Malaysian Cuisine in Singapore: Madam Kwan's

Singaporeans have always travelled to Malaysia and enjoyed the food there...of course the hawker and street fare is awesome all over the peninsula, but also some nice restaurants in KL who serve nice locale food. Madam Kwan's is one of them.

The history of Madam Kwan's is rather interesting. Started by her son Dato Rudy Foo, the restaurant offers signatures of Madam Kwan, also known as Kwan Swee Lian or Sakura Kwan. I caught up with Dato Foo in an invited media tasting in Singapore recently, and asked him about the relationship with the Sakura Restaurant in Jalan Imbi, KL. According to him, Madam Kwan, or Kwan Cheh, as she is know in KL, was a beautician in Japan. She returned to her native KL and opened a beauty salon in Jalan Imbi. But somewhere within her is the yearning and longing to cook and share her passion for food. Soon after, she started a restaurant where the beauty salon was, and called it Sakura's. Sakura became famous, mostly for the nasi lemak, and awesome chicken curry. It was probably one of the first air conditioned restaurants, other than hotels, who offered local fare like nasi lemak, curries, and noodles. During the 1998 financial crisis, the restaurant changed hands, and Kwan Cheh started a small stall selling nasi lemak in 1Utama. Her son, Rudy, then was a stockbroker, and decided to invest in a restaurant in Bangsar, as a business, but also to help refresh her dignity. When KLCC started, they were invited to start a restaurant within, and the rest, as they say, was history. Now with 6 outlets in the Malaysian capital, and 1 in Singapore, they are set to expand, and showcase Malaysian cuisine to the world.

Two new dishes were being added to the menu, the first was otak otak fried rice.

The dish was created by crowd sourcing...the Madam Kwan's management went to their facebook page, and asked fans to suggest a new item for their menu. The one which got the most votes was the otak otak fried rice. Interesting that not more restaurants offer this dish. It was quite good. The wok control and powerful fire was apparent in the wok hei. The otak otak is made in-house from fresh spices and herbs and a smooth, springy fish otak otak. Marvellous. I just wished there were more otak...:-)

The next new dish is the petai fried rice.

This is a rather common dish in Indonesia, but the dish presented by Madam Kwan's was more familiar. The petai was fresh, succulent...the petai bean itself being rather large. Beautiful flavours. Very nice...but of course you need to like petai in the first place...and needless to say, I adore petai.

We also sampled the staples of the restaurant...the nasi lemak

My all time favourite. Wonderfully fragrant rice. With a magnificent, ultra rich tasting, mildly spicy chicken curry, sambal ikan bilis, dried shrimp floss and achar. The flavours are just perfect. The richness of the chicken curry balances with the acid of the achar and the sambal ikan bilis.

and the nasi bojari

Interestingly, a google search of nasi bojari ends up only with all results pointing back to Madam Kwan's. Yet, Dato Foo reveals that he did try to patent the dish and trademark the name, but the application was rejected by the Malaysian authorities, as it was supposed to be a rather generic Indonesian dish. Interesting.

Anyway, the dish is rather special. A tricolour rice made with stock, spices and chicken and prawns is served with a beautifully deep fried chicken leg, and beef rendang and assam prawns. Again the selection of the dishes were inspired...the richness of the crispy skin and tender juicy meat of the chicken, the opulence of the beef rendang, and the acidity of the assam prawns were just right.

We also tried the fish head curry

A very fresh red snapper head, is steamed and cooked with the curry and made complete with lady's fingers, tomatoes, long beans, brinjals and dried beancurd. Tasted very home cooked to me. All the coconut milk used in Madam Kwan is freshly squeezed...none of the industrialized canned or tetra-packed stuff. And one can literally taste the coconut flavours. The spices for the curry are made fresh from scratch, no curry powder is used. I found the fish head curry to be very good, but not exactly my taste. For me, it was a bit too rich (lemak)...but I am partial to the peranakan style fish head curry. But loved the fact that there were tons of vegetables in the dish.

For desserts, the banana fritters were a clear favourite

I understand pisang emas, or a smallish, Malaysian banana is used, very ripe, coated in batter and deep fried till crisp. Served with two scoops of vanilla ice cream. How can one argue with that. Very nice.

