If you are a regular at Hong Lim Market & Food Centre, you may notice a new stall Wing Liao Lor! serving nasi lemak, mee siam, lontong, fried chicken cutlet, etc. Tried it today - it's a promising new player to add to the impressive list of good food stalls here.
Daddy Kenny is a veteran restaurant chef supporting daughter Jacelyn who is a former SIA cabin crew in her new venture as a hawker.
Jacelyn perfecting her runny sunshine eggs (many nasi lemak stalls just take the easy way out and let their eggs cook through but Kenny & Jacelyn won't to allow that).
There's a saying, "You can take a person out of SIA, but you cannot take the SIA out of him / her".
Disclaimer: There's no such saying, lah.... I made it up ๐ But, that's the experience I got from the several former SIA crew in F & B whom I met recently. They have the can do spirit, willingness to adapt, not afraid to start afresh and still do things with SIA service and quality culture in them ๐๐๐
This is set #3 for $5 - there's coconut flavoured rice, sunny side up, otak otak, sambal chili, ikan bilis & peanut, and signature curry chicken wings. I added a prawn paste chicken wing for another $1.80.
Average quality rice grains but well infused with coconut milk, pandan, lemongrass flavours, tender bite and not overly greasy.
When I lightly pulled my fork through the egg yolk, it popped and a yellow river gushed down the mound of rice like golden lava. No kidding,
The egg white was soft and moist too, and it has a frilly crisp fringe that would make Gordon Ramsay proud.
The house made sambal chili is well balanced sweet, tangy, spicy with underlying umami-savouriness from anchovies.
The signature curry chicken wing is crisp outside and juicy inside. The batter is the keropok kind, crisp and crackly like a fried cracker snack. The curry spice is mild.
Got har cheong gai wings is win liao lor. The crispy fried chicken wings marinated with fermented prawn paste is a winner with lots of people. I think they can push the umami-savouriness level a notch further.
I like their otak otak. The freshly grilled fish paste is rich in coconut milk sweetness complemented by spice flavours and aroma with a bit of chili heat.
The ikan bilis (dried anchovies) and peanuts were fried to perfection. The dried anchovies were fried to a crisp, and not overly salty.
I like their Nyonya style mee siam which comes in a kuah (gravy) which is rich in (tau cheo) fermented bean sauce, coconut milk, asam gelugur and spices. It tastes savoury sweet and slightly tangy (the smooth kind).
Their Nyonya lontong comes in a rich thick curry almost like a sauce with generous amounts of vegetables like cabbage, long bean and carrot. The soup is mildly sweet, savoury, spicy and we can spike up the heat with more sambal chili. It's like Nyonya curry chap chye with ketuput (rice cakes). I like it that the vegetables are soft, well infused with spice flavours but not mushy.
Makan kaki today is Maiko Makito, Managing Director of Pearl Falco from Ise Shima, Japan.
New kid on the block adding spice to the already interesting range of food choices at Hong Lim hawker centre. Give Wing Liao Lor a try (this is their first month) and give them feedback, as they are eager to serve you better.
More good stalls to try at Hong Lim hawker centre ๐ click
Written by Tony Boey on 12 Mar 2021
Tried the nasi lemak and mee siam in the morning a few days ago. No "golden lava" flowing from the fried egg - it was over-fried. Maybe because the daughter was not around, no SQ standard was enforced :-) My dining companion remarked that the rice smelt more like chicken rice, it lacked the usual nasi lemak rice fragrance.
ReplyDeleteThe mee siam had a thick (almost too thick) gravy which tasted more sourish than sweet/tangy.
Both nasi lemak and mee siam were not too bad, worth a try if you happen to be nearby, but I probably won't go out of the way to have them.