Nasi Lemak is a funny name of a meal. Let me tell you why. Usually if people tells you Laksa, Mee Siam or Mee Rebus, you will have a clear vision of how it should look, right? I mean Laksa, of course it is a bowl of spiced coconut gravy with thick beehoon top with shredded laksa leaves. Then Mee Siam is bee hoon with some red color gravy poured with an egg and a lime. And Mee Rebus is of course yellow egg noodles submerging in some kind of mild curry flavoured glued gravy which covers the whole plate. But the same thing cannot be said of Nasi Lemak. For me, there are basically 3 ways how a Nasi Lemak can look. There is the chinese style which looked more like a zhap cai peng setup to me. Then there is the pre-packed style which is packed long before they open shop. And the last one is what I'd call the Standard Malay Style which more than often, consist of standard ingredients like an egg, a chicken wing, a fish and cucumber.

Nasi Lemak is obviously a malay food. But cleverly re-invented by chinese who wants to steal a piece of the action. Just like how in the past Indian Rojak was invented by Indians who wanted a piece of the Kueh business monopolised by the Malays who were setting up stalls by the roadside. Now it is interesting to note that the chinese Nasi Lemak has luncheon meat as a choice.


Hence I believe it is one of those few food(or perhaps the only one?) that has a Malay name but yet with pork as possible ingredients. Of course Chinese Style Nasi Lemak is by no means a shadow of it's predecessor. I mean who hadn't heard of Punggol Nasi Lemak or Chong Pang Nasi Lemak which has queues so long as if people were queueing for 4D?


But you know what, I am not a fan of the Chinese Style Nasi Lemak for the simple reason that I think a Nasi Lemak should not be eaten that way. Well, for some reasons, a Chinese Nasi Lemak stall cannot get me excited like how a Nasi Padang or a Chap Cai Peng stall can.


In the market there is this famous Hup Lee brand which seems eager to place a stall in every hawker centres.


They are really very aggressive in their franchising and from what I can see, they're doing quite well. But nonetheless it still can't get me excited. I mean, how do I get excited if all I see are luncheon meat, egg, chicken wing and fish cakes at the stall every time?



Anyway for me, the ultimate enjoyment of a Nasi Lemak experience is simply to eat it in the most simple and original way. Somehow those pre-packed ones( those sold by Malays) are the only thing I can call SHIOK when come to Nasi Lemak. Others like Changi Village Standard Malay Style type comes close but still can't duplicate the same level of shiokness. Maybe it has got to do with wrapping up the ingredients and leaving it overnight in banana leaf? What do you think?


Good thing for me is one of my favourite Nasi Lemak is from a stall just down the road from where I stay. This stall operates from a small kopitiam and they're selling it side by side with all kind of malay kuehs. So far they gave me the maximum SHIOKNESS attainable in a pre-packed Nasi Lemak.


Well, of course I'm not comparing with those that can be found by the roadsides in Malaysia. But this comes very close. So which is your favourite style of Nasi Lemak? And do you have a favourite stall hidding somewhere in a small coffeeshop not known to many people? Let me know if you do and I shall see whether it can surpass my level of shiokness from this stall.