broth, complementing the fresh sea bream fish and each of the ingredient in the soup like eggplant and onions. At $23.90++, it is definitely value for money with half a fish that can be shared comfortably amongst 4 pax.
Sotong Masak Hitam ($15.90+)
Appearance wise, you would not expect much from this dish, as the large amount of black squid ink sauce appeared to drown the squid. But surprisingly, an interesting savoury and flavourful taste will burst into your mouth upon first bite. The squid ink is not your ordinary squid ink sauce that comes up a little bit tasteless, but instead is cooked with a blend of spices that accentuates the squid ink, making it really enjoyable and addictive that will keep you coming back for more.
Tauhu Telur ($14.90+)
A tower of crispy beancurd skin on the outside and a soft fluffy premium egg tofu on the inside, doused with a tangy sweet sauce with fragrant crushed peanut bits. With the familiar tangy sweet sauce and beancurd combition, it tastes quite comparable to an upgraded, more delightful and oomph-ed up version of Rojak. With just the right amount of crispiness and ‘eggy’ texture and taste in the tofu, the sauce really brings together the entire dish, bringing it to a whole new level of flavours dancing on your taste buds, thus making this dish really stand out with its familiar taste yet different texture.
In addition, they have also brought back an upgraded version of two dishes; Sambal Petai Udang and Ayam Percik, in response to customers feedbacks about the portions being too little.
Sambal Petai Udang ($19.90+)
Though slightly on the pricy side, Chef Wan really does a mean good sambal sauce that complements anything it is cooked with. The prawns are of decent sized and are perfectly cooked such that it is easy to remove the meat from the shell. While the petai taste is not strong in the general taste of the sauce and the prawns, small pieces of petai adds a stronger aftertaste to the dish and it helps to break the richness of the sambal, preventing it from becoming to overpowering. Vice versa, the sambal removes quite a bit of the pungent petai aftertaste that many do not enjoy, leaving just enough to add a flavourful contrast to the sambal.
Ayam Percik – Grilled Chicken with Spiced Gravy ($15.90+)
Grilled to tender perfection, the chicken drumstick was fragrant, moist and perfectly spiced from the gravy. While it does not shine much and tastes liken to a good grilled chicken doused curry sauce, the coconut taste in the sauce keeps it light on the palate and the spices give the chicken meat itself an additional kick.
For desserts, finish it off with a D24 Durian Custard ($7.90+). The dish comes with 2 layers of coconut and durian custard before being topped off with a sweet gula Melaka sauce. While the coconut base is slightly overpowered by the durian, there is just enough durian taste to give the dish oomph, enough to curb any peckish durian cravings without being too overpowering and heavy or rich on the palate. The gula melaka sauce helps to give the overall dessert a nice sweet and slight tangy aftertaste while surprisingly complimenting the durian, by making it less pungent, instead of having two such strong flavours clash.
But if durian is not your thing, opt for the Chocolate Custard Pudding ($7.90+) option instead.
Address: 8 Raffles Avenue
#02-14, Esplanade Mall
Singapore 039802
Opening Hours: 12PM – 2.30PM, 5.30PM – 10PM daily.
Contact: 6397 4911
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