The Coconut Club – PM Lee hosted Philippine President Duterte to lunch here!

Nasi Lemak is my favourite childhood dish. I have never think too much of it – to me, it’s just coconut with rice. Over the years, we have seen how many of the nasi lemak stalls beginning to use short cuts and factory made products. Gone are the days where we see stall owners squeezing fresh coconut juices into their rice.

The Coconut Club at Ann Siang Hill brought the standard of nasi lemak back with the use of quality ingredients. It all started when Chef Lee visit a nasi lemak convention in Malaysia and learnt more about this dish and he was inspired to bring it back to Singapore. Culinary trained in New York, he experimented with different types of coconut and eventually went for MAWA (a Malaysian West African hybrid).

Just how well-received it was? Just yesterday, our Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong hosted visiting Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to lunch here!

This is the special item for the day – Sambal Lala. This is very good, the clams are tossed with sambal and ketchup manis which gives it a deep and intense flavour with a subtle sweetness. Hopefully, they can include in their permanent menu next time round.

As I was savouring my plate of Nasi Lemak ($12.80) at The Coconut Club, the friendly waiter came and asked, “Is it lemak enough?”

I nod in approval. To be honest, MAWA coconut or not, I can’t really taste the difference unless you put two plates of rice cooked using different coconut quality to compare. Having said that, the nasi lemak here is really lemak with a rich fragrance. Using basmati rice grains, the rice I had that day was dense and a little chewy.

The Coconut Club’s standard nasi lemak includes coconut rice, ikan bilis, sambal chilli, cucumber, fried egg and fried chicken leg. Optional extras include beef rendang, otak and fried fish. I really like the chicken leg marinated with galangal, lemongrass and ginger. Coated with tapioca flour, it was deep fried and you get crispy skin with very moist and juicy meat. The sambal chilli needs a little more punch in my opinion, it wasn’t as tasty the as the sambal that were cooked with lala.

To know how good the coconut is, you need to order the Chendol ($3.80) with silky smooth green chendol jellies swimming in a soup of gula melaka, evaporated milk and fresh coconut milk. It doesn’t get better than this. There is a delicate balance between the ingredients and not cringing-sweet. Green chendol jellies are home with rice flour and infused with intense pandan flavour. A good gula melaka (palm sugar) is used and the coconut milk leaves a delicious aftertaste.

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stall featured here.

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