Changi Village Nasi Lemak Showdown — Which Stall Has The Best Nasi Lemak?
If there’s any Malay dish that never fails to hit the spot, it would be nasi lemak. With a name that literally translates into “fat rice”, you can expect nothing less than the richest fragrance from this dish.
Die-hard fans of nasi lemak, you all need to head down to Changi Village right now. If you didn’t already know, Changi Village Hawker Centre is basically a battleground for this iconic Malay dish. There are a whopping six stalls within the same hawker centre serving up their own renditions of nasi lemak.
We wanted to find out which stall served the best nasi lemak. We narrowed down our options to three popular Nasi Lemak stalls at Changi Village Hawker Centre—Changi Famous Nasi Lemak, International Nasi Lemak & Mizzy Corner—and pitted them against each other to see who will come out on top.
Disclaimer: This review consists of our own opinions and is subjective. Feel free to disagree.
Here’s a quick look at our contenders:
INTERNATIONAL MUSLIM FOOD STALL NASI LEMAK
For a fairer comparison, we ordered the same two dishes from each stall — one set with chicken wing and another with fried fish. (International Nasi Lemak didn’t have fried fish that day, so we settled for the fish fillet.)
Every nasi lemak typically has five key components — the rice, chicken or fish, egg, sambal chilli and fried ikan bilis. We’ll be looking at how each stall’s nasi lemaks fared for each component across the board.
RICE
When it comes to nasi lemak, the rice is crucial. Heck, it’s the name of the dish itself. The lemak-ness of the rice can make or break the dish. Out of the three stalls, there was a clear winner — International Nasi Lemak.
Their short-grain rice was brimming with coconut fragrance and had a superbly fluffy texture. While the rice from Changi Famous Nasi Lemak was really fragrant as well, the rice was a bit on the softer side. As for Mizzy Corner, their rice lacked the lemak factor.
CHICKEN AND FISH
Let’s talk about the chicken first. Changi Famous’ chicken wings had a nice crispy batter and were the juiciest out of the three. The chicken from the other two stalls lacked the same crispiness and were not as tender.
As for the fish, it was a pretty close fight between Changi and Mizzy. Both their battered fishes were really well-seasoned. But, if we had to pick, we would go for Mizzy, whose fish had a tad more “oomph” in flavour.
We know it’s not a fair comparison for International, but their fried fish fillet was pretty tasty, albeit nothing too mindblowing.
EGG
If there was one stall that had to cook us eggs for the rest of our lives, we would gladly pick International. Their fried eggs were beautifully cooked, with half-runny yolks within. They were miles above the, sadly, overcooked eggs from Changi Famous.
SAMBAL CHILLI
If you didn’t have chilli with your nasi lemak, did you really eat the dish? Each stall’s sambal chilli had such distinct flavour profiles that we could have easily told them apart blindfolded.
But, one stall, in particular, earned our immediate stamp of approval — Mizzy Corner. Their chilli sauce had the perfect balance of sweet, savoury and spicy, with hints of what tasted like ikan bilis. It basically knocked the other chilli sauces out of the park.
FRIED IKAN BILIS
International Nasi Lemak and Mizzy Corner fried ikan bilis were pretty on par with each other. Both renditions were crunchy and well-seasoned.
As for Changi Famous Nasi Lemak, in place of fried ikan bilis, they served up crispy bits of fried egg instead. Sadly, we felt that they didn’t do much for the dish, as they were slightly stale and on the blander side.
OUR VERDICT ON CHANGI VILLAGE HAWKER CENTRE’S BEST NASI LEMAK
Each nasi lemak stall had their own hits and misses, and each excelled at different components. But overall, there was one stall which had got most of its stuff right.
That is, International Muslim Food Stall Nasi Lemak.
Their fragrant coconut rice alone could carry the show, but their gorgeous runny egg and flavourful sambal chilli sealed the deal for us. Would we travel over an hour again just for this nasi lemak? Probably.
Changi Famous Nasi Lemak
2 Changi Village Rd, Changi Village Hawker Centre, #01-28
Singapore 500002
Tel: +65 9339 7756
Daily: 24 hours
Nearest Station: Upper Changi
International Muslim Food Stall Nasi Lemak
2 Changi Village Rd, Changi Village Hawker Centre, #01-57
Singapore 500002
Tel: +65 8400 6882
Mon to Fri: 9.30am – 1.30pm, 6pm – 12am
Sat: 9am – 7pm
Sun: 10am – 12am
Nearest Station: Upper Changi
Mizzy Corner
2 Changi Village Rd, Changi Village Hawker Centre, #01-26
Singapore 500002
Tel: +65 9816 4419
Daily: 7.30am – 1am
Nearest Station: Upper Changi
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