Hadn’t really been this enthusiastic about Tenderbest group’s concepts in the past, but my recent visits to Tenderbest Makcik Kitchen at [email protected] had me fairly impressed — and that’s how I found myself heading down to Kedai Kopi when they had announced the opening of the coffeeshop concept.

With many tenants located under one roof in this Muslim-friendly concept, we ended up ordering from a few stalls such as Mee Bagus (i.e. the Muslim-friendly alter ego of Gimee Face 爱面子 that has stalls in Hougang and Ang Mo Kio), Mr Teh Tarik Express and Joy Satay. This item came from the menu of 380 Nasi Lemak — a stall that is seen as a revival of Nasi Coco which was previously situated at NeWest, and is aligned with the same Muslim-friendly theme of the coffeeshop. While the other elements were actually pretty well-executed here, the main star or the show here seemed to have fell a bit short — the XXL Crispy Chicken Leg seem to have lost most of its juiciness from being pre-fried and displayed at the counter for an extended period of time; the batter being a tad limp, though retaining much of the crunch, but the flesh being rather tough and dry. Otherwise, the other elements are pretty commendable — the basmati rice came infused with an evidently aromatic coconut-y fragrance with the grains being pretty fluffy, and the sambal being a nice mix of sweet-savoury and carrying a moderate punch of spiciness that most folks should find easy to handle. The Ikan Bilis also remained crunchy, while the sunny-side-up comes with somewhat of a runny egg yolk.

While this item from 380 Nasi Lemak does come with hits and misses and definitely has some room for improvement, Kedai Kopi is certainly a spot that remains as an appealing option to dine at if in the area for both Muslims and Non-Muslims. Of particular mention, we found the Seafood Laksa from Mee Bagus to be delicious — sufficiently “lemak” with an evident hint of flavours from the rempah spices, and coming with hum, fish cake, and prawns. Crowds seem to be a little crazy given the press coverage on this place lately though — you have been warned!