How long has it been? Maybe about 10 years since my last visit to Boon Lay Place Market and Food Village for the power nasi lemak! Guess the hawker centre had been renovated since then as i don't recall the impressive dome-roof in the middle of the structure!
But my purpose that day wasn't to revisit Power Nasi Lemak; it's another stall that commanded easily the longest queue in the entire food centre.
I. Mohamed Ismail Food Stall - the usual me would have ordered the prata but my nose-flarer twin, who is more familiarized with the Jurong region, strongly endorsed the nasi briyani which is only available for sale from 10.30am to 1.00pm!
Knowing there's a chance it would be sold out by the time we reached; she called up earlier to reserve two plates of nasi briyani (one chicken, one mutton) for our food trail entourage, numbering six persons.
She was a tad disappointed with the chicken; not that it's not good but she thought it would be the fried chicken (said to be super good), instead of this curried version.
For briyani, i always prefer mutton over other kinds of meat. To me, its signature gamey flavour is the perfect companion for the spices used for briyani. This didn't disappoint; meat was tender, easy to tear apart using your fork and wasn't chewy.
Basmati rice is my weakness when it comes to briyani (just like nasi lemak) and this was so infused with spices; although i did find it a bit too spicy! The accompanying raisins and acar should have added a sweet coating in every mouthful but the acar, unfortunately, failed to impress.
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Address
221A Boon Lay Place, #01-104,
Boon Lay Place Market and Food Village,
Singapore 641221
Map
As above.
Pricing
Chicken Nasi Briyani - S$6.50
Mutton Nasi Briyani - S$6.00