Sheikh Najib Nasi Lemak is one of Little India's best kept secrets for a good value meal. It should be called Supersized Nasi Lemak, cos that's what the portions are like. You get double mounds of soft, warm and lightly fragrant coconut rice with toppings of your choice. Here they give not one but three ikan kuning. We also had omelette and extra crispy fried chicken wings. Some may find the fried batter a little too hard, but crunch-seekers will be delighted. The sweetly spicy sambal is a generous dollop, just right for that quantity of rice. Can you believe all this only costs S$3.50? The otah here (S$0.80) is not too bad either.
The shop is located at Rowell Road, which has some interesting nightlife - gorgeous transvestites you can
It was K.F. Seetoh who brought us here. That was really the highlight for me - meeting the legendary makan guru in person. I'd heard that he is a really nice guy, and is much more mellow in real life compared to his TV persona. And it turned out to be true. His wife, Patricia, is also really sweet. That is her platter of rice in the first shot, by the way.
Seetoh had kindly extended to a group of Makansutra forum regulars some invites to the opening of the European Union Film Festival (thanks, Andrew, for asking me along, and for the supper treat!). We sat in VIP seats behind the Spanish and EU ambassadors, and watched "Broken Embraces" by Pedro Almodóvar.
Supper after a movie is one of the simplest but most enjoyable things in life. Throw in a cup of iced tea or iced milo, and let the conversations flow. I like places that are down to earth and non-pretentious like this. Sheikh Najib's shophouse is a small eatery with a retro feel to it. What you see here is pretty much the entire dining space available.
Here's Seetoh's article on nasi lemak, including this shop. Putri Berendam has blogged about this place too. She even has a video of the food! Oh and it seems they serve some Malay kuehs, nasi padang and noodle dishes in the daytime as well.
SHEIKH NAJIB NASI LEMAK18 Rowell Road
Singapore 207976
Tel: +65 6245-7134
Open daily 7am - 3am
That looks really yum!
ReplyDeleteLooks scrumptious! And I was just tweeting awhile ago with some foodbloggers about our fave nasi lemak! :P
ReplyDeleteLooks fantastic. I wish I was there!
ReplyDeletehello! Your pictures look awesome! By the way, you mentioned you went there for supper but how come they only operate during the day from 7am-3pm? haha
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWow! I loooove nasi lemak and this looks awesome! Gotta make a stop here when I'm down in Singapore next time!
ReplyDeleteSorry! My bad! Their closing time is 3am! Have amended this, thanks for flagging the typo, Pammiez and Cosy.
ReplyDeleteThanks to everyone else for comments too!
too good for words! photography is excellent:)
ReplyDeleteI have eaten here before nothing special
ReplyDeleteThanks, Cumi & Ciki! :)
ReplyDeleteiknowiknow - cute name. Well, the biggest draw is mostly the value for money. I had difficulty finishing the rice, it's so much!
this is my fave nasi lemak so far.. wish i were with you guys
ReplyDeletehttp://gourmandtales.wordpress.com/2010/05/12/one-last-singapore-postfor-now-selera-rasa-adam-food-center-singapore/
This looks great - I'll have to check it out. If you wanted to know nutrition information about Nasi lemak check out this link: http://www.healthguru.sg/general/nutrition-information-nasi-lemak/
ReplyDeleteI live in the vicinity and a weekly regular at Sheikh Najib's.
ReplyDeleteThey are not very generous with the ikan bilis and shredded fried egg though.
The standard nasi lemak set is at $3, comes with Chicken Wing(1), two smaller than normal scoops of rice, very little ikan bilis and fried egg.
I still patronise this place cos I can't find nasi lemak in the wee hours in the area.
They are open till 6-7am though.
I have eaten at Sheikh Najib a couple of times. Patron Sheikh Najib if you want old-school dining that gives one nostalgia of the good old days eating at roadside stalls. Patron it for their polite service, crispy fried chicken wings (one is never enough) and extremely soft & tasty otah which u can never get enough of. Despite these, I would have to agree with Vernon; their ikan bilis serving is quite pathetic and same goes with the thin, hardly tangible sliced egg. It is too wafer-thin and just inadequate. Definitely able to step up on their ikan bilis serving although it might not be an issue with non-ikan bilis fans. the amount of rice is relatively big (kudos for that) but not substantiated by the miserable amount of ikan bilis and sliced egg. : )
ReplyDeleteHmm... I must have gotten them on a good day. The amount of ikan bilis I got was generous. I asked for sunny side up, while my wife had the sliced egg, and she asked me how many portions of egg did I order, coz she saw a big piece, and then she discovered it was folded while eating.
ReplyDeleteBoth of us could not finish the mountain of rice, so we decided that the next time we will just order one packet to share, with 2 chicken wings, 2 otahs and the rest single portions.
Thanks on all the feedback. I don't have a quibble with the portion of the ikan bilis but I do wish they serve better quality ones.
ReplyDeleteVernon: wow, 6-7am? That practically makes them open 24hrs!
Michelle - you are right, their service is pleasantly polite. Forgot to mention that. And yes, the otah is delicious!
Teo: that's a good idea - sharing! :) It really is a mountain of rice!
yes that I agree....the ikan bilis is a tad too tough to chew...and not the "crispy hard" hard.
ReplyDeleteTheir Teh-O is way too sweet too, cos they dun use sugar, but I saw him pouring liquid SYRUP(a lot)into the tea!
Their kuehs are good though.
In fact, I was there tonight for dinner with my regular kaki. The chicken wing was totally tasteless....I think they need some sort of QC for the wings.
I will still visit this place nonetheless...cos I love chilling and having a cup of tea at makan places situated in shophouses around my place, Little India.
Nasi Lemak is one of my favourite food to eat. Gotta give this a try when I go back to Singapore :-)
ReplyDeleteAnd how fantastic is that to meet up with other food lovers with KF Seetoh in the mix :D
interesting...must go try.
ReplyDeletebtw, I like the new layout. Very professional.
Papadom: yeah the ikan bilis was hard and not crispy. Haha, I had the Teh-O ais kosong, so I didn't kena the supersweet syrup! Many of these places have teh too sweet for me.
ReplyDeleteRinaz: Yes it's nice to eat with foodies! I wish I could go to the KL one - Nasi Lemak Antarabangsa. Supposed to be very yummy!
P.Chong: thanks! I'm glad you like it!
Oh didn't notice it earlier but this is the 666th post! :)
ReplyDeleteAvoid this nasi lemak place. not worth the $. getting more expensive
ReplyDeleteingredients getting lesser and price just went up to $3.50 for just rice, ikan billis and 1 chicken wing.