The Hainanese Curry Rice Challenge

15 plates of Hainanese Curry Rice, 30 days and 2 inches added to my waistline later, it’s time to wrap up the Hainanese Curry Rice Challenge series.

Here, you get to see from a Bird’s-eye view, where to go for the best Hainanese pork chop, where to go for the best Hainanese stewed cabbage, where to go for the best Hainanese lor bak and the Hainanese curry too.

And of course, I might had missed out some Hainanese curry rice stalls, some of which are quietly making a difference behind the scene but these 15 stalls that I reviewed should be able to keep Hainanese curry rice aficionados busy for a while.

For visitors to Singapore, not to worry as the locations of all the stalls are immortalised in Alfredeats.com Google Maps application.

Why this challenge?

The generation of our grandparents or great-grandparents is regarded widely to be the age of migration. Those were the days when Europeans leave their homes to come all the way to Asia to do some trading and who haven’t heard of the ‘British East India Company’?

It’s during those periods that a lot of foreigners were recruited to work onboard ships. Among them are the Hainanese Chinese who developed their culinary skills on the job and thereafter introduced to this part of the world, Asian-inspired western food and some of which are Hainanese Western Food, Hainanese Toast, Hainanese Pork Chop and the Hainanese Curry Rice.

Curry, which is foreign to the Chinese palate were first introduced to Chinese people around the Clarke Quay area which were the centre of trade in those days. The popularity grew and back then, to eat curry rice from the Hainanese is as common sense as eating sushi from the Japanese today.

The legacy remains. Today, there are only a handful of Hainanese Curry Rice stalls around the island and though they all shared a common starting point, the flavours of the curry rice in all the stalls have evolved differently. This Hainanese Curry Rice challenge is here to reflect the diverse Hainanese curry rice flavours though derived from some common history.

Conclusion

It is easy to spot a really authentic Hainanese Curry Rice stall. Those that serve you with many kinds of gravy usually have a long history. And these are also the stalls that have queues. Most of the time, they are also operating at odd hours like early in the morning and it’s really a Hainanese thing.

Most of the good ones have other branches like Tian Tian Hainanese Curry Rice, Hougang Hainanese Curry Rice, Havelock Hainanese Curry Rice and of course many different versions of Scissors Cut across the island.

The outstanding ones for me has got to be Feng Kee Hainanese Curry Rice at Pasir Panjang and Curry Rice at Whampoa Market. Both are comparable to my favourite which is Scissors Cut at Jalan Besar. Red Sea Curry Rice is also outstanding though the flavour there is slightly different from the other 3.

Loo’s Hainanese Curry Rice, Beo Cresent Hainanese Curry Rice and Sin Chie Tok Huan Hainanese Curry have good reputation but just can’t do it for me somehow. The curry is strange for me at Loo’s and Beo Crescent while at Sin Chie Tok Huan, the flavours of everything are pretty weak.

Sin Chie Tok Huan and Hougang Hainanese Curry Rice are the only stalls I would avoid while I would go to Jia Xiang Hai Nan Curry Rice, Red Hill Curry Rice and Red Sea Curry Rice for fried meatballs.

The outstanding lor bak for me is at Tian Tian Hainanese Curry Rice, Chew Feng Hainanese Curry Rice and Whampoa Market Curry Rice.

For stewed cabbage with a strong Hainanese flavour, I would still go to Scissors Cut at Jalan Besar though Traditional Hainanese Curry Rice and Feng Kee Hainanese Curry Rice were also quite good. Otherwise at Whampoa Market Curry Rice, the stewed cabbage also impressed me though it lacks a bit of crunchiness as it is stewed to really soft texture.

The most authentic Pork Chop is at Tian Tian Hainanese Curry Rice. The gravy is so shiok that it’s comparable to Hainanese Western Food’s gravy. At Scissors Cut, it’s the only place that serves pork chop in braised form. Whampoa Market Curry Rice is the only other stall that put gravy on their pork chop though the gravy there is a little too sweet for my liking.

So there you go, Hainanese Curry Rice may have a common starting point but it is vast in terms of flavour and authenticity. Transport issues aside, Feng Kee Hainanese Curry Rice at Pasir Panjang, Curry Rice at Whampoa Market or Scissors Cut at Jalan Besar is where you want to go to if you ever need a cure for your Hainanese Curry Rice fever.

Some Quick Facts

The Hainanese Curry Rice Challenge Series

Part 1: Loo’s Hainanese Curry Rice (Tiong Bahru)
Part 2: Traditional Hainanese Curry Rice (Kallang)
Part 3: Tian Tian Hainanese Curry Rice (Bukit Merah)
Part 4: Jia Xiang Hai Nan Curry Rice (Whampoa)
Part 5: Hougang Hainanese Curry Rice (Bendemeer)
Part 6: Havelock Hainanese Curry Rice (Sims Place)
Part 7: Hainanese Curry Rice (Beo Crescent)
Part 8: Feng Kee Hainanese Curry Rice (P. Panjang)
Part 9: Chew Feng Hainanese Curry Rice (B. Keng)
Part 10: Red Hill Curry Rice (Red Hill)
Part 11: Scissors Cut Curry Rice (Jalan Besar)
Part 12: Zhong Guo Jie Jia Li Fan (Maxwell Road)
Part 13: Red Sea Curry Rice (Upper Thomson)
Part 14: Sin Chie Tok Huan (Hougang)
Part 15: Whampoa Market Curry Rice (Whampoa)