Spot in Sunday Times

WE"RE FAMOUS!!!

Fancy being on NST... well, that's what this culinary adventure has led to. RESTORAN HAINAN CURRY RICE was featured on a Sunday column by foodie Tan Bee Hong ... check out the write up here:

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/Sunpeople/Sunday/Features/20070317191152/Article/index2_html

What remains to be told is the story of Hainanese people in Malaysia -

The Hainanese people were predominantly working for the British as 'cooks' in their kitchens during our pre-independence days. These British also taught the Hainanese how to prepare curry (they had tasted in India) here in their mansions in Malaya. Of course then, the Hainanese cooks started to prepare a little bit of the same (perhaps slightly modified, and toned down on the spice levels) for their families – and it thus it gained popularity, and perhaps even spawned our own Chinese style curries (as you know – when Chinese families prepare any curry dish, it has influences of both Indian and Malay spice mix, coupled with tweaks to suit the Chinese palette).

You might have heard of 'Scissors Pork Rice' dish before, or 'Scissors Curry Rice', as there are a few of these outlets in Singapore. It is basically of the same origin, as when the Hainanese started to sell this type of food – they had to be fast in cutting the pieces of pork / meat with scissors – to meet the fast pace of demand from customers queuing up! Hence the name of the food/dish became synonymous with how it was prepared.

If you asked what the speciality of this "Hainan Curry Rice' is, I struggle to pin-point some exact dish or description to encapsulate it. However, I believe it is when we taste all of the elements together, it brings in itself a whole gourmet experience to these otherwise normal dishes on their own…lots of curry, with braised meat sauce on rice (this is key to enjoying the meal – which some HCR aficionados have termed – swimming pool, or flood!), with pork, fish, mutton, tofu, vegetables, egg… you have to taste it to believe / enjoy it!