Wild Coco (Jln Besar)

Coconut panna cotta is firm & smooth but lack of coconut fragrance, can be softer; topped with housemade black sesame taste which is fragrant & rich but not overpowering the custard taste; topped with sesame florentine which is crunchy & sweet, best to end of with it..

Sotong is fresh, firm, crunchy & tossed with onions in sambal sauce; sauce is savory & not spicy; best for sharing..

Thick noodles tossed in laksa sauce & stir-fried to mild smoky taste; with fish cakes & small pieces of crispy beancurd puff; came with 2 pieces of tiger prawn & 2 pieces of scallop which could be fresher; otherwise a well-executed dish worth a try..

Chicken leg is well-marinated with spices, deep-fried till crispy outside while maintaining its tenderness & succulent; rice is fluffy & infused with coconut fragrant; came with sunny side up, ikan bilis, peanuts, cucumber & sambal; 1 of the better atas nasi lemak worth a try..

Pricey but a really tender and succulent piece of fried chicken leg, Wild Coco’s Ayam Berempah Leg ($10.90) comes coated with shreds of aromatic lemongrass and ginger. With no flour batter, the sizeable spiced-rubbed protein felt lighter than most and not as cloying. The flavour from the seasoned crust was also nicely balanced and the wonderfully browned skin was crispy. However, the insides could use a little more oomph from the marination, in my opinion. The Chao Ta Chee Cheong Fun ($13.90) was decent. Full of wok hei, it can get a bit bitter with the over-charred edges. The two large tiger prawns were nicely done though.

It seems that the folks behind Wild Coco are doing fairly well after having first opened in a coffeeshop at 122 McNair Road — these folks had since made their move to 14 Hamilton Road and become an independently-run establishment. For those whom are uninitiated, Wild Coco is an establishment that is best known for their Nasi Lemak — since their days at McNair Road, Wild Coco has been pretty well noted for serving up Malaysian-style Nasi Lemak much in the same style as Village Park Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; also the same style of Nasi Lemak which one can find at other establishments in Singapore such as The Coconut Club and Dickson Nasi Lemak just to name a few. Their Hamilton Road location is actually situated right beside the outlet of Brawn & Brains Coffee along the same street — an address that we are pretty familiar with. With the transition of being an eatery within a coffeeshop setting to one of an independently-run diner, their Hamilton Road outlet comes tastefully decorated with nostalgic elements — the retro tiled floorings matches well with the furniture and furnishings that comprises of wooden and rattan elements; a look that can be said as pretty tropical especially with the wall murals featuring different plants as well. Those whom are familiar with Wild Coco’s McNair location might also find some items such as the neon lightings and signboards previously used in the old location being placed in some corners of its current space. With the change of operating model for Nasi Coco, Nasi Coco now also offers a wider menu at its Hamilton Road location as compared to its previous location at McNair Road — the menu being segmented into categories such as Nasi Lemak, Fresh from Wok (i.e. stir-fried small dishes), Only at Wild Coco (i.e. side dishes to compliment the Nasi Lemak), Sides (i.e. the various meat / seafood options typically offered with their Nasi Lemak, listed as add-ons in this section), Tiger Prawn Laksa by Laksa Labo, Desserts, Eggs & Toasts and Home Made Nyonya Kueh.

Having had the Nasi Lemak Ayam Berempah on multiple occasions when we visited Wild Coco during their days situated at McNair Road, we thought it would be good if we could switch things up a little and move on from both the Laksa and the Nasi Lemak Ayam Berempah which we had been going for every time that we made a visit to Wild Coco. Amongst the various variants of Nasi Lemak which they have to offer, the Ayam Masak Merah was the item that stood out to us the most after the Nasi Lemak Ayam Berempah. Despite being both chicken dishes here, the Nasi Lemak Ayam Masak Merah does not come with the flexibility of going for a preferred chicken part unlike the Nasi Lemak Ayam Berempah — patrons do get a choice to opt between the Leg or Breast for the Nasi Lemak Ayam Berempah here; this is as opposed to the standard serving of Drum and Thigh for the Nasi Lemak Ayam Masak Merah. The differences between the Nasi Lemak Ayam Berempah and the Nasi Lemak Ayam Masak Merah ends there though however — all Nasi Lemak items at Wild Coco otherwise comes with coconut rice, sambal, sunny side-up, Ikan Bilis, peanuts and Japanese cucumber; there is also a mention in the menu that the coconut rice is made with fresh coconut milk and that the chicken used for all the chicken dishes here are fresh chicken, with no MSG used in the preparation of the Nasi Lemak.

One thing we recalled about Wild Coco’s rendition of the coconut rice is how their variant does come with a softer note of coconut as compared to the other establishments serving up similar styles of Nasi Lemak are — that being said, we did detect a light note of coconut fragrance that lingers at the back of the tongue that rounds off pretty well; something that felt like a slight improvement over the previous times that we have had it. The Ayam Masak Merah came with chicken that is tender and with a fried skin that comes drenched in a spicy tomato sauce; their rendition carried a flavoural contrast of tangy tomato, chili and sweet onions that stood out from those which we have had before that felt a tad flat in comparison. Both the Ayam Masak Merah and the sambal chili that came with the Nasi Lemak Ayam Masak Merah came at a spiciness level that should be manageable for those that are tolerable to moderate levels of spiciness — that being said, the sambal chili that came along with the Nasi Lemak Ayam Masak Merah does seem to carry a level of spiciness that is slightly milder than that of the Ayam Masak Merah itself. We were also relatively impressed with the sambal chili considering how they had also managed to create a flavour contrast with the addition of aromatics such as the likes of lemongrass(?) that made it really refreshing and easy to have. Otherwise, the other components are executed the way that it should have been — the Ikan Bilis having stayed crisp and just suitably saltish, and the sunny side-up came with that crowd-pleasing molten egg yolk that eagerly oozes out when one pokes it with the fork. Other items we had tried included the Chao Ta Chee Cheong Fun that was more like a Char Kway Teow without the dark sauce which carried a heavy wok-hei that was oh-so-good, as well as the Bingka Ice Cream which is essentially Kueh Bingka with a scoop of coconut ice-cream. Even the drinks like the Ondeh Ondeh Kopi — their own concoction of Kopi that seems an infusion of Pandan are pretty commendable. Needless to say, a spot which we will return to explore onthe new items that they have to offer!