Entree Kibbles: Loo's Hainanese Curry Rice - Since 1946 @ 71, Seng Poh Road (Across Tiong Bahru Hawker Centre) in Singapore

Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Loo's Hainanese Curry Rice - Since 1946 @ 71, Seng Poh Road (Across Tiong Bahru Hawker Centre) in Singapore

Tiong Bahru is a place I am quite familiar with but it never fails to surprise me with the trove of good food found in the neighbourhood. On the recommendation of my younger sister, I decided to check out Loo's Hainanese Curry Rice; a popular eatery with a history of over 70 years.

Reading that the queue can be insane, I purposely went on the tail-end of the lunch hour. My wait was only about twenty minutes although the stress came from the wait for a table which you have to secure yourself by standing menacingly next to diners who were about to finish their meal.

Publicity materials like newspaper articles, accolades etc attracted my attention and I was so looking forward to my meal. That is rare given that curry rice's main component is a carbohydrate which I have always wanted to reduce!

Taken after I had made my order; as mine was for three persons, the friendly staff members would serve the dishes of food to our table later. As I was late in arriving, some of the items like deep fried prawns were already sold out.

First thing on the table; the plates of plain rice drenched with the signature curry gravy said to be made over three days! Lazy people like me wouldn't even consider trying to make it myself. Too much time taken and it would be easier for me to just eat direct at the eatery.

Mom with all our dishes displayed in front of her! I was thinking of ordering more; however, I would still want to leave some stomach space for desserts at the super near Tiong Bahru Hawker Centre.

Fried Egg - its old school-ness (crispy edges, gooey yolk and black sauce) enticed me to order as it would be the perfect companion for the rice despite the fact that my mom would likely say she can probably fry me the same kind of egg at home!

Cabbage - I love soggy cabbage that still packed a crunch! This was not bad even though I thought it would benefit from a deeper flavour to make it more memorable.

Squid - seeing quite a number of diners ahead of me asking for me, I jumped on the bandwagon too! It was a fine piece of squid; solid without being rubbery! Even my mom, who wore dentures, was happy with the texture and flavour.

Hainanese Pork Chop - personally, I never quite like this traditional dish as they were often too thick for my liking and the taste was honestly unimpressive. This was different; the tomato-like gravy was tasty, the meat was sliced pretty thin and the batter didn't result in the cloying effect often encountered at other competitors!

Mixing all the good stuff into the rice and having hell of a great time ingesting everything! Gravy was piquant and a tad spicy; absolutely delicious with the exception of one problem. It's insufficient and I was craving for much more to drench over parts of my white rice that had yet to turn orange!