When almost every single trade in Singapore is either monopolised or saturated, the food business is perhaps the only one where the operators can afford to ya ya with their customers. Make no mistake, Ponggol Nasi Lemak is one place where they adopt the queue up or leave it attitude. And they are busy. Get ready to shout out your order of dining in or taking away when you’re the 3rd person to be served. This being a coffeeshop, the bill may shock you. It’s even more expensive than Lucky Plaza’s nasi lemak.

With a bit of time on my hands, I finally decided to join the queue and find out what’s so special about this Ponggol Nasi Lemak at Upper Serangoon Road.

I heard the fried chicken wings are good, but they ran out of them. Only drumsticks. So I decided to try their fried prawn dumplings, otah and lady’s fingers. You’ll see a lot of bad reviews online. Ignore them. Apart from being pricey, there’s practically nothing really bad about this nasi lemak which definitely qualifies as one of the better nasi lemak you can find these days.

To me, the magic lies solely in the rice. I don’t know about you guys, but I definitely don’t like my rice soggy. The rice you see above is nice and “discrete”. On top of that, is a rich coconut fragrance you won’t find in a lot of run-of-the-mill nasi lemak. The crispy ikan bilis is also a good find. How much did I pay? $5.40! Yep, it’s pretty pricey, but look at the queue. That’s why I say only hawkers can afford to ya ya with customers.

I find the chilli good, but a little too spicy. Same with the vegetable dish. Overall, it may be worth the wait if the line doesn’t stretch to the roadside.