This stall reminded me of the song 'Fried Rice Paradise' composed and sing by Dick Lee. I am a big fan of fried rice and i have heard about this particular stall in this food centre. The owner used to be a Service Manager at the Swatow Restaurant in Shenton Way in the early 80s but he decided to be a hawker in 1986. After 3 decades, he is still enjoying what he is doing. He is only selling fried rice at his stall, nothing else. He demonstrated a high level of confidence in doing just the fried rice and he must be real good at it. As he is already in his 70s, the stall is only operating from 10.30 am to 1.30 pm.
I was there once but they were sold out much earlier before their closing time. This time, i was luckier, there was still a queue at 1.10 pm and i joined in. Everyone in the queue was waiting eagerly to get their plates of fried rice. I must be super lucky as i was allocated one of the last few plates of fried rice before their closing and the Auntie turned away those queuing behind me. They might have already run out of the rice but they do left quite a bit of dishes for selection. I decided to add a fried egg with a portion of braised meat and dried shrimps to my plate of fried rice. If i remember correctly, the fried rice itself is $4.00, the braised meat is $2.00, the fried egg is $0.50 and the dried shrimp is $1.00. Though a slight costly but it was tasty enough to justify the value.
The fried rice indeed tasted special, the texture of the rice was rather grainy and not mushy, it was fried well with ingredients like char siew, prawns and egg to give it the fragrance with a nice wok taste. I could just finish a big plate of the fried rice even without those extras added.
I was there once but they were sold out much earlier before their closing time. This time, i was luckier, there was still a queue at 1.10 pm and i joined in. Everyone in the queue was waiting eagerly to get their plates of fried rice. I must be super lucky as i was allocated one of the last few plates of fried rice before their closing and the Auntie turned away those queuing behind me. They might have already run out of the rice but they do left quite a bit of dishes for selection. I decided to add a fried egg with a portion of braised meat and dried shrimps to my plate of fried rice. If i remember correctly, the fried rice itself is $4.00, the braised meat is $2.00, the fried egg is $0.50 and the dried shrimp is $1.00. Though a slight costly but it was tasty enough to justify the value.
The fried rice indeed tasted special, the texture of the rice was rather grainy and not mushy, it was fried well with ingredients like char siew, prawns and egg to give it the fragrance with a nice wok taste. I could just finish a big plate of the fried rice even without those extras added.
I particularly enjoyed the braised meat, though it tasted simple but it reminded me of my dearest Grandpa. He used to cook braised meat and i could taste a certain similarity between his version and this particular one. The texture of braised meat was cooked till really soft, so soft that it actually melted in the mouth effortlessly, without much chewing needed.
I could see that effort has been put in to ensure that the fried egg was done just right to give it a runny egg yolk then drizzled with a few drops of dark soya sauce. I have always disliked those fried eggs with an overcooked egg yolk to the extent that i would just eat the egg white and left the egg yolk totally untouched.
The fragrance of the dried shrimps added flavor to the fried rice and enhanced the taste pretty much.
This humble stall serves one of the nicest fried rice that i have ever eaten.
CHINATOWN SPECIAL
335 Smith Street #02-12 Chinatown Complex Food Centre SINGAPORE 050335
Operating Hours: 10.30 am to 1.30 pm
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