Papa Ayam at 313@Somerset serves up many variations of Indonesian sambal on crispy smashed chicken.

The original is made with original garlic sambal where you can request for spiciness levels from 1-15. There’s even a WTF level 27 for a spicy eating challenge - if you’re able to finish it in 5 minutes, you get the meal for free and your photo on their wall of fame. The sambal is made fresh depending on the level of spiciness that you choose, where they’ll toss in the same number of chilli padis as the level chosen and grind them right in front of you. Not wanting to suffer a stomachache, we opted for level 5 and were told it was a mild to moderate spice level.

Apart from the original, there’s also the cabe ijo which is sambal made from green chillies which are less spicy. The last option is the sambal matah which is raw sambal made from onion, lemongrass, and chilli padi mixed with lime juice.

For those who can’t make up their minds, there’s the half-half option with half sambal matah and half sambal original so you can try two types of sambal at one go. In true Indonesian style, you can pick either rice or Indomie to go along with the chicken. It was a no brainer for me - Indomie all the way! Since the sambal is made to order, the food takes approximately 5-10 minutes to prepare.

The Indomie noodles are well-cooked, they’re springy and not soggy at all. The fried chicken is crispy and the batter isn’t too thick. Level 5 spiciness is indeed quite spicy, and although my tongue was enjoying the spicy shiokness of it all, I was worrried my stomach would start churning its complaints. I wasn’t such a fan of the sambal matah thanks to the copious amounts of raw onions, so I ended up nudging the onions to the corner and eating the chicken only. Overall for $7.80 the portion isn’t that large, but it’s good for sharing so you can try various stalls and have the best of all worlds.

Special mention goes to the awesome service at Papa Ayam! I was given rice although I’d asked for Indomie, and although I said I was ok with it, the kind people at Papa Ayam cheerfully offered to swap out the rice for Indomie. This is the kind of service that makes me happy to patronise a stall and want to continue supporting them. It helps that their food is fantastic too - I’ll be back to have more of that original sambal and Indomie!

*Note that Papa Ayam is halal as it’s Muslim-owned!