Makanista – Food Court In Tampines With Mala Chicken Rice & Chicken Curry Pasta

Makanista is a local dining place located in Tampines Mall. If you were to just walk by, Makanista would seem like an ordinary food court. They serve a range of typical food court delights such as Western food, yong tau foo, chicken rice, prata and desserts.

However, upon closer inspection, one would see that in addition to the typical food served, Makanista has added their own twist to local favourites.

For example, on top of regular chicken rice, they serve mala chicken rice (S$5.80), Thai chicken rice (S$5.80) and Fragrant Garlic chicken rice (S$5.50). They also serve dishes such as the Mutton Prata Burger (S$8.50), Beef Hambug with Fries (S$10.90),  French Chicken Curry Pasta (S$7.50) and Special Tandoori Chicken Prata (S$8.50).

The first dish we tried was the Beef Hambug with Fries from the Western stall. This consisted of a runny egg and a beef patty on top of a bed of fries.

While the dish was certainly aesthetically pleasing, it failed the taste test to some extent. The fries, which were drenched in a combination of nacho cheese and black pepper sauce, were delicious. Though they got soggy pretty quickly, they were flavourful. They also had a strong taste of truffle which made them even better.

However, the beef patty, which was supposed to be the shining star of the dish, was dry and hard. It was difficult to cut into and the meat lacked any real flavour. Considering the price tag on this, you’d be better off ordering yourself a plate of truffles fries from another restaurant.

The second dish we tried was the French Chicken Curry Pasta which was again from the Western stall. The pasta was cooked al dente and was served drenched in curry with pieces of chicken.

The curry base was flavourful and clung to the pasta well. The pieces of chicken were also tender and tasted delicious mixed in with the curry. However it is a heavy dish and the taste did get quite monotonous after a while. If you’re looking for a dish that is unique, this is delicious but is basically just pasta in curry.

To finish off, we had the Banana Chocolate Almond Prata (S$2.80) from the Indian stall. The banana’s were mixed into the prata dough so that the taste of the banana carried through with every bite. The chocolate sauce and almonds also complimented the dish very well. Overall, it was the best thing we had at Makanista.

Makanista has a lot of potential but left much to be desired. The dishes, while unique, were not tasty enough to warrant a trip down to Tampines Mall. However, if you are in the area and have nothing better to eat, you might want to try out some of their other creations. Makanista is also in the process of applying for Halal certification.

Makanista
4 Tampines Central 5, Tampines Mall #01-42, 529510
Tel: +65 62606002
Daily: 8am- 10pm
Nearest Station: Tampines