But the highlight for me was the chendol

Fresh chendol, with red bean paste sitting on a bed of shaved ice soaked in coconut milk. The over it, pour a beautiful, fragrant and sweet gula melaka. Wonderful.

A version of bubur cha cha was also served

I found this to be good, but perhaps lacking a bit in the dice ingredients. Sure, there was pumpkin, yam, and sago, but would be nicer if there were more of those, and slices of ripe banana and some of the tapioca gummy, chewy thingies. Or at least, that's how bubur cha cha is served at home.

Overall, the food is very good. Service staff were knowledgable, and because this was a media tasting, service was excellent. The restaurant is rather large. Recommended.

Madam Kwan's
Truly Malaysian Cuisine
#01-155 Vivocity

Tale of two nasi lemak stalls

Nasi lemak is a quintessential meal for the Singaporean...be it for breakfast, or lunch or sometimes even for dinner...or for the addicted...all three meals for the day. Where does one find the best? I cover two famous stalls today...one located almost totally across the island from the other.

First off at Boon Lay...west of our tiny island...this stall was made very famous by Makansutra who gave it a Die, Die Must Try rating.

When I arrived on a Wednesday afternoon about 10mins before noon, there was already a long queue. Based on reputation, I ordered an extra chicken wing, and some sayur lodeh.

How did it taste? In a word, disappointing. The rice was sans fragrance, probably because it was overcooked, and devoid of any coconut aroma. The chicken was not crispy...it was very hard, and also overcooked...the meat within was dry and unappetizing. The ikan bilis was was also hard, but was not crispy, probably deep fried long ago, and had lost its crisp. The egg was also overcooked. Way over cooked, almost rubbery. Overcooked seemed to be the theme. The sayur lodeh too was bland. And the very highly rated sambal was only remarkable for its boringness. I could not even finish the meal. A very un-power nasi lemak.

Cross over the island to Changi...and the almost equally famous International Nasi Lemak. There have been many mumblings that this stall is now a shadow of its former self. Having eaten there frequently some 10 years ago, when my office was in Loyang, I can attest that they were certainly very, very good in those days. I understand the people running the stall are different from those days.

So how are they now? Also in a word, very good. The rice was light, fluffy, and very fragrant. The chicken wing was crispy outside, very tender and juicy within. The ikan bilis also very ungreasy crisp, as were the peanuts. The egg was not the runny type, but consistent with the way Malay stalls cook theirs...this was totally cooked, but not overcooked. The additional otak I added was the only slight disappointment. It tasted fine, but I think there was too much filler and not enough fish.

Certainly a very different story from Boon Lay...International fully redeemed itself, and was a tasty treat.

Thus goes the tale of two famous nasi lemak stall. I would not hesitate to recommend International, but not the other.

Boon Lay Power Nasi Lemak
Blk Blk 221B, Boon Lay Place
#01-106 Boon Lay Place Food Centre

International Muslim Food Nasi Lemak
Changi Village Hawker Centre
2 Changi Village Road #01-03

Takeaway: quick and easy but delicious: Spice Box

Takeaways...you can't live with them, you can't live without them. Often, we compromise taste for convenience. Today's recommendation is one which tries to blend both. Spice Box is a small stall in two commercial malls which we have grown to love as takeaways.

All in one box...

Convenient, neat. This is the premium nasi lemak meal...$4.20. All in one meals....though the amount of vegetables is rather little...would always need to supplement with fresh fruits

The rice is green pandan with coconut milk. The coconut milk is not very strong, mild...as is the pandan. But the rice is quite nicely fragrant. The egg is a little overcooked, but as a readymade meal, can't really complain.

The chicken was awesome. Marinate was very nicely done. Beautifully crisp on the outiside, juicy on the inside. Nice. The roasted peanuts and crisp anchovies provided some crunch. And the chilli was sweet, with a tinge of heat.

Convenience in a package.

