The Quest For Briyani Part 8: Khan Saab Restaurant

Mutton Briyani Dum ($8.00)

This place is actually within walking distance from my workplace so we do drop by for lunch once in awhile. It's actually at the corner where the old Bedok ITE used to be if you're familiar with the Chai Chee area.

They have Briyani every day but please keep in mind that they have Briyani Dum only on Fridays!

I figured I'd start with the rice for this post because... well.. it's different.
Most Briyanis that I have tried, especially if it's the Dum version' have very fragrant rice which is normally moist but quite 'clean' in the sense that it's just the rice. The masala and meat are piled on separately if you know what I mean.

Well it's a little different here at Khan Saab. The rice was - for lack of a better word - wet.
It's as if the masala spices were mixed up together with the whole batch of rice and this made it really thick and wet with the masala. This also means that every mouthful of rice is packo with spicy flavour which does tend to be quite overpowering sometimes.

Nonetheless, it is quite tasty but it's just that I guess I'm not used to that texture for my Briyani rice.

The mutton was expected was nice and tender. It had better be since it was a Dum Briyani. Maybe this was the clearest indication that the meat and masala were all cooked together with the rice Dum style. Maybe that's why the rice was so wet?

Yep that's the Acar that comes with the Briyani.
Kind of putting things into overdrive especially since the rice was already so packo full of such a strong flavour. I didn't really find much need for the Acar or even the Dalcha that came along because the rice was really really spicy full of flavour.

But they do include a small side serving of Raita as well. The onion, cucumber and yoghurt mix do try their best to cool your mouth down.

Maybe they know that your tastebuds are going to be overwhelmed that's why they give you a dessert of Sugee to cool you down. And thankfully the Sugee was actually pretty nice. A sweet finish to a meal which was definitely strong on taste.

Adam's Verdict:
Mutton Dum Briyani 2.5/5

I used to quite enjoy this Briyani the first few times I had it but the more I did, the more I realized it was really something I was not used to. In fact, after my last visit, I reckon I might give it a miss for awhile and probably only have it much much later when I've given my mouth some time to forget the onslaught. But if you are the fan of the really spicy type of Briyani, this is definitely for you!

And please remember - Dum Briyani is only available on Fridays and very often sells out early too.

Khan Saab Restaurant

Blk 55 Chai Chee Drive
#01-186

Tel: 6244 4430

Operating Hours:
24 hours Daily

The Quest For Briyani Part 7: Bismillah Biryani

So a couple of readers had left some comments on our last installment of The Quest For Briyani Part 6 when we visited Saffron. And the same name kept popping up - Bismillah Biryani.

And it never really clicked until one day, one of our guest reviewers Raffiq, says he wants to bring us to what he calls "the best biryani" in Singapore. "Power!!" he says. Okay sure but where is this place?
And then he says it - "It's called... Bismillah Biryani".

Okay set!

So we make our way one sunny afternoon to Dunlop Street for this famous briyani.
And the first thing we noticed when we arrive at the shop is this sign.

You sure or not? Is it that tasty that we don't need any Dalcha? Is the rice so moist an fluffy that we don't need any gravy?

And then the next thing we noticed was the signboard with the prices. But more on that later.
Time for some briyani!

Kid Goat Biryani ($15.00)

Firstly - Yes. It's Kid Goat as in the young goat.
Secondly - Yes. It costs $15. But more on that later.

Overall, I have to say I found the serving quite small for the price I was paying. The most expensive briyani I've had cost me about $9 and it was a HUGE serving enough for 2 people but this one here looked like I might still be a bit hungry at the end of it.

But since it costs so much and the serving is not that big, that means they must really be confident with the taste of the briyani. So is it really that nice?

As you can see the rice is top grade Basmati. I didn't quite get the fragrant aroma of briyani you get when they first bring you the dish but I got a bit of it later which is actually quite weird. And I was right... the serving was way too small for a big eater.

The kid goat meat was really really tender. Again, the serving of meat was lesser than I expected but the little bit of meat I had was very tender. And not only was there no dalcha, there was no masala on the meat either!

So where exactly does the flavour come from?
Well, it seems they use a lot of dry spices in this briyani. Found lots of peppercorns, star anise, cloves etc in the rice and I guess that's where it comes from. Raffiq could definitely taste the spices and it seemed to be really spicy to him too.

I think the spiciness he was experiencing was from the accompanying dish of yoghurt which has onions and green chilli in it too. I thought yoghurt was normally served to cool you down when eating something spicy.... Hmmmmm...

Chicken Biryani ($8.00)

I think that after seeing how tender the chicken was, there is no doubt that their cooking method must be really solid because the meats here are really tender and well cooked. I guess the only thing I'm having a problem getting used too is the whole flavour issue.

