NEWSPAPER HAINANESE CURRY RICE! Best Hainanese Food in Singapore by The Hainan Story | Curry PNG

Curry chicken rice set, which is served uniquely in a newspaper. Look at that chicken, it's so soft! Oh my gosh! Let's get some of the gravy. Oh, look at this rice drenched in curry sauce. Huge bite, curry rice with chicken and the sambal. This is really a huge bite. Mmm! What's up you guys? Kheliaji here. We're currently here at Hillion Mall in Bukit Panjang to try the newest restaurant opened recently. And it's called the Hainan Story. And the concept is like bringing five local and famous Hainanese restaurant in one store. Let's go check it out. So when you queue up and you go inside, you will be greeted by this kiosk where you can order your food, it's hot screen. Then you'll be given a receipt number where you can pick up your food and that's it. I love that you are greeted by this beautiful modern interior but at the same time there's this touch of heritage. Really good and I love that they chose the color red which is really a good food color. We're gonna order up and I'm gonna show you almost the entire menu here. I'll see you later. Alright, so we're gonna start with the first stall which is called the Acang's Traditional Porridge. This is my first Hainanese porridge I believe. This is the mixed porridge set which has fish, there's also century egg. And this goes with yutiao, kind of like a deep fried dough. Commonly eaten during breakfast for Chinese cuisine being dipped in porridge or in soy milk. In bak kut teh as well. There's a different side here like a green bean and some peanuts. Then there's also, I believe this is boneless Hainanese white chicken. So let's start with the porridge. My first bite will have to be with the fish. Let's dig in! Mmm! Oh yeah! So the porridge is not too thick, not too watery as well. And it's flavorful. The fish has a saltiness to it. I'm not sure what type of fish this is. It has a meaty texture. Mmm! One of the staple toppings for porridge here in Singapore is the century egg. Not my personal favorite but whenever there's century egg, I eat it. The porridge got some ginger bits in there. It is very comforting, especially this rainy January. This is one of the best hot meals that you can get. Alright, so let's try to dip the yutiao here. Let's try it. Mmm! Oh yeah! You have that toasty fried dough in there. Plus the ultra comforting porridge and got here some green beans as well. And some peanuts to snack on in between bites. And we have here, I believe the Hainanese chicken. Mmm! Oh yeah! Yum! On to the second stall which is Wee Nam Kee Hainanese chicken rice. We have here mixed platters. Mix of roast and boneless chicken rice. We have here another barbecue pork or char siu and the roast pork which I love. And we got here the Hainanese chicken rice. The rice itself that is very flavorful and is the center of the dish. And we have here the HK kailan with oyster either blanched or stir-fried. Topped with garlic. And we have here the dumpling soup which has so many dumplings and some greens in there. Maybe kailan as well. So let's dig in. I think I'm gonna try with the boneless chicken rice with the most basic and purest flavor. Let's add some chili on top here. And some ginger garlic paste the Hainanese way. And let's get a big bite here. The chicken is so moist and tender. It's not the typical cuts that you get if you go to a hawker center. Like a regular Hainanese chicken rice. You will get really thin strips or thin cuts. But this one is really meaty and they don't skip on their chicken. Now let's try the roasted one. Again chili and my ginger garlic. Get a big bite. Mmmh! That chicken skin is so heavenly. Perfectly roasted and it's still moist. And the chicken rice is super duper flavorful. Mmmh! You get all the flavors from the chicken that has been poached kind of. It's the chicken skin, it's the chicken oil, the chicken fat mixed in this rice. So all the flavors goes here. Now let's try the char siu or the barbecue pork. Mmmh! This is really flavorful. I can taste that it's been marinated for so long. The flavor gets inside the pork. You can really taste the red bean paste in there. Now let's try the roast pork which is my ultimate favorite. I'm gonna eat this whole thing. I'm gonna add my chili, ginger garlic paste. All the ritual. Look at the ratio of the meat to