Spice Box Kiosk
313@Somerset, 313 Orchard Road, #B3-46

High end nasi lemak...Grandma's

One of my favourite places to eat Nasi Lemak is in a quaint little restaurant in Jalan Imbi in Kuala Lumpur, curiously called Sakura. Sounding more like a karaoke bar than a family restaurant, this place has been in operation for a long time...decades.

The rumour is that the chef of Sakura left and started her own place...known as Madam Kwan's...I suppose that's her name, she too gained great fame...especially that the restaurant is halal...important in Malaysia, where a large Muslim community exists. And located strategically in the high end shopping malls...KLCC, Mid-Valley Megamall, et al.

I heard the chef of Madam Kwan's has now left...the circle of life...and is now opened a new restaurant in Singapore's Paragon. Known simply as Grandma's it promises to serve the same wonderful food as Madam Kwan's.



A very similar menu is presented...with the chef's speciality of Nasi Lemak (also a speciality in Sakura and subsequently in Mdm Kwan's) and Nasi Bojari (never knew its existance in Sakura, but a favourite in Mdm Kwan's), chendol, otah.

I ordered the Nasi Bojari. I am not sure what is the providence of nasi bojari, but all internet searches for it end up pointing to Madam Kwan's...which leads me to believe it was invented there. The only reference taking it further than M. Kwan's, actually quotes her, and is found in a New Straits Times article which states: "Nasi Bojari is from Indonesia where the rice is meant for royalty, and is layered red, yellow and white. "We can’t do it here," said Madam Kwan. So she did the next best thing — frying the rice with bits of chicken, garlic and dried prawns and lightly tinging the rice with red, and yellow from turmeric. "It’s rice for royalty," said Kwan, which is why the Indonesians who come to dine have not had it before. There little bursts of flavours in the rice from the ingredients in it."



The chicken thigh is very large, as it was in KL...the skin looked taut and crispy, and the insides look tender and juicy. A small serving of beef rendang accompanies, and yellowish-reddish-white hemisphere of fragrant rice is the main attraction. Half a hard boiled egg also adorns with a condiment which looked like sambal onions. The chicken was indeed juicy, tender and the skin very crispy. The beef was also tender...but from long, slow cooking instead of a superior cut rendering the sinews still visible but very tender. Excellent dish.

We also had the Nasi Lemak.



Very fragrant rice cooked in coconut milk so that it is creamy, rich and luxurious in the mouth. The condiments are a serving of super rich chicken curry, some sambal cuttlefish and sambal onions with ikan bilis. Shred the chicken, and mix the rice, chicken, cuttlefish and onions till homogeneous...add in more sambal belachan. And enjoy. Shiok.

We also ordered some sambal potato leaves...



This was quite regular...the potato leaves were a bit on the old side...but cooked till tender and the sambal was very good.

They are also famous for otah otah...so we had one



The style of the otah was the one wrapped in banana leaf, and barbecued. It was rather tasty...flaky almost, but moist and juicy inside...nearly crisp outside...and there were small bits of fish within. A smoky aroma permeates as it was probably barbecued on a charcoal fire. Nice.

Overall a nice restaurant with good, tasty food...and nice service. Convenient location right in the middle of Orchard Road. A tad pricey for local food, but in my opinion well worth the money.


Grandma’s
290 Orchard Road #B1-42/43
The Paragon Singapore
Tel: +65 6737 7931

11:30am – 3pm
6 – 10:30pm daily

Tasty convenience food: Qiji

Sometimes, when we just have to grab some food to fill our tummies, we may not always have the luxury of chosing a nice place with good food, good ambience, good service. Qiji seems to me to be the very kind of place to meet this type of eating...kind of like the 7-11 of cooked food.

But a recent visit, surprised me somewhat with the taste and quality of the food. We dcropped by one morning for a quick breakfast at Funan Center, while shopping for a new laptop (ended up with a Dell XPS Studio 16).



Apparently the store has been around for some time...originating in the Funan Center area, and returning to its roots here. There a few outlets in other shopping malls in Singapore.

They offered several types of nasi lemak...with deep fried chicken wing, breaded fish, etc.



