I have met Chef Daiman D'Silva once and that was quite a while ago, he has left quite an impression since then. He has since closed Immigrants Gastrobar in Joo Chiat prior to opening at Timbre+. It is a simple brick-and-mortar set up serving comfort local cuisines and western dishes like fish & chips, burgers and pastas. Their all time best seller has to be the Nasi Lemak. It consists of a good portion of fragrant coconut infused rice, a big piece of ikan kuning, fried chicken wing, omelette, ikan bilis and sambal for $8.00. I decided to go with it. The friendly malay lady at the counter spotted me looking at it on their menu and so when i approached the counter, she asked, 'Nasi Lemak for you?'. I nodded. I asked, 'How did you know?'. She said, 'I saw you looking at it and it is also a popular dish that many came here for.'
I was also asked whether i want to have a drink to go with it. There is an extensive options from hot and cold beverages to different choices of beer. I ordered a cold Latte to go along and i was given the option to collect it first or later, together with the Nasi Lemak. I was given with a pager after done with the payment. I waited for more than 15 minutes before it puzzled though it was already after 2 pm and i seemed to be the only customer at that time.
The texture of fried chicken wing was a bit too dry and its taste was just so so. The ikan kuning was nicely fried though, its size was quite big so it has enough meat in it.
The omelette and ikan belis were just quite normal.
The star of this dish has to be the extremely spicy chilli. I would think this is one of the better chilli that i have came across when eating Nasi Lemak. There was 2 piles of it but i could only finished just 1 as i could not quite handle its level of spiciness but it goes go really well with the fragrant coconut rice.
When collecting the Iced Latte, i was asked by that friendly counter staff whether i would prefer to have more coffee or more milk and whether i like it to be more bitter or more sweet.
The menu also includes a old-school dish that is known as Kai Fun or Street Rice, which you do not get it anywhere else. It consists rice that is served with chicken broth, char siew, lup cheong with shredded chicken that was popular amongst the coolies during the olden days.
NOTE: It has already closed.
DAMIAN D'SILVA
73A Ayer Rajah Crescent Timbre+ SINGAPORE 139957
Operating Hours: 11.00 am to 11.00 pm (Closed on Sundays)
73A Ayer Rajah Crescent Timbre+ SINGAPORE 139957
Operating Hours: 11.00 am to 11.00 pm (Closed on Sundays)