Bismillah Biryani prides itself on its philosophy that it wants to serve you "good tasting" food but wants to make sure it's healthy for you too. "Taste counts but your health matters most".

This will explain why they do not use any Ghee in their briyani and also why there are no accompanying dishes of dalcha or acar and also no masala in their briyani. And somehow along the way of making this healthy dish, the prices seem to have gone through the roof.

I'm sorry. I don't mean to sound like some cheapskate but the briyani here is expensive.
I normally have the mutton (which costs $12 here) but we visited on a day where they only had Kid Goat and Chicken which cost $15 and $8 respectively.

Am I the only one who thinks that the prices are a little bit too much?

And I'm not saying that the briyani tasted bad. Not at all. It may not have been the best briyani I've ever had nor the worst tasting one either. But it's definitely the most expensive!!

Mango Lassi ($5.00)

And to add insult to injury, we wanted to have some coffee or tea after our meal but they didn't have any. So I ordered a Mango Lassi thinking to myself "Wah this Lassi surely gonna be the bomb one!".

So you can imagine my shock when the guy comes back 10 seconds later and plonks this bubble tea cup in front of me with Mango Lassi. And judging by the time he took to come back, this was obviously out a fridge and pre-prepared. I couldn't help but laugh a little...

Adam's Verdict:
Kid Goat Biryani 3/5

Azlan's Verdict:
Chicken Biryani 3.5/5

Raffiq's Verdict:
Chicken Biryani 3.5/5

I guess I'm glad we visited Bismillah Biryani so I could finally get it out of my system since everyone was raving about it. Again I say - there's nothing wrong with the briyani. But you gotta admit that the high price does kind of put you off a little doesn't it?

And I guess my idea of briyani is a little different. This may very well be authentic briyani according to some people. I guess I'll still be going back to joints like Saffron.

And by the way - Raffiq has tried all 3 versions (Kid Goat, Mutton and Chicken) and he says that the Mutton Biryani is actually the best!

Monday / Thursday / Sunday - Kid Goat
Wednesday / Friday / Saturday - Mutton
Every day - Chicken & Vegetarian

Bismillah Biryani

50 Dunlop Street

Operating Hours: 11.30am til 3.00pm / 5.30pm til 9.00pm Daily
Closed on Tuesdays (Unless it's a public holiday)

The Quest For Briyani Part 6: Saffrons Cafeteria

Here we at at stop number 6 in our Quest for Briyani series and this time we are visiting a place that we normally visit for something else (not the Briyani) but quite a few readers have been egging us to try the Briyani here. WE HEARD YOU!!! :)

Mutton Briyani Dum ($6.00)

When someone says Saffrons to me, the first things that comes to my mind are Mee Goreng and Prata because that's basically what I almost always have when I go there. I've always seen lots of people ordering the Briyani there but never really thought much about it. Well it seems that a lot of people knew something I dind't and I'm here to find out what it is.

The first thing that hit us as soon as they brought the Briyani to the table was the aroma. Now here was a plate of Briyani which had the strong aroma you'd expect from a power serving of Briyani! We've had Briyani where there was surprisingly no smell at all but this was definitely something else!

Maybe it had something to do with the banana leaf? Well I'm not sure about if it made a difference but it definitely made a good impression.

At first I thought the rice looked kinda dry but boy was I wrong.
The rice was nice and fluffy and full of flavour. The rice was so tasty that I could have gone on eating it without any meat or anything else.

But thankfully, I remembered the meat!

The mutton was absolutely the bomb! The masala gives you a nice strong kick but it doesn't overwhelm you so when you have it with the rice, you can still taste the rice and the masala compliments it. The mutton was tender and easily torn apart with just my fork. Add all that into one satisfying mouthful.

I'm quite confident in saying that this is one place that calls it 'Briyani Dum' and really means it!

The acar and the dalcha only add to a dish that is already delicious on its own.

The acar has a nice tang and spice to it. Don't be afraid of those chillies you see, it's not that spicy.
And the dalcha was simply sublime. I guess one of the reasons it was so good was that they add in some of the lamb fat (tetelan) when they cook it (similar to some of the other places we reviewed) and it seems to make a world of difference. You don't have to eat the fats though! It's already done its job :)

As you can see, I really enjoyed my meal!!!

And of course, finish off with a nice cup of Teh Tarik!

Adam's Verdict:
Mutton Briyani Dum 4.5/5

I know I still have hundreds more places to have Briyani. Half of which have been recommended by you - our beloved readers. Don't worry, I'll try my best to cover as many as I can. But for now, Saffron's is one of the best Briyani's I've had so far.

Just an extra note, we normally eat at the Tampines Saffrons because it's so close but they also have a new outlet at Swan Lake in Opera Estate. And so far, the high standards are upheld at both venues!

