I was excited to visit Warung Selera Masakan Kampung by Kaki Ani thanks to buddy Mark's enthusiasm for this Malay food stall serving traditional nasi campur dishes (and more). It has some dishes rarely found elsewhere and everything was lovingly prepared with fresh ingredients. We had a great time enjoying the delicious dishes. Even before we left, we were already planning our next visits for more delicious dishes 😬
Warung Selera Masakan Kampung was founded by Kak Ani over thirty years ago (in 1991) and it operated a stall in an inconspicuous corner inside Joo Chiat Complex.
Just last week (in Oct 2022), Warung Selera moved into 60 Changi Road and now operates as a standalone, full fledged restaurant. Kak Ani's team includes daughter Nashibah and her husband Yan.
We were here from breakfast till lunch 😁 We started with Laksa Siglap, a traditional dish rarely seen in Singapore today. In fact, this was my first time trying this dish (though I heard a lot about it before as it is the precursor of Laksa Johor).
Toss and fold the thick rice noodles with the spices, vegetables, sambal and thick fish sauce made with ikan parang and ikan tenggiri.
I was blown away.
The noodles made with rice and glutinous rice were tender, spongy, chewy - nice. The sauce was a complex blend of spice flavours and aromatics with a quite robust spicy sting. It is hard to find Laksa Siglap in Singapore today, so this is as good as it gets. This taste of nostalgia, tradition of old Singapore for $4 is a gem 💎
Must try 😋
Laksa Penang isn't as rare as Laksa Siglap, but Warung Selera's rendition is one of the best I tasted, especially at $4 a serving.
The thick rice vermicelli were smothered in a sauce thick with dissolved mackerel and rich with spices. Vegetables, pineapple, tamarind, fermented prawn paste, chili pepper all add flavours to the dish but in a balanced way. I don't like dishes which are cringey sour or overpoweringly crustacean savoury, but the intensity of Warung Selera's Laksa Penang was just nice for me.
Done with the breakfast noodles, it's time for early lunch. Mark and Byron joined the queue to pick our dishes from a spread of over 30 different freshly prepared dishes.
A lot of food for three of us, but this was actually only our initial spread as we added more dishes later 😂
Deep fried black pomfret with sweet sambal.
Curry chicken.
Lemak curry fish.
Sambal prawns.
Curry beef tripe.
Curry fish roe.
Sweet spicy fried fish.
Sweet spicy fried tempe.
Pengat Pisang dessert.
How was it? I always say, empty plates and bowls are the most eloquent 😁
The ingredients for the dishes were all handpicked and fresh. We were looking forward to taste Warung Selera's signature sotong masak hitam (squid cooked in squid ink) but it was not available today as the squid at the market were not up to mark today 🤷 So yeah, only the best ingredients go into the pot at Warung Selera Kak Ani.
All the dishes were expertly executed by Yan under the watchful eye of Kak Ani according to her recipes from thirty years of running Warung Selera and building up her loyal following who came out in force to support her since moving to her new restaurant. The flavours at Warung Selera are clean and well balanced.
We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The food was delicious, the environment was bright, breezy and comfortable, folks were helpful and friendly, prices were competitive too.
Written by Tony Boey on 28 Oct 2022 | Updated 1 Sep 2023
🎗 Opinions in this blog are all my own as no restaurant paid money to be featured.
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Hi, is the Laksa Siglap available the whole day or only for breakfast? Thanks
ReplyDeleteIt is available from breakfast till sold out (From Tony).
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