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| Beach Road Scissors Cut Curry Rice 美芝律剪刀剪咖喱饭 | 222, Upper Thomson Road, Singapore 🚅 Nearest MRT: 5 minute walk from Upper Thomson station ⏰ 11am - 10pm |
I have long been fascinated by the history of Hainanese curry rice how it is a unique fusion of Malay, Chinese, Peranakan and Western traditions. Beach Road Scissors-Cut Curry Rice is one of the most famous brands in Singapore for this dish. Since I have never been to their Upper Thomson Road outlet before, I decided to give it a try.
(Don't ask me to compare as I can't even remember when was my last time eating at their Jalan Besar shop.)
I like the neat simple layout of their Upper Thomson shop while retaining their rustic charm. Love the 1960s vintage mosaic floor. The cooked food was displayed in front and the dining area was inside.
All the Hainanese curry rice icon dishes like fried pork chop, prawn fritter, curry chicken, curry chup chai (vegetables), braised pork belly, etc., were there - so exciting.
Beach Road Scissors-Cut Curry Rice has a good following, was quite busy during lunch.
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| Singapore National Archives photo |
We just picked a few dishes as we are small eaters 🤭
Start with the rice. Aiyah.... win already lah... Banjir (flooded) with two types of curry and a dark braising stock.
Boiled good quality tender jasmine rice. The curries and braising stock were sweet savoury and the curries had very mild spice flavour. Not hot in the spice sense. A great base to enjoy the side dishes.
Chiong (go for) the iconic biscuit crumb crusted fried pork chop first. Cut into into bite size pieces with a pair of scissors, hence the brand name ✂️
The meat slice was thin, lean and slightly firm and not that moist. Flavour was savoury without porcine sweetness, so tasted a little flat.
Many people love this tender firm chewy pork chop. For me ideally, I like some fat and a bit of porcine sweetness.
Next thing for me is always the prawn fritter / nugget.
The batter is a little thick and had neither crispiness nor crunch. The prawns were right size for nuggets but didn't have much flavour.
Braised pork belly, one of my favourite dishes.
The braising sauce was starched up to a sticky gloopy goo. Sweet savoury sauce, the pork was relatively firm, infused with the sauce's flavour plus a bit of Chinese 5-spice taste. Didn't have the porcine sweetness which I would like in my braised pork, but folks who don't like porky taste will like this.
Stir-fried brinjar (egg plant).
We were eating the curry rice "wrong way" 🤭
Another customer's lunch showed us the best way to enjoy this dish a la Beach Road style - heap everything pork, whatever over the rice, then smother it with curries and braising stock. The sauces wet and soften the relatively dry sides and infuse its flavours. Suddenly the dish is transformed and take us back to the 1930s - the whole is better than the sum of its parts.
We need to come back and try again! 😂 More dishes and in a proper pile!
Restaurant name: Beach Road Scissors Cut Curry Rice 美芝律剪刀剪咖喱饭
Address: 222, Upper Thomson Road, Singapore S574354
Nearest MRT: 5 minute walk from Upper Thomson station
Hours: 11am - 10pm
Written by Tony Boey on 21 Apr 2025
curry rice (of which scissor cut is my favourite) is like burger king’s mushroom double swiss meal. lovely to eat but leaves u feeling so full you feel a little sick afterwards and need to take a nap to recuperate. the only difference is that one regrets burger king but not scissor cut
ReplyDeleteI like the scissors cut rice in the coffee shop along Ubi Road 2 - just the same 10items everyday that sells out by 3.00pm. Closed on Sundays.
ReplyDelete