Saffrons Cafeteria

23 Swan Lake Avenue

Tel: 9185 0954
www.facebook.com/SaffronsCafeteria

Operating Hours:
8.00am til 10.00pm Daily

The Quest For Briyani Part 5: Afghanistan

So it took us awhile but we're back on the trail and The Quest For Briyani continues!
(You can read the rest of the series by clicking HERE if you're just joining us)

For the longest time, even before I started this blog by the way, people have been telling me about how great the Nasi Briyani at Afghanistan in Tampines was. In fact, I've been hearing about its 'legendary' status since I was in my teens.

It's actually quite surprising that this would actually be the first time I was going to try it especially since it was so accessible to me in the first place.

Mutton Briyani ($5.00)

Let me start of by saying that they're quite generous with the serving.
Definitely enough to fill you up if you're hungry or just right to share between 2 people.

The one thing that I noticed when I sat down with the Briyani was that something was missing.
You know how you get the aroma you get when you just sit down with a nice hot place of Nasi Briyani still steaming from the freshly served rice? Well, that was missing.

The rice was fluffy and no doubt the traditional Basmati but that's about all I have to report.
There was no fragrant aroma and the rice was severely lacking taste. Very surprising for a plate of Briyani which I've been hearing about for years.

I will not claim to be an expert on Briyani and I know there are plenty more Nasi Briyani places for me to visit but I think I know what I'd expect from a decent plate of Briyani and something is quite wrong if that distinct aroma is missing.

The meat wasn't exactly super tender but I guess it was okay. You could still tear it apart without much effort.
Unfortunately the masala was quite bland as well. Again, another shocker.

The acar gave some life to the dish I guess. Nothing spectacular but at least there was some flavour to it.

Actually, I realized something about halfway through my dish.
The individual parts of the dish on their own were severely lacking. The rice was tasteless on its own. The meat was not that enjoyable on its own. And there's no point just eating the acar on its own. The only way I could get though it was to eat every single spoonful with a bit of everything. There was simply no chance of enjoying my meal by eating the rice or the meat on its own.

Adam's Verdict:
Mutton Briyani 1.5/5

Who knows. Maybe I'm just being fussy? Maybe the Chicken Briyani is better?
Well, whatever the case may be, I was actually really disappointed. Has the standard of Afghanistan really dropped?

Perhaps I'll try it again some time and hopefully then I might be able to relive the high standards that everyone seems to remember so fondly.

Afghanistan Family Restaurant

201E Tampines Street 23
Briyani / Murtabak Stall

Tel: 6783 7746

Operating Hours:
7.30am til 11.30pm Daily
(Opens at 3.00pm on Friday afternoons)

Ramadhan Special 2013: Nasi Tomato

Hey everyone! Just a quickie here for you.
We received an email from Lynn a few days ago to recommend some Nasi Tomato!

Apparently there's a stall in Bedok that is selling Nasi Tomato that Lynn says is "uber delicious" (aka The Bomb in my language) but it's only going to be offered during this fasting month period. Since there was only like about a week to go, I figured I'd better make my way down ASAP!

Nasi Tomato with Daging Rendang ($5.00)

Now that's a pretty picture isn't it?

So anyways this is a special set-up in front of an actual stall called Nur Indah's Kitchen/Abang Wan's Roti John at the market in Bedok North (across the road from the Bedok Stadium) and it's only going to be around until this weekend (4th August) before they pack it up.

They have quite a number of special dishes on offer including Briyani, Ayam Penyet and even Mee Bakso but I was there to sample Lynn's recommendation - Nasi Tomato!

The picture above was taken just after I got the food which was freshly packed after I ordered.

You actually have a choice of what you'd like to go with your Nasi Tomato, Firstly it's either beef or chicken and then you decide which style of meat you'd like.

For example, you have Rendang or Briyani style for the beef and you have briyani or masak merah style for the chicken.

 On top of the rice and meat, you'll also get some dalcha and some acar as well. Two types of acar for you to choose from. It's either the Acar Timun you get with Briyani or the Acar Tomato seen in the picture above.

A word of advice though - remind them to separate the meat and acar from the rice since you'll need to keep it for quite awhile before iftar time.

The beef and chicken were actually pretty nice! Well cooked and tasty. The chicken in particular was very flavourful and not over-cooked. The beef was good but the portion was a little small (for a meat lover like myself of course). The dalcha went well with the dish and definitely packed a punch in terms of flavour.

The tomato rice itself was a little hard though. This might be due to the fact that we had to keep it and then eat it later maybe? I bought it at around 1pm and kept it in the fridge before heating it up via 'kukus' method just before iftar time. Not sure if that was the cause of it?

Anyways if you're not fussy like me then you will have no problems. The rice was tasty and definitely worthy of a recommendation (unless you don't like hard rice of course).