The rice was regular Thai jasmine rice, not the Biryani used by the folks at No 1 Adam Road. But it was rather fragrant, with the sweet smell of coconut milk and a touch of pandan leaf. The chicken was regularly fried...nice. The fish, I found quite nice. Interesting to include a slice of sole in nasi lemak, but deep fried with a crispy batter, the fish works...very well indeed. The chilli sambal was sweeter than it was spicy, but complements the dish well. The deep fried ikan bilis was the larger variety, and was very crisp and easy on the palate. So was the accompaniment of roasted peanuts. We also tried a piece of otak, which struck me as rather average...perhaps a tad above the ones you get at the HDB void deck. But overall I liked it very much.

They also served popiah, which I found to be quite good as well.


Qiji
Various locations citywide
#01-17 Funan Digital Mall
www.quji.com.sg
6)

Best Nasi Lemak, and then some...

with family for breakfast

This is a favourite of Edward and I when we go on our bicycle makan sessions. It remains a favourite with us, and Kin. I also brought my good friend Frank Muller - a German who lives in Dresden, to eat, and he too loved it.

The stall next door at Stall 1 also sells Nasi Lemak...and in days of yore there was only one queue...at Stall 2. However, recently business seemed to have picked up for Stall 1 as well, and when visited both queues were almost as long.



The rice, cooked from basmati rice was very fragrant. This is the first store I have come across using basmati rice to cook nasi lemak. It makes great sense. Each grain of basmati is typically less starchy, and dryer...and hence is able to take on and absorb flavours. In nasi lemak, this would be coconut milk and pandanus leaf. Fragrant. Very fragrant. We use a similar technique at home to cook chicken rice, where the absorbent qualities of the rice is put to good use to soak up the chicken stock for a power packed full flavour rice.

As a bonus, the rice is also medium glycemic index. this means that it releases sugars more slowly into the bloodstream than starchy rice like Japanese rice or even Jasmine Thai rice. I understand the Canadian Diabetic Association recommends basmati rice for diabetic patients (in moderation).



I always order the Full House, and it used to come with either a dollop of achar or sambal sotong gratis. But times, they are a changing. They still charge the same for a Full House (comprising of rice, one deep fried battered chicken wing, one fried egg, some deep fried anchovies and peanuts, and a grilled otak), but if you want the sambal sotong, it will cost $1 more. I don't think it is really worthwhile adding the sotong...a small miserly portion...you can see in the pic above merging with the sambal.

The sotong is admittedly very good...this is made from slices of cuttlefish, rather than calamari, and cooked, probably for a long time with spices and sambal. While by no stretch of imagination one would describe the sotong as tender, it has a chewy complexion and tough-ish texture, but it tastes excellent - a blend of sweetness, sotong-ness and goes well with the sambal.

The chicken wing is exceptional. Freshly fried, it was very crispy on the outside, it retained all the juiciness and flavour on the inside. Very satisfying to eat. I sometimes order additional chicken wings at $1.50 each (which is more worth the money than the sotong). I once asked the owner why he didn't offer chicken drumsticks or legs...he said that they once did, but the demand was for chicken wings.

The sambal is also extremely good...spicy, with a great kick, it was coyly also sweet with just the right tinge of sour to balance. Superb. I greatly prefer this nasi lemak to the famous ones in Changi Village.


Wash this all down with a cup of teh tarik halia, and alls well that ends well.

I didn't find much variations in the teh halia from the various stalls...I have been drinking at the Adam Road Sarabat stalls since my university days...where our seniors dragged us for tea and roti prata at 3am in the morning after a whole day of orientation (dare we say ragging?) as I lived in Raffles Hall, a hostel just across the Bukit Timah Road.

Perhaps I am not discerning enough in teh halias, but this one tasted similar to the others...I always order "kurang gula" meaning less sugar. The astringent tea goes very well with the sharp, pungent ginger, and blends well with the milk. Nice cuppa.

Read ieat's review.






Selera Rasa
2 Adam Road
Stall 2 Adam Rd Food Centre
6:30am to 10pm (used to be 24 hours)
Tel: 9843 4509

Photonotes: shot with Canon EOS 300d with kit 18-55mm lens. Colour balanced in PS3.