fat. It's gorgeous! This is the closest thing that we eat in the Philippines. What we call lechon kawali. This one is roasted pork and it's just heavenly. Perfectly salted and of course it's fatty and fat means more flavor, right? When you eat the fatty parts of the meal you have to get some vegetable. Cut through the richness and the heaviness and the fat. Take a bite of the HK kailan with oyster. I like that the vegetable is kind of blanched. Not oily. Perfect to cut through all the richness. Now I'm gonna get my soup. Let's have a taste of the huge dumpling right here. Look at that! It's so big! The wrapper looks like it's freshly made. One whole bite. Mmm! Super duper porky inside. A little bit of crunch in there. I'm guessing there's turnip inside. This is really good! Wash all of these down with this light soup and the healthy blanched kailan. This is an awesome meal. Perfect to share with your family. You know whenever I go to hawkers and I don't know what to eat. One of my first choices is really the chicken rice or the roast meat platters. And this is just perfect comfort food. This is Kayla's favorite, the chicken rice as well. So yeah, I'm gonna finish this and we're gonna go to the next stall. See ya! Alright, so here's stall number three from Uncle Robert. That sounds like Uncle Roger. So this is the local western but with Hainanese touch. What we have on the list is the Old English Oxtail Stew. Grilled cheese chicken chop with sweet and sour sauce. The 1980s pork cutlet. Fish and chips but this one is not creamed dory. They're using sea bass instead which is kind of cool. It's more expensive but it tastes better for fish and chips. They also have here the tomato pasta which is a bento for kids. Now we're gonna start with the Old English Oxtail which looks very good. I can't wait to dig in! It looks so soft! Oh my gosh! Look at that! Ridiculously tender! Oh look at how gorgeous that is! Bread, stew. Let's see! Mmm! What the? You know tomato stew? You have the ultra tender oxtail and you have this beautiful creamy mashed potato. This is just perfect! Mmm! You know the type of soul food. This is hearty and comforting. It takes a long time to cook it but if this is the result then I'm willing to wait. Mmm! Tomato sauce here is not sweet at all. It has hardness, really goes well with the oxtail and mashed potato. Next on the menu is this grilled cheese chicken chop. It's like a chicken cutlet, boneless. There's grilled cheese on top of it. Look at that how golden, freshly cooked. By the way, chicken chop is one of the staple dishes in western stalls, in the hawkers and in food court. One of my favorites as well. When you wanna take a break with spices, western food is one of the things that I think of because there's not much spices, gravies you know. It's very simple and straightforward. Let's try! Mmm! I love how juicy, literally moist that chicken is. The salty, cheesy, creamy flavor from the cheese on top there. Wow! I think kids and kids at heart will love this. Let's chase it with a huge fry here. Mmm! Oh yeah! I love that the cuts of the potatoes here are very thick. You can just see how generous they are with the portion. I think one platter is good for two people. And I love that this goes with salad. Wash it down with some fresh greens with cherry tomatoes. Mmm! Awesome! Alright, now let's move on to the pork cutlet. It's got some onion rings on top. Move away first. I want my pork cutlet. Not super thin and it's got this beautiful golden redding outside. There's some sauce in here. I'm not so sure what this is. Let's try this one. Mmm! Oh wow! This sauce is unique. It's kind of like thickened with cornstarch and it's very tangy. There's definitely some vinegar in there. Very interesting! Now let's try this other yellow sauce. Mmm! It's like a mixture of mayo, mustard, seasoned with salt. Let's get some corn in here. Oh yeah! And some onion rings. I believe the onion rings are gonna go well with this sauce. Mmm! Oh yeah! The onion rings are fried into crisp. They're very light and sweet. Naturally sweet. Really good! So the next dish here is the fish and chips like what I mentioned earlier. They use sea bass. The typical hawkers or anywhere in the world actually would pick dory as the main fish to sell commercially because it's very cheap and it's accessible everywhere. Look at how thick this