Adam's Verdict:
Nasi Tomato Daging Rendang 2.5/5 -- Nasi Tomato Daging Rendang 3/5

I've actually only had Nasi Tomato one other time which is when my Dad cooked it at home.
I hear it's really actually quite troublesome to make for some reason so if you can find a good one, you should definitely try it.

But just remember - you only have 3 more days til the stall closes on 4 August!
Thanks to Lynn for the recommendation! Keep them coming in guys!

Nur Indah's Kitchen/Abang Wan's Roti John

Blk 59 New Upper Changi Road
Marketplace@59 #01-187

Operating Hours:
12.00pm til 7.00pm (until 4 August only)

Ramadhan Special 2013: Bussorah Street Bazaar

The street bazaar at Bussorah Street is back again this year.
It's been quite a favourite for the past few years even though it shifted location about 2 years ago.
And because of it's location, you'll find quite a few tourists as well soaking in the local festive atmosphere.

So what's up this year at Bussorah Street?

Khad's Kebab

El-Nour Nasi Arab

Warung Wak Emran

Quite queue in front of Watong Wak Emran.
We quickly learned that the stall was offering something you don't see very often.

Kentang Bol

Definitely something we love to eat but maybe lacking the time to make.
So if you'd like, get some Kentang Bol at Warung Wak Emran!

And we spotted another one of our faves at the bazaar again this year.

Anjung Otah-Otah Mini

That's right they're back again this year.
Anjung Otah-Otah Mini & Pau Johor still proving popular this year. What a long line there was!

In case you missed it, read our original review of Anjung here.
Definitely something to try!

Anjung Otah-Otah Mini (5 for $2)

Putu Piring

Mr Botak Favourite 1 Icy Chendol (That's the same guy in the logo!)

Roti Kirai ($4)

We bought the Roti Kirai just to check it out.
A little pricey at $4 for 3 pieces with some chicken curry I guess...

Yusof Power Briyani Dam (Longest queue at the bazaar!)

If there is one thing I actually regret not buying when we visited Bussorah Street is this dish called Nasi Kukus Ayam Dara which literally translates to 'Virgin Chicken Steamed Rice'.
Sounds interesting right?

Apparently it's been around for quite awhile and the draw is that since the chicken was a 'virgin', the meat is going to be all the more tender and delicious. Hmmmmm...
Guess I'll just try it next time!!

Errrr... anyone tried it before??

Well anyways it's obvious that the Bussorah Street Bazaar is still super popular.
Maybe it's the central location. Maybe people really love the stalls there. But even with rainy weather, the crowd was really out in full force.

We even bumped into my Godson there!

Raheel says "Memang sedaaapp!!"

I think it's actually really nice to have the bazaar around. Kind of like a throwback to the old days.
Even though it's not exactly the same, I guess we can't complain.

Let's enjoy it while we can.

Bussorah Street Ramadhan Bazaar 2013


Bussorah Mall/Muscat Street
Operating Hours: 3.00pm til 8.00pm

Ramadhan Special 2013: Tampines Bazaar Ramadhan

Well for the 2nd year running, the original Tampines Bazaar at Blk 942 (near Tampines Stadium) is longer situated there. Maybe next yer perhaps? Well for now I guess it's safe to say that everyone has to go to a different part of Tampines for the "bazaar bawah block".

At least it's still the same place as last year.

Does anyone remember our original post last year reporting the bew location of the Tampines Bazaar Ramadhan? Well, it's located at Blk 301 Tampines Street 32 again this year.

But quite a few changes to the vendors this year I reckon.
Saw some familiar faces / stalls but quite a number were missing from this bazaar again including the famous Bee Hoon Briyani (again).

But as you can see from the banner above, you can get goodies from Islamic Briyani and even Haron Satay!

You can still find a stall or two selling these mini-cheesecakes in a whole range of flavours.
Well, they look really cute but I reckon I'm gonna need quite a few to satisfy my cheesecake craving :P

One of the more notable names you'll find there is Dahlia Cafe which sells mainly lauk-pauk for you to enjoy with a nice steaming serving of rice.

My darling wife tells me that something that you simply must have from Dahlia Cafe is the Lemak Babat.
Apparently they do it really well at Dahlia Cafe. Anyone tried before?

Putu Piring

Zuraida Nasi Briyani Dum

Well the longest line at the bazaar seemed to be in front of Zuraida Briyani Dum.
From what I saw, it seemed like the authentic version and might be nice since so many people were queing up for it am I right?

If you happen to visit the Tampines Bazaar this year, do let us know what you bought and whether it was any good or not okay! :)

Oh an by the way. The crowd is still a force to be reckoned with...
You remember what Marko from Tropoja said to Liam Neeson in Taken?

"Good luck..."

Bazaar Ramdhan

Void deck of Blk 301 Tampines Street 32
Operating Hours: 3.00pm - 7.00pm daily