At the beginning, I was bemoaning the fact that I have been missing out on many fantastic Hainanese Curry Rice around the island but yet it clearly wouldn’t had made much difference even if I did find them out earlier.

In the Hainanese Curry Rice scene, most are infact doing quite well with tastes that’s pretty distinct. Many clones can be found in the market in the form of Scissors-Cut though the original Scissors-Cut are the least disturbed by these cloners booming on their small-scale success.

If you’ve noticed, there are a few stalls that are infact connected to each other like, there are 2 branches of Havelock Curry Rice, 2 branches of Tian Tian Hainanese Curry Rice and probably a few branches of Hougang Hainanese Curry Rice. All these are either family business or franchised business.

At Maxwell Market, Zhong Guo Jie Jia Li Fan is also one such stall. The guy manning this stall is the brother of the Traditional Hainanese Curry Rice at Old Airport Road Hawker Centre, hence the taste is pretty similar.

Curry on rice: 7.5/10  

The curry here has that familiar gooey texture and has a light hint of sourness. It is quite delicious though I thought it lacks a bit of punch.

Steamed Minced Pork: 7.5/10  

The steamed meatball is one of the ’signature’ items here. Well it is pretty authentic and has a unique flavour and taste a little sweet though it’s pretty ‘lardy’ with almost 60% of it is lard. So if you don’t like steamed pork fats, stay away from this. I personally think that this would do better if they are deep fried.

Pork Belly: 6/10  

The lor bak here unfortunately couldn’t do it for me. Well it is soft and has a good texture but the strong smell that’s distinct to star anise was just too much for me to take. On the plate it even came with a piece of the 八角! Horror!

Hainanese Stewed Cabbage: 8/10  

The cabbage is pretty tasty with good ‘crunchiness’ and volume. Not the best compared to my favourite one at Scissors Cut but 80% there.

Hainanese Pork Chop: 8/10  

And lastly the fried porkchop is very unique and has a strong hint of that sweetness which is very ‘Hainanese’. Not exactly fantastic when eaten by itself but went very well with everything that is ‘rojak’ together.

All in all, 90% similar to the one at Traditional Hainanese Curry Rice at Old Airport Road. Queue is extremely long at lunch time and I was told that there are forever queues at this stall. My meal costed $6.70 which was seriously steep though the portion was quite generous and the meal was probably good enough for 2.

Price: $6.70

Recommendation: Pork chop, cabbage, curry sotong. Lor bak if you love 八角! Their sunny side up looks pretty good with some kind of dark sauce. Minced pork if you like lards.

Conclusion: A very satisfy meal of Hainanese Curry Rice. Queues are a permanent fixture at meals time so that tells you how authentic they are. Some of the items lacked punch for me though I must say it’s unique and tasty in it’s own style.

Likes: Have enough sweetness in the meal which is a Hainanese thing.

Dislikes: Some items a little bland and a little expensive.

Address		Overall Rating
Zhong Guo Jie Jia Li Fan Maxwell Road Stall 68 Maxwell Food Centre		Food: 8/10   Value: 7/10   Authenticity: 8/10   Service: 8/10   Ambience: 7/10   Cleanliness: 7/10   Overall: 7.5/10