Tekka Centre in Singapore's Little India is the briyani central of the island as there are some 10 briyani stalls concentrated in this hawker centre. I am on a (self appointed 😛 ) mission to find the best briyani of Tekka Centre. I am only half way through, and is reporting on the best briyani stall so far.
The interim winner is.... Allauddin's Briyani stall #01-232 🥇
I joined the queue yesterday - it wasn't long.
But, it grew long because the queue wasn't moving at all. I soon realised that they were packing delivery orders, perhaps a hundred boxes while more and more customers stood and waited in line.
Got to the front of the queue after 30 minutes. Normally, there is very little queuing at Allauddin's Briyani.
Allauddin's Briyani cook their rice and meat separately i.e. not dum briyani style.
I was quite irritated that they packed delivery boxes for another 5 minutes while I waited, standing right in front of the pot 😅 (Queuing customers are served at intervals between packing delivery boxes.)
Today, we had chicken with our briyani (price SGD6). Normally, my default choice is mutton but I am sharing a plate today.
The mound of golden-reddish-yellow long grain basmati rice, curry chicken thigh, an egg, achar (pickled vegetable), and curry were served on Mother Earth harming throwaway styrofoam. We were also given throwaway plastic spoons and forks. Throwaway styrofoam and plastic are extensively used in Singapore hawker centres since the 1980s.
I was still in a grouchy mood when I took that first spoonful of flavoured rice.
Okay... I have to admit that it was nice. The nicest actually of the five briyani stalls I've tried in Tekka Centre so far. The long grain rice was tender, slightly wet, average quality grains (some lumpy clumps and chips) but the spice flavour was rich and aromatic. Richer and more aromatic than at the other four stalls. It was also not overly greasy.
The curry chicken thigh was tender (almost soft), and juicy. It was well infused with flavoursome and aromatic spices. There was also an underlying fresh chicken sweetness which I like.
There was a hard boiled egg in the heap. It was fresh and boiled nice and tender. It was just boiled in water and not cooked in curry but tasted good in the way eggs taste good.
There's the obligatory achar and also papadum. Both unmemorable generic types. The papadum was well fried though, crisp and not greasy.
The mutton curry in the little styrofoam bowl was nice, I like it. That yellow lump was goat fat 😄
Yeah.., after tasting five briyani stalls at Tekka Centre, this is my current favourite 😄 Just avoid the times when they are packing delivery orders.
Other food stalls to try at Tekka Market 👈 click
Restaurant name: Allauddin's Briyani
Address: #01-232, #01-229 Tekka Market, Singapore 210665
Tel: +65 6296 6786
Hours: 9:00am - 7:00pm
Date visited: 31 Dec 2020
Looking forward to your review of the self-styled Royal Dum Biryani!
ReplyDeleteWe tried it. Rice flavour was okay but it was very greasy with oil pooling at the base of the styrofoam plate. The chicken meat was firm and didn't have much flavour. The achar was too sour for my liking.
DeleteOk... will try this if I'm ever in Tekka, which is quite rare. But you never know. And yeah, SG should really ditch those styrofoam plates. Not that MY is doing any better.
ReplyDeleteyeah, have high profile campaigns to ban straws but allowed styrofoam plates, bowls etc
Delete