My friend, R, wanted to bring us to his favourite Nasi Biryani place at Little India, Singapore. Unfortunately, his stall was closed that day, and hence we rerouted ourselves to the timeless Tekka Market smack at the start of Little India.
There are quite a number of stalls selling Nasi Biryani in Tekka Market, but the 3 of us chose one stall each, and decided we would sample a bit from each other’s plates.
Allauddin
If you search “Best Nasi Biryani in Singapore”, chances are that Allauddin will show up more than once.
Naturally, Allauddin has gained lots of visits from google-savvy tourists over the years, so much that they’ve bought out a number of stalls in Tekka Market, all selling the same thing to help ease their load.
This was a unanimous choice between the 3 of us to try the hype. Sadly the hype seemed misplaced. The $6 plate came with a mountain of rice, noticeably more than the other 2 plates. Basmati rice was used, and they were dry and fluffy. However, the rice was a little soft and overcooked. Flavour-wise, the rice had quite a gentle spice level (I’m talking cumin, cardamon, fennel seeds and cloves). The mutton was very decent as attested by my friend. The curry gravy was quite interesting, as it had very prominent shallot flavours but was bordering on being overly sweet.
Royal Biryani
This was K’s choice, he chose this because of the allure of the branding and there was also a consistent crowd of people ordering.
The colour of Royal Biryani’s rice was unusually white. Again, long-grain basmati rice was used, and the texture was dry and fluffy. The doneness of this rice was just nice, but sadly, lacked spice flavours. There was, however, a very subtle hint of savoury aftertaste, but the presence of the usual cardamon, cloves and such was very mild.
The mutton in Royal Biryani was chopped to smaller pieces, much to my friend’s amusement when he compared the irregular shapes of the chopped up bones.
The curry gravy was also a let down for me, because it tasted like the usual bland tasting curry you get with Roti Prata.
Yakader Biryani
Yakader was my choice and was actually not located on the main ‘Biryani Row’ at Tekka Market, but behind. I chose it because of the fresh, vibrant looking pot of biryani rice and also a sizeable crowd ordering from them.
Right upon serving, Yakader’s rice looked beautiful, with varying hues of yellow and orange accents from the saffron. The basmati rice were fluffy, cooked to the right doneness, but more importantly, were very packed with spice flavours that one could finish up all that rice on it’s own.
Unlike my other two companions, I ordered the Chicken which came as an entire chicken leg, stewed in a curry until fork tender with a lovely spicy sauce.
Sadly, the accompanying curry gravy for this was also quite weak, miles apart from the sauce of the chicken. That said, the rice didn’t need to be fortified with any gravy.
For $6 and an additional 50cents for a packet of papadums, Yakader’s Nasi Biryani would be my go to choice at Tekka Market, simply because every rice grain was a joy to consume and for that delicious masala chicken leg.
Where is your favourite Nasi Biryani in Singapore?
PS: Some days after this, I actually visited another Indian restaurant with a Biryani that was better than all of these! Stay tuned for the review coming soon!
PPS: Also, I still need to go try my friend’s original recommendation.