fish is. Look at that cross section. Look how moist and juicy that is inside. Comfort food that you can get from a western stall. I'm assuming this is a tartar sauce. Let's have a big bite. Mmm! This is really good! Mmm! So sea bass is one of my favorite types of fish. I usually pan fry it or cook it in a sweet and sour sauce. It's the first time I've had sea bass on the fish and chips form and it just works! Such a meaty fish. At the same time it's kind of delicate. Goes well with the tartar sauce. And let's get some of the coleslaw here with some sauce as well. Mmm! Fresh and crisp veggies here. Really good palate cleanser. Mmm! Such a filling meal. And this goes well with beer of course. Oh yeah! Alright, I'm ready for stall number four. We have here the curry chicken rice set. And we have here the kuro set which is like a braised pork. I think I'm gonna start with the chicken curry because it looks so good. I believe this is one of the best selling dishes here from the newspaper Hainanese Curry Rice. One of the dishes that I'm intrigued about is the curry rice game here. Local Hainanese curry rice is super famous with the locals. Especially with the Chinese Singaporeans. I've tried the scissors cut Hainanese chicken rice. Was really good! So I'm so excited with this version which is served uniquely in a newspaper. Never seen anything like this. So I'm gonna try the chicken. Look at this rice! It's drenched in curry sauce. Let's get some more of that sauce. I think this is some kind of sambal. I'm not sure what type of sambal this is. Put it there. Wow! That really looks good. This is really a huge bite. Mmm! Oh wow! So the first thing I noticed with this type of curry. You can really taste the spices. It's not just a gloopy starchy sauce. And I love the kick that you get from the sambal. I think it's sambal belacan. Is this sambal belacan? It's sambal belacan. It's really spicy. Don't eat it as is. You have to mix it with the rice. Look at how golden this egg is. Oh my goodness! Get some more of the chicken. Get some tempeh here. We have here looks like a braised cabbage. Which is present in all the curry rice stalls that you will see. This is their staple side on their curry rice. Huge bite again as usual. Oh yeah! This is the good thing about reliving the heritage food. And mixing it with modern techniques. Modern interior. This is a beautiful blend of the past and the present. And the future. Really good! This is the type of dish that I can eat on a daily basis. Very home-cooked. Awesome! Now I'm gonna try the koru. I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing it right. I believe it's braised in soy sauce. Some kind of dark soy. Look at the fat guys! Omelette and sambal on top there. Eggplant in here. I always see this everyday in the hawkers. It's just so different how it's presented here. Try the koru. The pork belly is so soft. The fat just melts in your mouth. Oh I love it with the sambal. Mmm! This is really good! Mmm! Really a worth it dish. Look at the serving. Look at the portion here. What else can you ask for? Really filling and comforting. There's no specific flavor that stands out. Everything blends well together. That's what I love about this dish. If you come here, the Hainan story. So far this is my top choice. Especially for people who are used to the heritage food. Daily type of food that you eat. Then you can start with this. Either the chicken curry set or the koru set. And I believe they also have the fried chicken set. Unbelievable! Alright! I'm gonna start with my dessert. From this Hainanese coffee stall. They have this specific specialty dish. Which is a lamb stew. Which I believe is a type of comfort food that they have. And I assume that they eat it with bread. But I'm not gonna eat it with bread right now. Because I'm super full at this moment. So you can see the lamb. This really looks good. I'm not sure if that's Chinese wine I can smell. There's some wood ear mushrooms in here. There's some cilantro, carrots. One of the staple veggies for stew. There's broccoli as well. Oh! There's bean curd skin. The touch of Hainanese or Chinese on this lamb stew. I'm gonna take a huge bite. Let's try! Mmm! Oh! I can taste and smell the star anise in there. The lamb is ultra soft. Ridiculously tender. Mmm! It's a little bit salty for my liking. But again I'm eating this on its