Lemak Pandan

Had been noticing these folks setting up shop in the area for a while — located at 23 Baghdad Street is the new Lemak Pandan; these folks should be a relatively easy find considering how they are situated right beside Smashed; yes, the same exact Smashed by The Halal Corner that serves up smashed burgers that was once featured by ishowspeed during his visit to Singapore not too long ago. One thing that is noticeable from outside is how Lemak Pandan does look very similar to Smashed with an almost identical layout of the shop space and the use of rather complimentary colour tones in its shop facade — whilst Smashed adopts a yellow colour scheme for its shop facade, Lemak Pandan uses an orange colour scheme for its colour theme. With that being said, the folks at Lemak Pandan had told us that there two stalls do not share any relations and are simply neighbours. Despite the bright colours used to bring out a seemingly hipster vibe, Lemak Pandan is decked rather simply inside; the interior features a long counter table that is paired with plastic stools that cater for individual diners, while dining tables good for two (2) pax using the same plastic stools and foldable tables can be found within the space as well. One can possibly tell the specialty of Lemak Pandan just by the namesake of the establishment; the menu at Lemak Pandan features Nasi Lemak as its core offerings, while there is a number is side dishes available where one can add on to their choice of Nasi Lemak sets as well. For beverages, Lemak Pandan serves up soft drinks from the dispenser, whilst they also do offer Fruits Cup for those looking for a dessert to end the meal with.

Wanting to go for something on the smaller side, the Nasi Lemak Wing was the one item on the menu that appealed to us — the other Nasi Lemak offerings that Lemak Pandan has to offer would be its Nasi Lemak Fish, Nasi Lemak Leg Meat, and Nasi Lemak Cutlet. Lemak Pandan describes its Nasi Lemak Wing to come with elements such as chicken wing, egg, anchovies (seemingly replaced by long beans and salted fish for our order) and peanuts. Patrons will be given a receipt with an Order Number being stated after making their order at the counter — the LED display will indicate the order number to be collected from the pick-up point once the order has been processed and ready for collection. One thing that had caught our attention very early on with the Nasi Lemak Wing that we have had ordered was the Pandan-infused basmati rice; it seems that the folks at Lemak Pandan had opted to go with serving their Nasi Lemak with its rice bearing a green hue. With that being said, it is interesting to observe that the rice here does come with a duller shade of green as compared to the neon green hue that most Pandan-infused rice tend to come in — these folks had mentioned that this is due to the use of actual Pandan juice in the making of the rice. The results do show in the flavours of the rice; wafting of a Pandan and coconut-y aroma, while the choice of using Basmati rice meant that the rice remains fluffy and light — very easy to eat despite all the flavours that it carries. The other star of the Nasi Lemak here is undeniably the Chicken Wing — one thing that we found to be especially prominent with the chicken wing here would be its marination with turmeric as well as the flavours of the spices such as the lemongrass; we also loved how the chicken wing didn’t feel particularly greasy, yet coming all tender and juicy whilst also being served piping hot as well being fried only upon order.

Meanwhile, the long beans does seem to have come with salted fish as well as caramalised onions; the long beans delivering a soft crunch while the other elements provided a slight saltish-ness and sweetness that gave the element a bit of a flavoural contrast. The sambal chili that came with the Nasi Lemak Wing was one that we found pretty familiar; the sweet sambal went well with the Pandan-infused rice — all that whilst not being spicy and should be pretty manageable even for those whom are less tolerable to spiciness in general. With their Nasi Lemak Wing priced only at $4.80, it is needless to say that the Nasi Lemak offerings from Lemak Pandan is absolutely value-for-money; this is especially considering the level of detail placed in the Nasi Lemak that they have to offer — very few places would go to the extent of serving up their Pandan-infused basmati rice with actual pandan juice, while their chicken wing was also especially stellar. Considering how they have priced themselves in a manner that is even competitive against Nasi Lemak stalls situated within hawker centres / coffeeshops / food courts, the Nasi Lemak Wing is perhaps the best Nasi Lemak out there for the quality it brings at its price point — something which we will most certainly go for if craving for Nasi Lemak whilst in the Kampong Glam neighbourhood and on a tight budget!