This Singapore creation was a dish the Hainanese learned for the British India culture back in the day. The curries look thick and mean but is actually quite mild. It is topped with non traditional, even English inspired ingredients like pork chop, fried egg, meat balls, fried shrimps, chicken chop. Chinese influences include soy braised belly pork and koli chye (stir fried cabbage) among others.
Curry Rice
An Lock Curry Rice
861 North Bridge Rd #01-109, North Bridge Road Mkt & Food Ctr (Map) 8am – 5pm Daily
The senior, almost Pioneer Generation (in thier 70s) hawkers here are very friendly. When we asked for an extra bowl of their thick curry, they seemed concerned and if something was not right, to which another customer interjected, “if not nice, he won’t ask for it la!”. The range of dishes is not extensive but very well thought of, from thin crispy pork chops, sambal terong (eggplant), sambal sotong to lor bak (braised pork) and curry chicken, among some. The curry is rich and thick, “clingy”, savoury and not overly spicy and they spoon some smoky, sweetish and savoury soy braise sauce over. There is always a queue and the dishes are made fresh when any item sells out.
Loo’s Hainanese Curry Rice
30 Seng Poh Rd #02-67/68 Tiong Bahru Hawker Ctr (Map) 8am – 2.45pm Thurs
The Loo family began this in the mid 40s, in a coffeeshop by Tanjong Pagar, and evolved their brand of Hainanese curry rice over the decades. The queue at the stall begins at breakfast; strange but they love this for a morning power-me-up. The items are not vast but all are done exceedingly well. The items and perfect combos for a meal here include their iconic battered and fried pork chop with very light hints of masala in the batter, a fried egg with oozy yolk and stir-fried cabbage or ko li chai. You can go a few notches up and have the sambal squid or sotong, so soft and gently spicy, plus the fried and braised soy sauce pork chop (tau yu bak). You can also order chciken curry with potatoes, then slather over your rice, to immerse fully into this meal. Overall, the curries look mean but aren't really so.
140|Page
A - Z
Powered by FlippingBook