own. You have to eat this with rice or with bread. To soak up all the flavors. It's really gonna go well with that. Awesome dish to start with this Hainanese coffee stall. And I can't wait to have my coffee and my Hainanese toast. Let's go! Stall number five. I'm so ready for my coffee. So excited with this Kopi Kuyu. It's like butter on black coffee. It's one of my favorites because I love black coffee. I rarely drink with milk or creamer on my coffee. So let's take a sip. Oh yeah! Strong coffee. A little bit of saltiness from the butter. This is really a good blend of coffee. I love this. I think this is Teh. So Teh is like the Malay term for tea. Basically hot milk tea. Very straightforward. It's not Teh Kao Siu type. I love that it's not sweet. I would have liked the tea to be stronger. In the future maybe we can request. But I'm not sure about that. Next is the Yuanyang. It's a mixture of coffee and tea. When I went to KL, I had this Kopi Cham. Which is the same thing. And this is what they call Yuanyang here. Mmmmm! Nothing can go into waste. These three drinks are really really good. This is the perfect spot with all these drinks. With the Kaya butter. They're not using the tasty buns here. The regular tasty buns. Nuh-uh! They're using old school thick buns. Look how thick that is. This is legit the biggest Kaya toast bite I'm gonna have in my life. Mmmmm! Oh wow this is so good! The saltiness of the butter. And the sweetness of the Gula Melaka Kaya. Such a good combination. And I love that the Kaya is not too sweet as well. But this one right here is really unique. I think I'm mind blown here. Rojak jam on Kaya butter toast. I've eaten Rojak before. This is gonna be a first. And I'm so excited to try this unique combination. Mmmmm! There's peanuts in there. So the typical taste of a Rojak jam. Kind of like tangy. A little bit sweet with that peanut taste. This is unique. I'm gonna go back here for this. Oh yeah! Cheers with my Kopi Kuyu to end this meal. I actually forgot the soft boiled eggs here. The bread should go with this. But I see in the hawker centers some uncles would just buy soft boiled eggs. They eat it like a soup. Literally slurp on it. That's what I'm gonna try. The uncle style. So let's try to mix this up. Oh my goodness! Oh my look at the color of the yolk! I'm gonna add some pepper. This is gonna be good. Mix it up with some soy. The Hainanese way. The uncle style. I think I might have put some more soy sauce in there than usual. But the yolk here guys is different from what you will get in the hawker centers. Mmm! Really rich and creamy. And by the way guys. If you wanna tapau any pastries. They also make the Hainanese Englishman egg tart. Look at that yellow color in there. It looks so golden. Feels like it's freshly baked. So let's try it before it falls down. Mmm! This is really good! Mmm! It's not too eggy. A little sweet. The crust outside it's not super toasty. It's just perfectly cooked. You can bring home to your friends, to your family. A pack of three or six. A really good snack for your tea time. And this is my last bite for this meal. Alright so that's my full review of their menu. Again this is five stalls in one store. Just amazing how they can put up all these already established local Hainanese brands. My favorites were the chicken curry rice from the newspaper curry rice stall. The koru was really good as well. From the western, I love the juiciness of the chicken chop. I love that they use the sea bass in their fish and chips. And the pork cutlet with that kind of tangy sauce. Of course the porridge itself with the meaty fish. And the Hainanese chicken rice. Everything was served generously. Oh! Oh! From the western stall, the oxtail stew. Oh wow! That was like on top of my list from the western. Really good with the mashed potato and the really hearty tomato stew. From the Hainan stall, I really love the gula melaka kaya butter toast with the kopi koyu. Nothing will go to waste from this concept. If you are coming to the west side of Singapore, I highly recommend you come here to Hillion Mall in Bukit Panjang. And try the Hainan story. My recommendations, I'm gonna put on the description box below. That's it for today's video. I hope you liked it. If you've been here, let me know what you like. I love to hear from you. And I'll see you on the next video here in Singapore.